The past two years have plunged the global workforce into a period of intense transformation, marking a rapid-paced, involuntary experiment with new modalities of working. This era, still unfolding, has fundamentally altered perceptions of employment and the future, leaving a trail of evolving data and unanswered questions. An in-depth analysis of these shifts reveals four critical interconnected trends: the quest for Purpose, the changing dynamics of People and talent, the re-evaluation of Process & Policy, and the heightened impact of Polarisation & Activism on the workplace. These categories provide a framework for understanding the profound implications for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) amidst this ambiguous and fast-changing landscape.
The Quest for Purpose and Meaning at Work
Since the initial shockwaves of the pandemic, a significant re-evaluation of personal purpose has swept across the global workforce, prompting individuals to question the alignment of their values with their professional lives. A compelling U.S. survey by McKinsey revealed that nearly two-thirds of respondents reflected on their purpose due to the pandemic experience. This introspection gave rise to fundamental questions: "Is this job truly worth my energy and time? Does it contribute to a life I desire?" The implicit pre-pandemic model, often characterized by substantial personal sacrifices for career advancement, is now being challenged by a stronger anchor in purposeful work.
This shift is not merely a passing phase but a profound reordering of priorities. A global Edelman survey in August 2021 indicated that nearly 60% of employees had either left or were planning to leave their jobs to find roles that better aligned with their personal values, while 50% sought improved lifestyles. These motivations now significantly outweigh traditional exit drivers like higher compensation or accelerated career growth. The demographic scope of this purpose-driven shift is broad, cutting across generations. In the U.S., millennial workers were three times more likely to be re-evaluating their work. Concurrently, the U.K. witnessed a doubling of early retirements among employees over 50 since the pandemic’s onset, signaling a widespread desire for greater meaning and less compromise. While not every departure is solely purpose-driven, its emergence as a primary consideration is undeniable.
The lockdowns starkly illuminated how pre-existing work models often hindered the fulfillment of personal purpose, particularly exposing the costs of unequal and biased workplaces. The long-documented dual burden faced by women in professional and domestic spheres, while not new, finally gained unavoidable visibility for many during the pandemic. This period underscored that "the old way of working simply isn’t working to support a healthy, connected, and fulfilled life." For many women with caregiving responsibilities, the result has been significantly higher rates of burnout and resignations. Globally, women’s employment declined by 54 million (4.2%) in the first year of the pandemic, compared to a 3% drop for men. While not all these changes were voluntary, they necessitate an immediate and systemic response to create healthier work models that holistically integrate personal purpose with work and life for all employees, especially women.
While research prior to the pandemic, such as a PwC study, indicated that nearly 79% of business leaders acknowledged the importance of purpose, only 34% actively incorporated it into decision-making. This intention-action gap could have persisted, but the pandemic has drastically shaken individual perceptions of work’s meaning. This has far-reaching implications for employees, managers, leaders, stakeholders, organizations, and society at large, demanding a deliberate and inclusive strategy to bridge the gap between acknowledging purpose and actively enabling it within organizational cultures.
The Evolving Dynamics of Talent and The Great Resignation
As economies and organizations worldwide navigate recovery, talent has emerged as the linchpin. The pandemic era has fundamentally shifted power dynamics, empowering employees to more vocally articulate what will attract and retain them. This period has been widely characterized by "The Great Resignation," a phenomenon where a significant portion of the workforce has voluntarily left their jobs. A global Microsoft survey from March 2021 found that over 40% of employees were contemplating leaving their employers within the year. While researchers note that a rising trend in resignations predated the pandemic, the crisis undeniably accelerated it into a critical talent concern.
The sheer volume of job changes underscores this trend. In the U.S., August 2021 saw 4.3 million voluntary quits alongside 10.4 million open jobs. The U.K. recorded over 1 million open jobs during the same month. These figures signal long-term concerns, with 70% of U.S. employers expecting the talent gap to persist into 2022 and 61% struggling with employee retention (Willis Towers Watson). Even in Germany, the EU’s largest economy, company leaders’ worries about skilled employee shortages jumped 11% in three months, reaching 34.6% by July 2021 (Ifo).
Analysis by Harvard Business Review revealed that resignation rates were particularly prevalent among mid-career professionals (up 20% from pre-pandemic levels) within the tech and healthcare sectors—both experiencing immense demand during the crisis. While high turnover has historically characterized service and hospitality sectors, the pandemic brought increased public awareness and empathy for the often-poor working conditions. Across many industries, there has also been a rise in "Rage Quitting," where workers impulsively leave jobs due to an inability to tolerate negative work environments any longer.
The pandemic has thus sharply focused attention on the imperative to value employees and cultivate inclusive workplaces supported by fair labor practices and policies. In a climate of pervasive uncertainty, some individuals experience heightened stress, while others are catalyzed to rethink their situations and explore new opportunities. Quitting, in this context, has become an active declaration that "we can do better." With employees realizing the breadth of alternative work options, no organization can afford to ignore how workplace culture and employee experience directly influence talent attraction, retention, and ultimately, organizational success and broader economic growth. The call for "people-centered" work cultures must be integral to "The Great Reset" and other "build back better" initiatives as the world emerges from the pandemic.
However, the narrative of "The Great Resignation" also masks a darker truth: "The Great Divergence." This term highlights the profound inequalities embedded within the current economic recovery. Not all pandemic-era employment changes were voluntary; many were unwanted job losses, exacerbating a global employment crisis. OECD countries recorded 20 million fewer people in work since the pandemic began, with over 110 million fewer jobs worldwide. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that global hours worked in 2021 would be 4.3% below pre-pandemic levels, equivalent to 125 million full-time jobs. The OECD further indicated that reduced working hours disproportionately impacted low-paid jobs. While global unemployment saw a slight drop by May 2021, it remained higher than pre-pandemic levels. An inclusive approach to talent and employment is therefore crucial, one that acknowledges the full spectrum of pandemic-era work shifts and aims to create fairer systems for all. This moment presents a unique opportunity for profound, equitable change.
Reimagining Work: Processes, Policies, and the Future of Flexibility
Periods of significant change often bring into sharp relief the obsolescence of the status quo, creating invaluable opportunities to reassess, design, and experiment with novel solutions. The pandemic intensely scrutinized where work is performed and how it gets done, leading to major upheavals in the foundational social contract between employees and employers. Workers now exhibit a significantly lower tolerance for previously normalized aspects of corporate life, such as workplace "presenteeism," arduous office commutes, rigid formal dress codes, substandard working conditions, unfair compensation, discrimination, a false belief in meritocracy, limited control over their work, "always-on" availability expectations, excessive business travel, feelings of isolation, and a pervasive lack of well-being and psychological safety, including inadequate support for family care regardless of gender.
It has become unequivocally clear that many traditional workplaces were founded on outdated norms that no longer align with current realities or future needs. This necessitates that organizations proactively reset and clearly communicate their policies regarding work location and methodology.
One of the most significant policy shifts revolves around work location. Emerging data, while sometimes conflicting, consistently reveals a desire for continued remote work across various demographic groups (e.g., by generation, gender, or seniority). In the U.S., remote work is projected to continue at least one day a week, with the "desire for flexible work strongest among women, working parents and employees of color, who have shown gains in employee experience scores while working remotely" (Future Forum Pulse Report, October 2021). This trend is anticipated to have wide-ranging "social ramifications, including greater employee diversity, a better work-life balance and larger talent pools, as location and in-office presence become less important" (Barclays Investment Bank).
However, many employees expect far more than a single day of remote work weekly; estimates suggest that two-thirds of workers anticipate more flexibility and are willing to quit if remote work isn’t the norm. Pre-pandemic, remote work arrangements were often ad-hoc, fostering biases, burdening managers with subjective decisions, discouraging employees from making requests, and generally being perceived as unfair. Research conducted by Lisa and Veronika Hucke in 2019 showed that most remote workers were senior males, while working mothers faced stigma, and junior staff feared requesting flexibility would brand them as "not serious about their job." The widespread global experience with remote work during the pandemic now presents a critical opportunity to formalize these policies equitably.
Crucially, the process of policy creation is as important, if not more so, than the policy itself. An isolated, top-down approach risks developing solutions that are unfit for purpose, receive low acceptance, and may exacerbate existing inequalities. Astonishingly, a multi-country survey of knowledge workers revealed that 66% of executives were designing post-pandemic workforce policies with little to no direct input from their employees (Future Forum Pulse Report). This isolated approach also fosters an overconfidence among executives, with 66% believing they are "very transparent," while only 42% of workers agree. This disconnect almost guarantees suboptimal outcomes. The failure to engage the very people affected by these policies represents a significant missed opportunity for inclusive design.
The collective call to action from the pandemic era is clear: policies must be rigorously assessed for their relevance to current and future states. Organizations must leverage data and solicit input from all levels to co-create new solutions that integrate behavioral insights and are implemented with agile experimentation. This approach will ensure policies are not only effective but also foster a sense of ownership and fairness among the workforce.
Navigating Societal Divides: Polarisation and Employee Activism
As societies globally emerge from lockdowns, a complex tapestry of emotions — sadness, loss, fear, lack of control, and anger — has permeated public discourse and spilled over into the workplace. Research from 17 countries (Pew Research, 2021) indicated that 60% of people feel their society is more divided now than before the pandemic, a 30% increase from pre-pandemic rates.
Within the corporate sphere, this heightened polarization manifests in new challenges, such as "no jab, no job" policies. While some view mandatory vaccinations as a necessary public health measure, others perceive them as an unacceptable overreach into personal liberties. Frustration and fatigue are widespread, evidenced by over 50,000 pandemic-related protests globally (The Telegraph). "COVID rage" has also led to increasing accounts of customer abuse towards workers, particularly in hospitality and service sectors, where up to 80% of staff have witnessed or experienced such incidents (One Fair Wage). These issues are further complicated by widening global inequalities in vaccine access, which risks deepening the divide between the "haves" and "have-nots" in economic recovery.
Beyond pandemic-specific divisions, a long-standing erosion of trust in public officials and civic institutions has intensified. An August 2021 global study (World Economic Forum) revealed that Millennials and Generation Z exhibit such profound distrust that they express higher "faith in governance by a system of artificial intelligence than by a fellow human being." This demographic’s disillusionment stems from "ongoing concerns of corruption and stale political leadership, as well as the constant threat to physical safety caused by surveillance and militarized policing against activists and people of colour." The tragic murder of George Floyd in May 2020 ignited a surge in Black Lives Matter and anti-racism activism across over 60 countries, bringing issues of inequality and discrimination to the forefront of societal and workplace discussions.
Against this backdrop, employees are increasingly expecting and demanding that their workplace leaders take a definitive stand on key social issues. A global Edelman survey in August 2021 found that as many as 76% of employees expect this. Furthermore, employees are energized to take action themselves, with 60% feeling empowered to be change-makers in their workplace. The survey alarmingly reported that "75% globally said they would take action to advance urgently needed changes to their organization, with 40% saying they would go public through whistleblowing, protesting, or social media posts." In the U.S., there has also been a resurgence of interest in labor unions, driven by a desire to safeguard human rights at work and actively participate in redesigning organizational cultures. October 2021 alone saw more than 25,000 workers on strike, significantly higher than the average of 10,000 in the preceding three months (The New York Times).
These dynamics underscore that "clearly times have changed, but have organisational leaders taken note?" Perhaps not sufficiently, as the Edelman survey indicated that only 48% of employees believe their employers are acting on their stated values. This disconnect risks eroding trust, undermining leaders’ credibility, and diminishing employee engagement. The Great Resignation continues, with 33% of employees quitting when their employer "didn’t speak out about a societal or political issue the employee felt it had an obligation to address." The era of the silent executive on DEI issues is over, as is the tolerance for hollow public statements without tangible change. The new standard demands inclusive leadership characterized by "allyship through action."
Conclusion: A Pivotal Moment for Inclusive Leadership and DEI
The tumultuous two years of the pandemic have irrevocably altered the landscape of work, compelling a global re-evaluation of purpose, talent dynamics, operational policies, and the role of organizations in a polarized world. These interconnected shifts present both significant challenges and unparalleled opportunities for advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Organizations are now called upon to move beyond rhetoric, to genuinely listen to their employees, and to co-create workplaces that are not only productive but also purpose-driven, equitable, flexible, and responsive to societal issues.
This is a pivotal moment for leaders to demonstrate inclusive leadership, fostering environments where every individual can thrive. The insights gleaned from this period underscore the urgent need for comprehensive DEI strategies that are integrated into every facet of organizational design and culture. The future of work is not merely about adapting to remote models or new technologies; it is fundamentally about building human-centered ecosystems that reflect the values and aspirations of a diverse workforce. Ignoring these profound shifts risks not only talent loss but also irrelevance in an increasingly conscious and demanding global economy.
For organizations seeking to navigate these complex transformations and embed effective DEI practices, expert advisory, coaching, and speaking engagements can provide invaluable guidance. The principles of behavioral insights, often referred to as "Inclusion Nudges," offer practical, evidence-based approaches to design interventions that foster inclusivity by default. These tools help leaders and change-makers to "Show Data to Easily See Problems & Do Actions," "Reveal Gaps in Flexible Working to Increase Use by All," and establish "Flexible Working as the Default & Norm." Furthermore, cultivating an empathetic and action-oriented leadership requires encouraging individuals to "Ask Flip Questions to Change Your Perceptions in the Moment" and embracing "Ally by Actions – Not by Posting on Social Media." The current moment demands a proactive, informed, and deeply inclusive response to forge a more equitable and sustainable future of work.
