Following the onslaught of the Great Resignation, businesses are well-advised to introduce four-day workweeks.

George Trotter, analyst at GlobalData, issued that advice in a new podcast from the research firm this week.

He argued that the pandemic motivated workers around the world to rethink their priorities. Often, this meant they opted for a better work-life balance.

So when social restrictions eased and companies began ordering employees to return to the office, many professionals instead opted for the nuclear option and quit.

At the same time, there has been a shortage of staff. The number of closed roles has also dropped between November 2021 and November 2022 from 222,506 to 156,402 closed roles, according to data from GlobalData.

That being said, there has also been a decrease in the number of roles advertised. One year ago, there were 591,955 active tech roles posted across the global industry. Last month, that figure had dropped to 390,788 active roles.

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The industry is also advertising fewer roles. In November 2021, there were jobs being posted 225,506. That figure has plunged to 96,179 posted roles this year. That’s besides the bloodbath in the tech industry, where some of the industry’s biggest firms have sacked tens of thousands of staff members in order to survive the more volatile market.

Still, as the numbers show and as Verdict reported last week, there are plenty of tech firms out there that are still hiring.

Trotter urged those firms to take a long and hard look at their hiring and employment practices.

“Retaining staff is likely to become more difficult for the CEOs, especially with conflicts regarding the hybrid working situation,” he said.

“KPMG recently did a study that revealed that 65% of CEOs want their work has to be in the office every day. But according to a GlobalData survey, less than a fifth of people want to come in daily, and this is causing a massive problem. Consequently to retain staff and keep happy work life balance.

“Many CEOs again started looking at the four-day workweek in 2023. This will provide an improved work-life balance for the workers, whilst also helping the companies to attract new talent during this tight labour market.”

GlobalData is the parent company of Verdict and its sister publications.