‘The Great Resignation’ is over. Are employees more content in 2023?

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we live and work. Tens of millions stepped down from their jobs in the last two years. The mass quitting was unprecedented. It was called “The Great Resignation”. But now the trend is on the wane. Some experts have declared that “The Great Resignation” is over.

We take a look at why people were resigning in large numbers and what has changed since.

What was ‘The Great Resignation’?

During the pandemic and the year after, millions quit their job because of burnout, job dissatisfaction, and the responsibilities of children or elders at home. Some resigned because they wanted more flexibility, more money and better benefits; others did to get away from the toxic work culture.

It was raining resignations, which prompted organisational behaviour professor Anthony Klotz to coin the term ‘The Great Resignation’.

The trend was so popular that it got an “anthem” from Beyonce. In June 2022, she dropped a single titled “Break My Soul”, which urged people to “release” themselves from their nine-to-five jobs. “I just quit my job, I’m gonna find new drive, damn, they work me so damn hard,” she sang.

In the two years, 2021 and 2022, close to 100 million reportedly quit their jobs in the United States, according to the US Bureau of Labor. While 47 million quit in 2021, another 50 million joined them in 2022.

The resignation rates were said to be the highest among mid-career employees and in the tech and healthcare industries, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The mass exodus has now ended.

What has changed since?

In the past few months, there has been a drop in the rate at which people in the US voluntarily quit their jobs. In industries, which saw the most resignations like hospitality and retail business, the numbers have gone back to pre-pandemic levels, according to a report in The New York Times (NYT).

The number of people who quit fell by 49,000 in April compared to March, reveals data from the Job Openings and Turnover Survey.

Klotz, who is a professor of management at University College London’s School of Management, told the BBC. “Looking at the overall resignation numbers, and seeing they’re back to 2019 levels, I think we can say it’s over. It’s not just a simple start-and-stop, of course, but it does seem that we’re at the tail of it.”

Economic instability and its impact on the US labour market is something that employees are conscious of. There is also a lot of talk about artificial intelligence taking away jobs. People are wary to quit now.

The reasons Americans are sticking to their jobs right now are inflation, slow growth in wages, mass layoffs, and the interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.

According to a California-based chief economist at the job recruiting website ZipRecruiter, people who made a big career change are settled into their new role. Julia Pollak told BBC that many shifted from less desirable industries to more sought-after ones.

Another reason people have stopped quitting is also because of the change in work culture since the pandemic. Several employers are paying better, offering more benefits and flexible timings and hybrid work. Workplaces today are more diverse and inclusive than they were a couple of years ago.

Job satisfaction is now higher than it’s been in nearly four decades, the BBC reports quoting data from the Conference Board, a non-profit think tank. In a survey of 2000 workers conducted in late 2022, more than 60 per cent said they were satisfied with their jobs. Those most content were workers who quit during the pandemic to find a better opportunity.

During “The Great Resignation”, many quit to find jobs that pay better or to start small businesses. In low-wage services, the reopening in 2021 provided plenty of opportunities in the service industry – restaurants, hotels, and stores. The demand was more than the supply as many people who left did not want to return, according to the NYT report.

This resulted in a rise in the wages of workers at the bottom of the earning ladder. In hotels and restaurants, their salaries rose by 28 per cent from the end of 2020 to the end of 2022.

Arindrajit Dube, a University of Massachusetts professor who has studied the pandemic economy, wrote in a recent paper, that the pay gap between workers at the top of the income scale and those at the bottom began to narrow. In just two years, the economy undid about a quarter of the increase in inequality since 1980, the NYT report says.

Also Read: After quiet quitting, here comes loud quitting: What does it mean?

What happens next?

While pay is not rising faster, low-income workers are earning enough to keep up with inflation and higher earns. Workers are more cautious today and even employees have increased pay and improved conditions to ensure people don’t become desperate to leave, the newspaper reports.

According to data from the Bureau of Statistics, the rate of job growth is up in construction, manufacturing, health, education and food services industries.

However, white-collar workers are wary because of mass layoffs in many high-profile companies like Amazon, Meta, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Tupperware. There have also been cuts at some Wall Street firms and some regional banks closed.

“That all plays into a fearful narrative that employees buy into. The fact that quit rates are down indicates that there’s low confidence in the job market,” Jessica Kriegel, a workplace culture expert, told CNN.

But for all the workers who are enjoying their jobs, many are just hanging in there. Some are quiet quitting and others are loud quitting.

With inputs from agencies