Power August 2023 - 5

SPEAKING OF POWER
How the 'Great Resignation'
and Disengagement Are
Affecting the Power Industry
Aaron Larson
T
he " Great Resignation " is a term
used to describe a widespread
trend that took shape over the
past few years of employees voluntarily
changing jobs in large numbers. The
phenomenon gained traction during the
COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 47
million Americans quitting their jobs in
2021 alone, according to the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The Great Resignation has hit electric
utilities harder than most other industries.
According to the latest BLS data,
the job openings rate for the " transportation,
warehousing, and utilities " sector
was 7.6% in May. The only sector with a
higher percentage of job openings was
" accommodation and food services " at
7.7%, while the average job openings
rate for all 19 non-farm sectors the BLS
tracks was 5.9%. For additional perspective,
the job openings rate for transportation,
warehousing, and utilities was only
4.4% in December 2019 when COVID
first surfaced in a Chinese seafood and
poultry market, and as recently as November
2017 the percentage was under
3%, although the numbers do fluctuate
quite a bit from month to month.
Quiet Quitting
Some experts believe the job-switching
trend is coming to an end. A headline in The
New York Times in early July stated: " The
'Great Resignation' Is Over. " While that's
more of a judgement call than a proven fact,
the rate of voluntary quits per 100 workers
has come down. It was reportedly 2.6 in
May, which is closer to the pre-pandemic
norm of about 2.3 than it is to the high of
3.0 hit in November 2021 and again in April
2022. Still, studies show that there are
plenty of ongoing workforce engagement
problems for employers to worry about.
Furthermore,
additional
data
suggests
these problems are widespread, not only in
America, but also around the world.
Gallop's State of the Global Workplace:
2023 Report says, " The majority of the
world's employees are quiet quitting. "
Quiet quitting is when someone psychologically
disengages from work. EmployAugust
2023 | POWER
ees may be physically present or logged
into their computer, but they don't know
what to do or why it matters. They also
don't have any supportive bonds with
their coworkers, boss, or their organization.
Nearly 60% of employees around
the world fall into this category, according
to Gallop's report.
Beyond the quiet-quitting group is the
" actively disengaged " faction. Actively
disengaged employees report miserable
work experiences and are generally poorly
managed. According to Gallop's survey,
18% of the world's employees are actively
disengaged. When you combine the actively
disengaged workers with the quiet
quitters, you end up with a lot of under-performing
employees. Gallop estimates low
engagement costs the global economy
about $8.8 trillion dollars annually.
What is perhaps somewhat surprising
is where the U.S. ranks in worker engagement.
It's actually quite high compared to
other countries, with 34% of employees
engaged. Compare that to Italy and Japan,
where only 5% of workers reported
being engaged, and the U.S. workforce
looks stellar. In fact, I only found Mali
(47%), Senegal (41%), Mongolia (38%),
and Romania (35%) to have higher percentages
of engaged workers than the
U.S. Nonetheless, having only slightly
more than one out of every three workers
feeling engaged doesn't seem like something
we should be bragging about.
Some Power Employees Buck the
Trend
The power industry has a strong history of
providing well-paying and stable employment.
The Great Resignation has done
nothing to change that. In fact, average
labor compensation per hour worked for
personnel in BLS's " Utilities: power generation
and supply " category was $78.48/
hr in 2022, an increase of about 7.75%
from 2019. The figure may sound high
when measured against reported hourly
wages, but it includes not only wages and
salaries before taxes and other deductions,
but also employer cost of benefits,
employer 401K contributions, bonuses,
and other legally allowed and/or required
www.powermag.com
perks provided to employees by power
companies. The figure is notable, as it is
nearly double the average employer costs
for employee compensation for all private
industry workers, which the BLS says
was $40.23/hr in December 2022.
Not surprisingly, there are many power
sector employees who are quite happy
with their jobs and intend to spend their
entire careers with one company. In fact,
there are generations of families who
have done just that. Newark, New Jersey-
headquartered Public Service Enterprise
Group (PSEG), which has been providing
electrical service for more than 120 years
to parts of New Jersey, and Long Island,
New York, reports that 15 families have
members who have worked for PSEG going
back three to five generations.
One example is the Przemelewski's,
a fifth-generation family. Marissa Przemelewski,
a customer service representative,
began working for PSEG last year.
Her father, Lenard Przemelewski Jr., is
a chief relay technician who has worked
at the company for 23 years. Marissa's
grandfather, Lenard Przemelewski Sr.,
worked at PSEG for 42 years, retiring
in 2010 as a service consultant in Marketing.
Adolph Przemelewski, Marissa's
great-grandfather, retired in 1973, after
spending 34 years at PSEG as a maintenance
machinist. Marissa's greatgreat-grandfather,
Szczepan (Stephan)
Przemielewski, kicked it all off. Although
the specific dates of his PSEG employment
are unknown, what is known is
that Stephan emigrated from Poland in
1906, and his 1917 military draft card
listed him as working in PSEG's Maintenance
department. In any case, it's safe
to say a Przemelewski family member
has been on PSEG's payroll for more
than 100 years in total.
To view photos of the Przemelewski's
and learn about other generational families
serving on PSEG's team, check out the
online version of this article at: powermag.
com. The online version also includes
excerpts from exclusive interviews with
some of the family members. ■
-Aaron Larson is POWER's
executive editor.
5
https://www.powermag.com/how-the-great-resignation-and-disengagement-are-affecting-the-power-industry http://www.powermag.com
Power August 2023

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