The past two years have unfolded as a period of unprecedented upheaval, fundamentally altering the global landscape of work. The ongoing pandemic has served as a catalyst for a massive, rapid-paced experimentation with novel operational models, sparking a profound re-evaluation of professional life and its future trajectory. While many questions remain open and data continues to evolve, a clear pattern of emerging trends has been identified, categorised under the pillars of ‘Purpose,’ ‘People,’ ‘Process & Policy,’ and ‘Polarisation & Activism.’ These shifts carry significant implications for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, necessitating critical reflection from organisations navigating this ambiguous and fast-changing environment.
The Great Reassessment: A New Era of Purpose-Driven Work
The seismic shock of the pandemic compelled millions worldwide to embark on a profound personal introspection, critically examining their individual purpose and its alignment with their professional pursuits. A U.S. survey by McKinsey revealed that nearly two-thirds of respondents reflected on their purpose due to the pandemic experience, prompting fundamental questions such as, "Is this job truly worth my energy and time?" This introspection marks a significant departure from the implicit pre-pandemic work model, where substantial personal sacrifices for career advancement were often the norm. The new anchor of purposeful work is reshaping employee expectations and decisions.
A global Edelman survey in August 2021 underscored this shift, indicating that nearly 60% of employees had either left or were planning to leave their jobs to find roles better aligned with their personal values. Concurrently, 50% were actively seeking positions offering an improved lifestyle. These motivations now often outweigh traditional drivers for career change, such as higher compensation or accelerated career growth, which were dominant before the pandemic. This purpose-driven shift transcends generational divides. In the U.S., millennial workers were three times more likely to be re-evaluating their careers, while in the U.K., the number of employees over 50 opting for early retirement more than doubled since the pandemic’s onset. While not every job exit can be solely attributed to a lack of purpose, its emergence as a primary consideration is undeniable.
The widespread lockdowns laid bare the inherent limitations of pre-existing work models in fostering a sense of purpose, particularly highlighting the costs of unequal and biased workplaces. The dual burden faced by many women in balancing professional and domestic responsibilities, long acknowledged but largely unaddressed, became starkly undeniable during the pandemic-era work experience. This unavoidable realisation has catalysed a demand for healthier work models. For women with caregiving duties, the pandemic led to significantly higher rates of burnout and resignations. Globally, women’s employment declined by 54 million, or 4.2%, in the first year of the pandemic, compared to a 3% drop for men. This data necessitates an immediate organisational response to integrate personal purpose with work and life in a holistic and sustainable manner.
Prior to the pandemic, research by PwC indicated a significant intention-action gap: nearly 79% of business leaders recognised the importance of purpose, yet only 34% actually integrated organisational purpose into their decision-making. Furthermore, many struggled to cultivate environments that stimulated employees’ sense of individual purpose. The pandemic has drastically closed this gap, forcing a widespread re-evaluation of work’s meaning, with far-reaching implications for employees, managers, leaders, stakeholders, organisations, and society at large.
The Great Rebalancing of Power: Employees and the Evolving Talent Landscape
As economies, organisations, and individuals grapple with recovery, talent has emerged as the linchpin of success. Power dynamics have demonstrably shifted towards employees, who are now in a stronger position to articulate their expectations for attraction and retention. This era has given rise to what has been widely termed "The Great Resignation." A global Microsoft survey in March 2021 reported that over 40% of employees were considering leaving their employers within the year. While researchers acknowledge a pre-pandemic upward trend in resignation rates, the pandemic significantly accelerated this phenomenon, transforming it into a critical talent concern.
Job market data paints a vivid picture. In August 2021, 4.3 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs, coinciding with 10.4 million open positions. During the same period, the U.K. saw a record high of over 1 million job vacancies. These figures underscore long-term concerns, with Willis Towers Watson reporting that 70% of U.S. employers anticipated this talent gap to persist into 2022, and 61% struggling with employee retention. German company leaders, in the EU’s largest economy, also expressed increasing worry over the lack of skilled employees, with an 11% jump in three months to 34.6% by July 2021.
Analysis reveals that resignation rates were particularly prevalent among mid-career professionals, showing a 20% increase from pre-pandemic levels, especially in the high-demand tech and healthcare sectors. While high turnover in service and hospitality sectors continued, the pandemic brought greater public awareness and empathy for the often-poor working conditions. Across many sectors, there has been an observable increase in "Rage Quitting," where workers abruptly resign, no longer willing to tolerate negative work environments.
The pandemic intensified focus on the imperative to value employees and foster inclusive workplaces, underpinned by fair labour practices and policies. In this climate of pervasive uncertainty, some individuals have experienced stress, while others have been prompted to rethink their circumstances and explore new opportunities. Quitting has become an active declaration that "we can do better." Organisations can no longer ignore the critical impact of workplace culture and employee experience on talent attraction and retention, which ultimately dictates organisational success and broader economic growth. A people-centred work culture is now a fundamental component of "The Great Reset" and other "build back better" initiatives aiming for post-pandemic recovery.
However, the narrative isn’t solely one of voluntary departures. "The Great Divergence" highlights the growing inequalities within the economic recovery. Many pandemic-era employment changes were not "Great Resignations" but involuntary job losses, exacerbating a global employment crisis. OECD countries saw 20 million fewer people employed since the pandemic’s start, 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 noted that reduced working hours disproportionately affected low-paid jobs. While global unemployment rates showed a slight drop by May 2021, they remained higher than pre-pandemic levels. An inclusive approach to talent and employment is therefore paramount, one that acknowledges the full spectrum of pandemic-era work shifts and reconfigures talent and employment systems to be equitable for all. This period presents an unprecedented opportunity for profound systemic change.
Redefining Work: Process, Policy, and the Hybrid Future
Periods of intense change offer invaluable opportunities to identify where the status quo no longer serves current or future needs. The pandemic brought into sharp focus the "where" and "how" of work, triggering significant shifts in the social contract between employees and employers. Workers now exhibit a reduced tolerance for established norms such as workplace "presenteeism," lengthy commutes, formal dress codes, substandard working conditions, unfair compensation, discrimination, the false belief in meritocracy, limited control over their work, expectations of constant availability, excessive business travel, feelings of isolation, and a lack of well-being and psychological safety. The systemic gender inequality in family care responsibilities, though not new, gained unprecedented visibility. It became undeniably clear that many pre-pandemic workplaces were rooted in outdated norms that no longer align with contemporary realities. The current imperative for organisations is to redefine and clearly communicate their policies regarding work location and methodology.
The most prominent policy shift revolves around work location. While emerging data on remote work preferences often appears conflicting, a consistent finding across studies is the strong desire for continued online work among at least one demographic group (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 arrangements strongest among women, working parents, and employees of colour—groups that reported improved employee experience scores while working remotely. This shift is anticipated to have broad social ramifications, including increased employee diversity, improved work-life balance, and expanded talent pools as geographical location becomes less critical.
However, a significant proportion of employees, estimated at two-thirds, expect more than one day of remote work per week and are willing to quit if remote work is not established as the norm. Before the pandemic, remote work arrangements were often ad hoc, fostering biases, placing undue decision-making burdens on managers, discouraging employees from making requests, and generally being perceived as unfair. Research conducted in 2019 by Lisa and Veronika Hucke on work location and methods revealed that senior male employees constituted the majority of remote workers, while working mothers faced stigma when requesting such options, and junior staff, despite desiring remote work, feared being perceived as "not serious about their job" if they asked. The current context, following a massive global experiment with remote work, offers a critical opportunity to rectify these historical imbalances.
Crucially, the process of creating new policies is as important, if not more so, than the policies themselves. A policy designed in isolation risks being unfit for purpose, facing low acceptance and usage, and potentially exacerbating existing inequalities. A multi-country survey of knowledge workers highlighted a concerning disconnect: 66% of executives reported designing post-pandemic workforce policies with little to no direct input from their employees. This isolated approach has led to overconfidence, with 66% of executives believing they are "very transparent," while only 42% of workers agree. Such a top-down approach risks failure from the outset, representing a lost opportunity to engage those directly impacted in an inclusive co-creation process. The collective call to action from the pandemic era is clear: policies must be assessed for their relevance, co-created using data and input from all organisational levels, integrate behavioural insights, and be implemented through agile experimentation.
Navigating Societal Divides: Polarisation and Workplace Activism
As societies emerge from lockdowns, a complex spectrum of emotions—sadness, loss, fear, lack of control, and anger—has permeated public discourse, spilling over into the workplace. Research across 17 countries indicates that 60% of people feel society is more divided now than before the pandemic, a 30% increase from pre-pandemic rates. Within organisations, new challenges have arisen, exemplified by "no jab, no job" policies. While some view vaccination requirements for office return or client interaction as essential for public health, others perceive them as an overreach of control. Global frustration and fatigue are palpable, evidenced by over 50,000 pandemic-related protests. "COVID rage" manifests in increasing instances of customer abuse towards workers, particularly in the hospitality and service sectors, where up to 80% of employees reported witnessing or experiencing such incidents. These issues are further compounded by widening inequalities in vaccine access, threatening an inclusive economic recovery and starkly highlighting the gap between the "haves" and "have-nots."
Beyond pandemic-specific polarisation, a decline in trust in public officials and civic institutions has been building for years. A global study in August 2021 revealed that Millennials and Generation Z exhibit such deep mistrust that they express greater "faith in governance by a system of artificial intelligence than by a fellow human being." This generation’s disillusionment stems from persistent concerns over corruption, stagnant political leadership, and threats to physical safety posed by surveillance and militarised policing targeting activists and people of colour. The tragic murder of George Floyd in May 2020 ignited a significant surge in Black Lives Matter and anti-racism activism in over 60 countries, bringing issues of inequality and discrimination into active discussion within both society and the workplace.
Employees now increasingly expect and demand that their workplace leaders take a public stance on critical social issues. A global Edelman survey in August 2021 found that up to 76% of employees expect this. Furthermore, employees are empowered and ready to take action themselves, with 60% feeling capable of being change-makers in their workplace. A striking 75% globally stated they would act to advance urgently needed organisational changes, with 40% indicating they would go public through whistleblowing, protesting, or social media posts. In the U.S., there has also been a resurgence of interest in labour unions, driven by a desire to safeguard human rights at work and actively participate in redesigning organisational cultures. October 2021 alone saw over 25,000 workers on strike, significantly higher than the average of 10,000 in the preceding three months.
Despite these clear shifts, many organisational leaders may not have fully grasped the new reality. The same global survey indicated that only 48% of employees believed their employers were actively upholding their stated values. This disconnect risks eroding trust, undermining leaders’ credibility, and diminishing employee engagement. The "Great Resignation" is further fuelled by this gap, 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 empty public statements without tangible action. The new standard for leadership is to be an inclusive leader, actively demonstrating allyship through concrete actions.
Integrating DEI into the New World of Work
The emergent trends in Purpose, People, Process & Policy, and Polarisation & Activism collectively underscore a critical inflection point for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Organisations can no longer treat DEI as a peripheral initiative; it must be interwoven into the very fabric of new work models. The demand for purpose-driven work necessitates re-evaluating how organisational values translate into equitable opportunities and meaningful contributions for all employees. Addressing the "Great Resignation" and "Great Divergence" requires inclusive talent strategies that not only attract diverse talent but also ensure equitable retention, career progression, and support for those disproportionately affected by job losses and economic instability.
The redesign of work processes and policies, particularly around flexible and remote work, presents an unparalleled opportunity to dismantle historical biases. By co-creating policies with diverse employee input and using behavioural insights, organisations can foster genuinely inclusive environments that accommodate varying needs and life circumstances, rather than perpetuating existing inequalities. Finally, the heightened employee activism and societal polarisation demand that leaders courageously engage with social issues, translate corporate values into action, and foster psychological safety for open dialogue and dissent. Ignoring these calls risks alienating talent and undermining organisational legitimacy.
This tumultuous period, while challenging, offers an urgent mandate and a unique opportunity for DEI change-makers. By understanding these shifts, asking critical reflective questions, and intentionally designing inclusive strategies, organisations can build more resilient, equitable, and purposeful futures for all. Consulting with experts, leveraging behavioural science, and actively engaging employees will be crucial in navigating this evolving landscape and ensuring DEI is at the heart of the next chapter of work.
