Can understanding “The Great Resignation” lead to more death care workers

Over the weekend I conflated two situations and tried to make the argument that one situation could actually help the other.  What happened is that I have noticed that almost all funeral homes of a larger case volume seem to be short professional staff.  And, it’s not just in the United States — InvoCare in Australia has publicly said that they are short-staffed also.

That knowledge was coupled with an article put out by The Hustle on Sunday.  That article was titled, “Why people are actually leaving their jobs during the Great Resignation”.  In reading that article I learned that people have been leaving jobs for sometime – from a typical 2.3% of workers in January 2021 – to record highs of 2.8% in April 2021, 2.9% in September 2021, and 3.0% in December 2021.  And, that number stood at 2.8% in January 2022 which is the last month statistics are available. . . . by the way, 2.8% of the employed is a raw number of about 4.3 million people. . . . that’s a lot of jobs.

One of the things The Hustle points out is that these people are not necessarily leaving the workforce.  According to a survey of over 1,000 of these workers, 27% left positions because they found jobs with better pay.  In essence, as The Hustle points out, maybe we should be calling the Great Resignation the “Great Renegotiation” because, as they put it, “most people leaving their jobs have jumped to greener pastures at another employer”.

That tidbit of knowledge should make every employer look to their salaries and benefits to make sure that employment in their business is not woefully lacking causing employees to look elsewhere.

However, I also can see good news for the death care profession in The Hustle article.  For instance, 17% of those leaving their jobs are looking “for a more rewarding career” and 10% are “pursuing a new career path”.  It is these statistics which give me pause to say that there is great hope for new employees in the death care profession.

First of all, for many in our profession, it is not the total compensation, but the “rewards” of working with those who have lost loved ones that give them great satisfaction.  That would seem to indicate that there may be a high number of future employees seeking a more rewarding career that are out there.  The death care profession just has to find them.

Secondly, the death care profession has always been a profession that has been a second profession for those who leave their first profession for whatever reason.  It seems that the more one goes through life, or simply matures, the more open they are to employment in the funeral home sector.  I think life experiences play a role in that thought process.  And, a solid 10% of those in the Great Resignation indicate that they are searching for a “new career path”.

The issue that death care has, it seems, is identifying who these individuals are and then targeting them with a “pitch” about funeral service professions.  If our profession can hone in on this 27% group (rewarding work/2nd profession) of job switching employees it might certainly go a long way in helping alleviate our professional shortages.

Related Employment Issue article — Minnesota legislators introduced a bill that would allow non-licensed staff to make removals, arrange, direct, or supervise a funeral, graveside service, or memorial service if properly trained by a licensed mortuary supervisor.  You can see an article and video of this potential change here.  Representative John Huot of Minnesota says in his bill presentation on the video,  “. . .(we will be) changing an industry that doesn’t like to change.”

Related — Nebraska.  “The state legislature . .  passed the bill making it easier to become a funeral director in Nebraska.”

Related — WyomingWyoming to make changes to funeral director requirements.

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