Inflation, a pandemic, supply-chain bottlenecks and people reprioritized their lives during a long period of uncertainty, is bigger than you think! It’s a career defining moment for young people too.
High quit rates and record new job openings point to an employees’ market. The ‘Great Resignation’ is altering the workforce dynamic — maybe for good. Working from home, hybrid work and less commuting is changing us.
We are finding new alternatives to work-life balance problems.
The number of people quitting nonfarm jobs increased to 4.3 million in August 2021.
We were all able to take a step back in the last year and spend more time doing other things and really question the value of what we’re doing at work. This leads also to a period of new ideologies entering our lives, new life directions. How can I live on less? What do I really want to put my attention and energy into?
Should I start my own business or become self-employed? Am I really happy in my job?
During the pandemic some of us also have lost people. When we come into contact with life-threatening events, we tend to reflect on death and consider whether we are happy with our lives or whether we would like to make changes to them. Young people really want to be able to work remotely.
More than half of U.S. workers surveyed said they plan to look for a new job in the coming year, according to Bankrate’s August job seeker survey. Some 56% of respondents said adjustable working hours and remote work are a priority.
People are retiring, women quit the labor force. Managers are also rethinking their future. One in four senior leaders are considering resigning, according to new research from LifeWorks and Deloitte Canada.
In September, the Great Resignation accelerated. ‘The great resignation’ continues to gain steam in the United States, as over 4 million Americans, about 3% of the workforce, continue to churn out resignations for the second straight month.
Not everyone can afford to quit their job or has the luxury of thinking about what they want to do in the future.
The labor participate rate is at generational lows as inflation is mounting and commodities are volatile. Even food prices are significantly up in many parts of the world. This could be a Great Reckoning for the future of work and future of how we live.
People want to make changes heading into the holidays of 2021/2022. Many others are still thinking about it, several surveys have shown. One, fielded by Morning Consult for Prudential in mid-September, found that 46% of full-time employed U.S. adults are either actively looking for or considering a new job search.
The Great Pause
The GR is turning into a philosophical moment of deep introspection for many folk who find themselves more isolated, more distant from friends and family and less certain about their career. Great Resignation, where many American workers are throwing in the towel on their full-time jobs, often without their next move immediately lined up.
I know how they feel, personally.
Working women have faced an additional burden, juggling child care duties, virtual schooling and their careers. Marriages have failed, people have bought homes they won’t be able to afford. Housing unaffordability is off the charts.
We cry, we have anxiety about our future, we meditate on it. But still this is also a collective death of how work used to be vs. the new normal. Some adapt well, others take longer.
Like nurses in an ICU, the new normal isn’t working or many of us. We burnout on pandemic fatigue itself.
Following their former coworkers’ departures, 52% of those who chose to stay at their jobs said they’ve taken on more responsibilities, a survey by the Society of Human Resource Management found.
With people retiring more and an exodus from certain industries like Tourism or Restaurant workers, the supply-chain issue is a human problem of talent too. No amount of wage gains will make us go back to what it once we did. Wage gains aren’t even keeping up with inflation.
As the great resignation takes hold, workers across industries are sharing similar stories of burn out. U.S. labor productivity rose 2.3 per cent in the second quarter, but what's really eye-popping is that evidence suggests the number went up as fewer workers did more. Work for many, is already toxic.
GenZ “laying flat” is only going to get worse as our conditions get worse. The future is not bright for young people who worry about money, climate change and the state of unfair capitalism today. Many (some relatively speaking) of them will decide not to have kids, so what will they end up actually doing?
In this Newsletter that’s what we’ll try to figure out.
With 4 million people leaving their jobs in the U.S. each month, and higher inflation and a new Covid-19 Delta wave, things could get bad. This is not the economic recovery perhaps that they tried to push in the mainstream media.
The truth is, Gen Z and Millennials playing a significant part in the Great Resignation trend. Young progressions know a bit about work-life balance optimization. They crunch the numbers, need more free time and yes we have more mental health concerns. That’s the price of digital.
In September, a record 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs, eclipsing the previous high set in August. We don’t all have a clear path of what we will do from now on. With that scary uncertainty comes immense psychological pressure and spiritual freedom to pivot in our lives.
That’s exciting but also fucking scary. Risks of a stock-market crash and hyper-inflation really are worrisome. Wealth inequality is accelerating. People are adapting also in a random way. Our environmental press has limitations in our ability to thrive in uncertainty, it favors certain kinds of people.
Not everyone is an opportunist in a crisis. Some of us need more time to find our new calling. Economic pressure and loneliness lead us to some surprising choices that aren’t always optimal for our well-being.
The Great Pause is also about dealing with our own health, mental or physical. Quitting your job to take some time to rest before diving into applying for your next gig may also make sense, especially if you’re unhappy at work or feeling burned out, as many are at this point in the coronavirus pandemic.
The Great Restart
After the Great Resignation, and the Great Pause, will come the Great Restart. It’s up to you and all of us to figure out what that might be.