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The pandemic accelerated an already changing workplace culture

Executive leadership coach Ali Boyd said the demand for more than just a paycheck has created a dynamic situation in the working world.

DENVER — According to the U.S. Department of Labor, as many as four million people have left their jobs each month recently, spurred by the so-called Great Resignation and prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As people leave in droves, more executives and leaders are seeking ways to retain their staff. It’s the most common question Ali Boyd, an executive leadership coach in Denver, gets from executives coming to her for help.

“If leadership ever was about control, direct, manage, it’s no longer about just that,” Boyd, who founded Evolve Leadership Partners, said. “It’s really about how do I create an environment where people can develop, thrive, grow.”

Boyd told 9NEWS culture in the workplace was changing long before the COVID-19 pandemic, but it accelerated that change.

“Having work bleed into personal life in ways that it hasn’t ever before, bringing the technology of work into home has also meant that home life is a lot less sacred. And some of what’s going on at home comes to work in a different way,” she said.

“I think that people’s expectation of work, their tolerance for having less reward at work or not being sort of emotionally satisfied or having a lot of meaning in their workplace… that has really shifted,” Boyd said.

The demand for more than just a paycheck has created a dynamic situation in the working world, she said.

“(People are) thinking about wow…what actually is important to me, how do I want to spend my time, how am I spending my energy…for the sake of what am I doing what I’m doing,” she explained.

“It’s going to require leaders and organizations to be responsive and thoughtful about their work and their workplaces in a different way in order to attract and retain people," Boyd said. “We know that it’s more than just a paycheck. We know that it has so much to do with it’s a thriving work environment, it’s a culture where I can grow and develop and learn, it’s alignment with meaning, it’s a fit into my life, it’s a fit with what else I’ve got going on personally and my other goals as a whole integrated human being.”

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