While millions of workers around the world cling as best they can to jobs that have allowed them to overcome the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, in the United States the figures of voluntary resignations are exceeding their record
Almost four million workers, equivalent to 2.7% of the entire workforce, left their jobs last April: the highest figure since this record began in the anus 2000.
The data seems to confirm the materialization of a rearrangement in the labor market that the American academic Anthony Klotz baptized as “the Great Renunciation”.
The coronavirus pandemic hit employment in the United States with brutal force. In just two months, between February and April 2020, the number of unemployed rose from 5. 675. 000 until 22. 109. 000 , from where a gradual decline began as governments , companies and workers found a way to adapt and keep the economy going.
Despite the still partial reactivation of the economy, the unemployment rate stood at 5.8% last May , well below the 13, 8% reached in April of 2020, but still above 3.5% in the one that was in before the pandemic.
Thus, the wave of resignations contrasts with the fact that in the United States there are still more than 9.3 million unemployed people, according to figures from the Department of the Work corresponding to May.
The “Great Renunciation” may also become a global phenomenon, judging by the results of a study commissioned by Microsoft that reveals that more from 40% of the global workforce is evaluating the possibility of changing employers this year.
But why is so many people leaving their jobs?
Postponed resignations, job burnout and epiphanies
Although the reasons why each individual worker may decide to resign are innumerable, Anthony Klotz, who is an associate professor of management at the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M University, states that there were four factors with cretos that led him to anticipate this phenomenon.
The first of these is that many employees who had plans to leave their positions in 2020 chose to delay that decision.
“Enter 2015 Y 2019, the number of resignations in the US growing year after year, but that number is much reduced 2019, which makes sense due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. These people stayed in their jobs, although they wanted to leave it “, Klotz tells BBC Mundo.
It is estimated that in 2020 there were almost six million resignations in the United States less than expected.
The expert explains that once vaccination progresses and that the economy improves, it was to be expected that these people who had already decided to resign would finally take that step.
“The most recent statistics from the Department of Labor that show that in April there was a historical record resignations lead me to think that many of these people have already started to leave their posts “, says Klotz.
The second factor that would drive this phenomenon is the” work exhaustion “.
” We know thanks to numerous investigations that when people feel exhausted in the job is more likely to quit. And we have seen numerous stories of essential workers, but also of many people working from home while trying to balance their family and their job, who are experiencing high levels of burnout. Right now there are more ‘burned out’ workers than there are normally “, says Klotz.
This expert in organizational psychology assures that the only cure for this type of burnout is to take a good rest, for what is likely that those who do not have the option to do so see in the resignation a possible solution to their situation.
A third factor that would drive this wave of resignations, according to Klotz, are the revelations or epiphanies .
Explain that sometimes people are happy with their work and something happens sudden that makes them think about leaving the position, such as not getting a promotion they expected, the resignation of a colleague and similar situations.
“Now with the pandemic almost all of us have suffered an impact that has made us revalue our lives , so many people have had these epiphanies: some have realized that they want to spend more time with their family; Others now feel that their work is not as important as they thought or they want to do their own business “, he explains.
” I think there are many people who are considering making a change in their lives and that often implies a turn in their careers ”, he adds.
The rise of remote work
The fourth factor behind the “Great Resignation” has to do with those people who during the pandemic adapted to working from home and now do not want to return to the office, although for Klotz it is a smaller percentage.
“As human beings we have the fundamental need to enjoy autonomy. When you work remotely you can structure your day as you want and you have much more flexibility than in the office. Therefore, for many people who do not want to lose that freedom. Quitting to seek remote or hybrid employment may be an option ”, says the expert.
An international study commissioned by Microsoft reveals what 70% of employees want companies to maintain flexible remote work options and that , in fact, 40% of those who are working remotely have plans to move to a new place now that they can earn a living without going to the office.
And more and more companies are willing to offer this possibility to their employees. According to data provided by LinkedIn to BBC Mundo, advertisements offering remote jobs on that platform increased fivefold between May 2020 and May 2021.
The media and communication sector leads the remote job offers (27%), followed by the software and information technology industry (22%).
At the same time, almost 25% of all job applications made between the end of April and May are for remote work positions.
Opportunities for the lowest paid
A fifth factor that would be driving this wave of resignations, according to many analysts, has to do with the situation of many of the lowest paid workers such as restaurant and hotel employees.
According to figures from the Department of Labor, among those who left their jobs last April there were more than 740. 000 people who came from leisure, hotels and restaurants. This figure is equivalent to 5.3% of all workers in this sector.
The abrupt reopening of the economy has created a great demand of this type of employees, which has forced companies to offer different types of incentives (including better salaries) to try to fill vacancies.
” There is a lot of turnover in low-wage jobs where people don’t really have a career progression. If you find a job that offers you just a little more, changing it has no cost to you, “explained Julia Pollak, labor economist at ZipRecruiter, to The New York Times .
A shakeup in the labor market
Klotz affirms that this whole panorama implies a very complex situation for companies, although he emphasizes that they are already designed to deal with the demands of retaining their workers and finding new talent.
“What makes this a unique challenge is the type of work arrangement (post-pandemic) because for most companies there is no There is a correct answer in terms of how much flexibility they should give their employees.
“Hopefully many organizations are talking to their workers to understand what It is what they want, but in the end the companies will have to make a decision and say ‘this is what we are going to do’. And there will be some employees who are not going to be happy, including -probably- several of the best, “he says.
” This is like a kind of big reorganization: there will be companies that want to go back fully to the face-to-face work, some will choose to do it completely remote and others will choose a hybrid format and workers will seek employment in those that offer the form of work they want “, add.
Cassie Whitlock, Head of Human Resources at the management platform talents BambooHR, considers that companies that want to force workers to return to their offices are those that are most in danger of losing them.
” Employees have worked remotely for a year and it worked. They will want to know why they can’t keep doing it. If you’re going to ask them to come back, you’d better have a convincing argument “, Whitlock warned Fast Company.
Klotz doesn’t necessarily see anything wrong with some organizations wanting to return to the “normal” way of working before the pandemic, but he cautions that many will find that their employees want a “new normal.”
“It may be that going back to the office is the right thing to do for their type of business, but they will probably run the risk of losing employees who want that new normal. These companies will also lose opportunities in terms of competing for talent in the job market as those that offer greater flexibility in terms of remote and hybrid work have more possibilities of recruiting workers globally “, he assures.
Klotz believes that one of the long-term consequences of all these changes in the labor market will be that workers will have many more options in terms of different working-time arrangements: face-to-face, remote and hybrid.
“It is possible to imagine that in different stages, you will be able to choose the formula that best serves you. Probably when you have 20 years you will want to be in the office; to the 30 years, with a young family you will look for a hybrid model and later, you will opt for remote work. Thus, you will be able to forge this type of career, something that was really very difficult to do before the pandemic ”, he concludes.
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