A record number of people are quitting their jobs. April saw the highest rate since 2000. One Microsoft survey indicated that 40 percent of the global workforce considered quitting their job this past year.

Burnout is being blamed. I addressed burnout recently. It’s not the problem.

The solutions being proposed, though, are right on: there is a renewed focus on well-being.

The tactics to promote well-being are again missing the point: Alphabet is offering extra “reset” days, as is Citi. Others are giving employees an extra week off.

Time off won’t cut it. People will return and fatigue. Why? Because the system didn’t change, and I don’t mean the company system. It’s one thing for a company to make concessions; it’s another for people to learn how to work and live differently.

People are getting in touch with personal values and intangibles, and deciding that a job change is required. Maybe it is. Likely, it isn’t.

The answer to people leaving your company isn’t recharging their batteries, it’s changing their lives. People have patterns and reactions that need to mature and come into wellness. The answer isn’t in doing something different, it’s in being different.

People need to break out of their norm; but they don’t know how. Therefore, they assume it’s about a different location or vocation. The problem is, they are still the same person in a new place. I love people. I am sad when they lean a new ladder up against a wrong building.

Invest in Advocates

My own executive coach, Joe Woodruff, started a concept and a company around being an advocate. Similar to coaching, advocates come alongside a person and help them to see their life and work clearly, and to respond more effectively to what needs to be done.

As Joe says, “A mentor pours in. A coach draws out. An advocate stays with.”

Most company approaches to promoting well-being is to increase the smorgasbord of opportunities: sponsored exercises, time off, seminars, tools, etc.

It’s a band-aid. Hey, I’ve needed band-aids at times. I’m in favor of them. But pretty soon, the company will assess the effectiveness of them and realize they haven’t received their money’s worth.

I want you to bring advocates into your company for your employees. I want you to give your employees a different gift of time: Not time off, but time invested into them.

What will an advocate do for them?

• Assess, Coach and Resource real-time points of need
• Connect to and follow up on longer-term plans for well-being
• Communicate and encourage throughout a month

Here is the best part: Your own employees can learn how to advocate for each other. Advocates may come from outside your company, but you may find it advantageous to train others within as well.

I bet that the money invested in “recharge” programs doesn’t see anywhere the return as that which is invested in advocates who bring out the best in others.

I’m very passionate about this. I’ve seen it be effective. It’s been effective in my own life. I’m so passionate about this, I have made it an offering through CIO Mastermind. Contact me, and I will discuss with you what Advocate might look like for you, for your staff and for your company.

People are valuable. We want their best, even if it is apart from us. But it is likely with us, especially if they are in a company that invests so much in them that they have a person who is all for them: an advocate.