Google the term the great resignation
and you are going to find hundreds
of news articles talking about
the millions of Americans who
are suddenly quitting their jobs.
In fact, in July alone,
4 million people walked away from their
jobs and millions more every month after.
So why are people doing this?
And if you are thinking about
hitting the refresh button,
which is, you know,
CEO and President of L
Courtney Global strategies,
Mary Elizabeth L Cordy joins us now to
get her take on the great resignation.
First of all, Mary Elizabeth.
Glad you're here.
Thank you so much for having me on.
I'm excited to be here.
Alright, let's just jump right in.
Why are people resigning?
Why are people leaving their jobs?
What's going on?
Think it's a mixture of things.
I think over the past 18 months
many people have been re evaluating
what they're doing for work,
and with so many types of work
being seen as non essential and
knowing that your job is no longer
guaranteed like you used to be back
in the day where if you work a
job for 10 years it's you're safe.
I think a lot of people really think
about what do I want to do with
my life and then also right now,
some some employers are forcing people
to come back to work and some people
just don't feel comfortable to go back.
They like the inflexibility,
they like being able to be home.
And be with their families.
So there are a lot of factors that are
really motivating people to determine.
You know whether they want to stay
or they want to leave their jobs
and we're hearing from some of these
people they don't necessarily have
another job immediately lined up.
So my question for you, Mary Elizabeth.
How are people affording to resign from
their jobs without something to go to
come Monday morning of the following week?
Where's this money coming from to sort
of float them through rent, car payments,
groceries, and everything else?
But I think it's a mixture of things as well.
On this point, I think for some people,
if they're fortunate enough to have savings,
and they're probably
eating into their savings.
I've known some people who are doing that,
but on the other side of it,
a lot of people are picking up side
hustle jobs throughout the way, right?
Like sites like Upwork and fiverr.com,
or giving people a lot of the lot of
ability to find new work a lot faster
than they would normally do when they're
trying to find a full time new job.
I think people are looking for
more flexibility in their life,
and because now they can live.
Anywhere they want to do work for
a lot of different companies,
it gives them more choices in
terms of finding work that
that really does bring up a good point.
Just because they're resigning their job
doesn't mean that they are no longer working.
They may just be working a couple of
side jobs and making the same amount
of money all right before people
decide to jump in and take part in the
great resignation and quit their jobs.
What should they consider?
What should they do to prepare?
I think if you already know that you're
not happy in the job that you're in,
or that there's something
you've always wanted to do,
I think first of all, financially
preparing for that decision, right?
So if you aren't saving money right now
and you're able to start saving money,
I think one of the other things that
I I would suggest that people do
is take a calculated risk and what
I mean by that is looking at what
skills do you currently have and
what skills do you want to obtain?
And since this is remote distance
learning week to first of all,
work on gaining those skills,
but also test out like,
is this something I can really
make money in and that's why?
Freelancing is such a great
opportunity because it not only gives
you the ability to see like first,
can you be your own boss and find work,
but is it enough work that you
can really leave your day job
and be financially secure?
I don't believe in just like quitting
your job for the sake of quitting your
job and have nothing to fall back on.
People have other responsibilities
in their life,
but making sure that you are careful but
still make that leap is always important.
Just take those steps.
It's risky to quit a job without
another one lined up immediately
or some way to make some money.
Finally here, Mary Elizabeth I do
want to ask you for employers who
may be listening to this interview.
What can they do to try
to keep their employees,
especially the good ones,
that they would really hate
to see walk out the door.
I I think there are a few things with this.
I think it's first of all be
empathetic with your workforce, right?
We are in a time where it's no longer,
it's just personal, it's business.
You're right now in my bedroom
and other places people hunger in
their living room and dining room.
So understanding that people's lives are
now more intertwined into the workforce,
so providing them other opportunities,
whether that's education,
whether that's internal mobility,
if they have a great idea,
but there are, you know,
giving them the environment to share
their ideas and maybe fleshing them
out into maybe a new revenue stream.
If you know that they're working very hard,
especially in today's world where
people's personal lives and work
lives are really meshing together
more understanding that you
don't want your team to burnout,
and making communicating that and
making it clear that you're there
for them to make sure that of
course the work needs to get done,
but in a way that is not impacting
your personal life.
And then, of course,
continuing the flexibility of this hybrid
workforce and allowing people to be,
you know where their families are
not needing to move to expensive
cities in order for them to have
a good financially sound job.
You bring up a lot of good points.
Mary Elizabeth Hill, Courtney
from Elk or D Global strategies.
We appreciate your expertise on the topic.
Thank you. Thank you.