The level of education and training to qualify for most jobs is increasing rapidly, and many people are being left behind. Moreover, job competence today does not guarantee competence tomorrow. The job content is changing faster than most people realize or can cope with.

And COVID has wrought a massive change in attitude. People have concluded that living in large metropolitan areas is too expensive, commuting takes away too much of their day, and COVID gave them the opportunity to change their lifestyle and location. People have realized that certain industries, most notably travel and entertainment, are very exposed to sudden changes, and consequently have ranked these industries lower on their job preferences. And governments have pumped a massive amount of stimulus into the economy driving consumption, but have likely caused another wave of dislocation in low wage industries.

Finally, the gains made by women in the workplace over the past 50 years have been in some countries undercut by lack of community services for childcare and elder care. As a result, the participation of women in the workforce during the pandemic has plummeted.

The consequences of these changes are just now being understood. The result is felt by everyone. The supply chains are stretched and breaking. Obtaining services for the home, car or even personal health entails very long wait times, cancellations and no-shows. Fast food outlets are closed for lack of staff. Grocery stores are under-stocked. Cities are unable to hire municipal workers to run trains and buses.

Why have most organizations not implement analytics, planning or predictive tools to ensure that their managers are not blind to reality as they deal with these dislocations?

The 'Resignation Wave' is real, but mostly preventable

It's been dubbed the "Resignation Wave", "Great Resignation", "Turnover Tsunami" and several other catchy terms; no matter what you choose to call it, the stark reality is that employees are quitting in record numbers, and there are no signs of this phenomenon stopping.

The reality is that this Great Resignation is due to a combination of factors that have coalesced to create a social phenomenon. Increased workloads and stress due to the pandemic caused many employees to rethink what their priorities are, at the same time that many employers were trying to understand and enforce new policies about remote work, return to the office, and whether or not to hire or reduce headcount.

The restaurant industry is a prime example: there simply aren't enough people to fill the open positions now. Why? Because workers have just up and left the industry altogether. The uncertainty of COVID led many to re-evaluate their career paths. Public transport workers are another example: it didn't take the existing workers long to figure out that they are overexposed to COVID. Without adequate protection, who would want to be on a crowded subway all day?

Employees may not follow the resignation trend if they feel secure and are happy with their jobs. In fact, Gallup data found that one of the biggest personal factors for considering leaving right now is being disengaged with your role. But the reality of a much higher turnover in employees is here to stay for some time. What will organizations do to deal with this?

Increasing compensation is an obvious but not the only strategy. In order for organizations to protect themselves from being part of the Great Resignation statistics, they have to think about what their employees need from them first, and be flexible enough to provide a workplace that can be suitable for a very diverse population of employees.

Which leads to our next big blindspot.

Hybrid work is the new normal, but it comes with a real risk of burnout

As far as office jobs are concerned, the pandemic has proven the old mentality of having every employee "in-office" is outdated. Employees showed true resilience, and managed to maintain, if not improve, productivity during the past 18 months of the pandemic era.

Now with many offices either planning to re-open, or already opened, employers are starting to think once again about how the office should be utilized. It would be a mistake to assume we can return to "normal." Mindsets and processes have changed, and more than two-thirds of employees want some sort of flexibility with remote work, with many even going so far as to quit before returning to the office.

Employers are going to need to navigate a new set of challenges with these new hybrid work expectations. How will companies track productivity? How will teams operate and collaborate with some in-office, and others remote? How will organizations ensure remote employees are as engaged as their in-office team members? How will employees train and share experience? How will they receive timely performance feedback so they can adjust and improve?

One particular element of the hybrid work model that employers are going to need to keep a close eye on is burnout. Signs of burnout won't be easy to spot, and a variety of factors will impact employees differently; one employee might face increased stress due to being back in the office, while another might suffer from the increase of remote zoom meetings.

Having a regular pulse on your employees, backed by historical data and consort benchmarks, is one of the few ways that organizations can understand just how employees are reacting to changes as companies start to plot out their new future of work model.

A reckoning on diversity is coming

Finally, there's the ongoing conversation about immigration, diversity, equity and inclusion. One might think that given the massive public discourse around diversity, this wouldn't be considered a blind spot for companies. Sadly, the reality speaks differently.

On the one hand, organizations have been much better about making public commitments towards diversity, with some laying out plans and actions. But on the other hand, these are rarely ever presented with hard data or held accountable. This is the blind spot. Many organizations have been lack in their diversity management, and this is going to become a major problem. For example, the pandemic caused a wholesale reduction of women in the workforce. They were needed as caregivers to children who were suddenly not able to go to school, or for aging relatives whose were afraid to live in an assisted living accommodation. Employers might have avoided this problem by providing more child or elder care assistance.

For companies that haven't started actively reporting on their DEI metrics, they may already be behind the curve. Investors, as well as regulators, are already demanding increased transparency.

For example, the SEC is taking steps to actively monitor and measure diversity disclosures within public companies. They've even gone ahead with recommendations that boards would be required to disclose information on the gender and racial diversity of their directors. In California, boards must neet diversity quota set by state law.

This is only the beginning of a rapidly changing regulatory environment. Gone will be the days that organizations will pledge better diversity goals without any true accountability. Leaders will be measured on their DEI performance; in fact, hitting the diversity target will be reflected in the management and board compensation.

These are only three of the many complex challenges that organizations are now facing as we adapt to the new realities of work. Organizations need to be acting on these challenges now, by creating a data-driven strategy and management culture of making data-driven decisions. Shortcomings in these areas will be measured in market participation and stock price performance.

John Schwarz is founder and chairman of the board at Visier.

Read more: 

• Automation era: How democratized learning supports employee retention and business growth
• 4 ways companies can drive employee learning & development
• 6 tips to combat the 'Great Resignation'