Will the Great Resignation Lead to the Great Reassessment?

Will the Great Resignation Lead to the Great Reassessment?

As I said in my last post - gone are the days when a  company job would take you from college to retirement,  with not much change in between. Currently, aside from  the shifting demographics in work culture, there has also  been a seismic shift in the culture of workers themselves.  This phenomena has been tagged in the media as “The  Great Resignation”.  

Working people from all walks of life have left the  workforce in droves. August 2021 recorded the highest  ‘quit rate’ since December 2000 when this type of data  was first recorded. Worker attrition has cut across many  different industries and socioeconomic strata - from fast  food, retail, hospitality and health care workers to  lawyers, and software engineers.  

 Covid has been a precipitating factor for what has been  called “turnover shock”, a life event that causes people to  reassess their life and job priorities, and there is some  diversity in the way this mass exodus has played out.  Some employees were already on the edge with toxic  work environments, excessive hours, too much work for  too little pay, and unstable job security. Other’s felt their  job environment was unsafely exposing them to Covid.  Others, mainly women (who have left the workforce in 

larger numbers than men) , had no options for childcare,  and a surprising number of people used their pandemic  relief money or unemployment checks to retool their  working life into being freelancers, giving themselves  more freedom and autonomy. Even beyond those who  have already left the workplace, several polls recently  conducted have estimated that nearly half of the current  workforce is either looking for new opportunities or  actively job searching.  

Despite this current marketplace with greater demand  for labor, both skilled and unskilled, than what is in  current supply, there is no guarantee that changing jobs  will offer substantially better opportunities. Going back  to “business as usual” does not feel like a desirable  option for many workers now, however many companies  and employers do not yet recognize that peoples needs  and desires in their work life have shifted beyond the  immediate impact of the pandemic. These newly  hatched priorities include: work that is more flexible  ( including remote options), more supportive of families,  less exhausting, and more connected to the social emotional and physical safety needs of their employees. 

The corporate mindset may be slow to change but if we  wish to move towards a newly vibrant economy, a re conception of what constitutes a healthy, happy and  productive workplace may be a major factor.