Jobs/Appointments
How Businesses Can Focus on Employees to Avoid The Great Resignation
By Hyther Nizam
Across the globe, The Great Resignation has become a source of concern among businesses. It refers to the unprecedented number of workers quitting their jobs in the Covid-19 and post-pandemic eras.
In Nigeria, businesses have recently seen their fair share of voluntary employee resignations. Most notable was the “big quit,” an exodus of top tech talents from Nigerian Banks. Nigerian millennials and Gen Zers, who comprise a large percentage of job-hoppers, also account for the majority of the young workforce population in the country. Now, they are re-evaluating their working experiences after the hard hit of the pandemic. The Deloitte Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey reveals that the youngest generations in the workplace are now seeking balance, prioritising happiness, and expressing higher expectations for compensation.
With an unemployment rate of just over 33%, you may think few employed Nigerians can really afford to leave their jobs. But the truth is, even here, employers aren’t immune to The Great Resignation. Thanks to the rise of remote work, Nigerian workers (especially those with in-demand skills) can truly compete in the global job market, and not limit themselves to regional roles. They have faced many of the same pressures as other workers around the world as a result of the pandemic, meaning they have the same temptations to start their own businesses or enter the freelance market.
What can businesses do to avoid losing employees to the Great Resignation? While the answer may vary depending on industry and market, the one universally key solution is to earn employee support.
The importance of employee loyalty
Before digging into how organisations can earn employee support, it’s important to remember why it matters. Losing an employee can take a big toll on your company (with the effect magnified for smaller organisations). On average, it takes 41 days to fill a position. That’s 41 days other people in the business have to do all of a former employee’s duties in addition to their own.
Further, replacing an employee can be incredibly expensive. According to the analytics and advisory company, Gallup, it can cost one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary to replace them. Whichever way you cut it, you could give that employee a substantial salary increase and it would still be more financially viable than replacing them.
It’s also worth pointing out that there’s a positive correlation between good employee experiences and good customer experiences. That makes sense—a single positive interaction with an employee can dramatically alter how a customer perceives and experiences the company. The chances of a positive interaction taking place are much slimmer in companies that have high levels of employee turnover and a lack of institutional experience.
Building employee support
With that in mind, how should companies go about building the employee experiences they need to ensure they have the full support of their workers?
The HR team can leverage cloud technology and implement a comprehensive human resource management system (HRMS) in order to automate most of their mundane manual tasks. Through HRMS, an organisation can also create a self-service model so employees have a single portal for various activities, such as applying for leave and adding medical claims. By creating workflows, the company can ensure that when a request is raised, the appropriate approver is automatically notified. Automating processes will free up the HR team to focus on employee engagement activities.
Rethinking talent acquisition
The rise of remote work as a result of the pandemic saw many people leave big cities for smaller towns and villages. For some, the move was inspired by the prospect of a better quality of life; for others, it was about being closer to family.
Rather than lament the loss of centralised offices in big cities, smart organisations should see this as an opportunity. Instead of fighting over the same pool of talent available in metro cities, they can create opportunities for those living in non-urban centres or rural areas, and invest in skill development.
At Zoho, for instance, we have always believed that talent is everywhere, though opportunities are not. We have traditionally hired people from all backgrounds and opened offices away from city centres in order to tap under-utilised talent in smaller towns and rural areas. We expanded this approach during the pandemic by opening smaller, satellite offices wherever we had enough employees residing, instead of prompting them to come back to the office. We have been hiring locally in these satellite offices. By creating opportunities in the sought-after tech sector in non-urban and rural areas, we help communities retain talent and flourish. This adds a sense of purpose to the job, which also helps in retaining talent.
The right (virtual) environment
Even if an organisation meets its employees’ needs when it comes to working location, it’s still important for it to provide the best possible working environment (even if it’s a virtual one).
One of the most effective ways of doing this is to take a considered approach to the software solutions your employees work with on a daily basis. Rather than a patchwork of software solutions, for example, organisations can benefit from a unified enterprise software suite that meets all their needs—from documentation to meetings, to CRM. In an increasingly hybrid work environment, keeping data and processes on a unified system leads to better visibility and fosters cross-functional collaboration.
A holistic approach
Employers looking to ensure that their businesses do not fall prey to The Great Resignation need to have an understanding of the concerns Gen Z and millennial employees have with respect to the workplace and their career paths. They should be deliberate in creating a flexible working experience where the employee can thrive in a globally competitive environment.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has clarified that the viral report suggesting that it is currently employing new staff is the “handiwork of fake recruitment syndicates established to mastermind fraudulent activities.”
In a Monday statement posted on its official X handle, NMDPRA expressed that it was compelled to publish the disclaimer to alert the public against such activities due to what it described as “exploiting young economically vulnerable and unsuspecting Nigerians perhaps into parting with huge sums of money for purported employment opportunities into the authority.”
“They do this by issuing bogus “Letters of Employment” and empty promises, as well as offering non-existent positions. These may well be the handiwork of fake recruitment syndicates established to mastermind these fraudulent activities.
“We wish to use this opportunity to state categorically that the NMDPRA is NOT conducting any recruitment exercise currently. Neither is the Agency undertaking any kind of employment in its services at any level. For the avoidance of doubt, any future recruitment exercise would be undertaken in accordance with extant rules guiding such exercises in the Nigerian Public Service,” the organisation emphasised.
The agency further advised the public to disregard these fake employment advertisements and urged them to visit its official website and social media pages to verify any recruitment claims.
The statement added, “In this regard therefore, we would like to advise the public and all Nigerians to ignore these spurious claims by unscrupulous people whose only objective is to defraud Nigerians and cast aspersion on the authority.
“We further advise that for current and up to date information regarding all our activities, kindly refer to our official corporate website: www.nmdpra.gov.ng as well as all our verified online social media outlets (i.e. Facebook, Linkedln and Instagram) for authentic information.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Aradel Holdings Plc has appointed Ms Nnoli Akpedeye as an Independent Non-Executive Director, effective February 2, 2026, following a resolution passed at the company’s board meeting held on January 28, 2026.
In a notice to shareholders, Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, and the investing public, the company disclosed that the appointment is subject to ratification by shareholders at its next Annual General Meeting (AGM). The board also authorised the Company Secretary, Mrs Titiola Omisore, to notify relevant regulators and take all necessary steps to give effect to the decision.
Ms Akpedeye brings more than 36 years of multi-disciplinary experience spanning oil and gas, engineering, legal and arbitration services, and management consulting. Her career reflects a strong blend of technical expertise and strategic leadership, with competencies in management and strategy, business process engineering, organisational development and change management, as well as entrepreneurship development.
Until 2014, she served as Technical Planning Manager for Shell Exploration and Production Companies in Nigeria, where she led the execution of high-impact, mission-critical projects. Over the course of her career at Shell, she held roles across civil engineering design, planning and construction, project management, facility management, technical audit, and business planning and strategy, gaining extensive local and international exposure.
Beyond her corporate career, Ms Akpedeye is an entrepreneur and advocate for capacity building in engineering and energy. She runs Contego Servo Limited and Perfectus Laundi Limited, and in 2013, she launched the “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” programme aimed at encouraging secondary school girls in Nigeria to pursue careers in engineering and related STEM fields.
She is a Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN)-registered engineer, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE), and a past President of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN). She is also a founding member of the Women in Energy Network (WIEN) and serves as a passionate ambassador for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
In addition, Ms Akpedeye is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Compos Mentis Legal Practitioners and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Compos Mentis Foundation.
Her appointment further strengthens Aradel Holdings’ board with deep industry knowledge, governance experience, and a strong track record in leadership and institutional development, as the company continues to pursue its strategic objectives within Nigeria’s energy landscape.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An interim chief executive has been appointed by Geregu Power Plc and he is Mr Sean Manley, with his appointment to take effect from Monday, February 2, 2026.
A statement from the power generating firm disclosed that his appointment is subject to the approval of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the shareholders of the company at the next general meeting.
In the notice, the organisation expressed confidence that the appointee would use his wealth of experience and leadership to “add significant value to the company.”
Mr Manley is said to be “a seasoned power-sector professional with a proven track record in delivering complex energy projects in developing markets.”
He is armed with more than 30 years’ experience spanning sales, business development, project implementation, supply-chain management, and OEM-led delivery within the power sector.
Over the course of his career with Siemens, Mr Manley has developed deep technical and operational expertise in thermal power generation, covering plant construction, commissioning, major overhauls, and long-term operational support.
He is widely regarded as a practical problem-solver, with a demonstrated ability to close projects in challenging operating environments and brings extensive international experience and strong intercultural skills acquired across multi-jurisdictional engagements.
His areas of expertise include the delivery of large, complex infrastructure projects, management of multi-million-dollar business units, client and stakeholder relationship management, business and market development, as well as logistics and procurement analysis critical to successful project execution.
The appointment of Mr Manley comes after Mr Femi Otedola divested his stake in the energy firm last month to support the recapitalisation of First Bank of Nigeria, a subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc, which he chairs.
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