Team BUILDERS

83 TOP WORKPLACES IN NEW JERSEY RECOGNIZED FOR COMMUNICATION AND WORK/LIFE FLEXIBILITY

- LIZ ALTERMAN

For employers and employees alike, the pandemic sparked a time of significant reflection. While management assessed what was working well and what needed improvement, staff evaluated everything from job fulfillment to work-life balance.

Many workers discovered that their career path was no longer ideal, resulting in what was dubbed The Great Resignation, with 50.5 million people quitting their jobs in 2022, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

Those employees seem to have found what they were seeking, according to results from Energage’s Top Workplaces survey, which showed that, overall, workers are happier than they were the previous year.

“Everything for 2023 is more positive than it was in 2022, except for, interestingly, confidence in the leader, which actually went down slightly,” explained Bob Helbig, media partnerships director of Pennsylvania-based employee engagement platform Energage.

When presented with the statement, “I have the flexibility I need to balance my work and personal life,” 76.7% of survey takers answered positively last year. This year, that figure rose 2.6% points to 79.3%.

"One of the great things about the pandemic is that companies were forced to assess that and ask those questions,” Helbig said. “I think you're probably seeing a reflection of that. Companies are doing a better job asking, listening and responding. The Great Resignation is a very real thing we started seeing in the latter half of 2021. More people were saying that they were looking for work elsewhere and people followed through on that.”