What’s the best part of your job?
Maybe it’s the perks, or the team you work with.
If you’re lucky, it might be the work itself;
but in some jobs, the best part is the day you walk out and never go back.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,
there’s been talk of people leaving their jobs in record numbers,
a trend known as The Great Resignation.
This sounds dramatic, historic -
up there with The Great Depression, or The Great Escape.
But what’s really happening beyond the headlines?
And what does it mean for workers and bosses?
In May 2021, Anthony Klotz, professor of business management at Texas A&M,
was thinking about what the previous year of lockdowns meant for the jobs market,
and he figured there would be four outcomes.
First, people were unlikely to quit during an economic downturn,
creating a backlog of job-leavers.
Second, many others would be burnt out after that gruelling first year,
and desperate for an exit.
Third, months spent contemplating mortality
would inspire some people to look for more fulfilling opportunities.
And finally, many who experienced working from home for the first time
would want to keep doing it, even if they had to switch companies.
Taken together, Klotz predicted a mass exodus, which he dubbed
“The Great Resignation.”
The phrase soon went viral, but has his forecast come true?
Well, 2021 did see a rise in resignations in the UK and US,
with almost 33% of American workers quitting.
But let’s compare that with before the pandemic:
in 2019, 28% of American workers quit - so an increase, but hardly a great one.
Looking more closely, we see most resignations in hospitality and retail,
where people already tend to change employers quite frequently,
and many who resigned went back to similar jobs soon after.
It looks like the statistical reality of the Great Resignation
doesn’t quite live up to the media myth.
But what is a myth, anyway?
Sometimes it’s just another word for 'fake news',
but some myths are stories that make sense of the world.
Maybe the Great Resignation is the second kind,
and caught on because it tells us something we want - or need -
to hear about work today.
To find out what that something is, let’s get back to basics: what is a job?
It’s a deal between two parties:
you do something for your employer,
and your employer provides the cash you need to pay your bills.
But paying bills isn’t everything –
some things we need aren’t just a matter of money.
American psychologist Abraham Maslow argued that we have a hierarchy of needs:
a base level of physiological needs — food, water, shelter —
then a need for security from fears and harms.
After that come social needs
— feeling accepted as a member of a group –
and a need for esteem - from others and for ourselves.
At the top is self-actualisation:
the desire to fulfil our unique potential.
Now, expecting our jobs to do all that might not be realistic;
but seeing as we put forty hours a week into them, and often more,
you’d hope they would cover the basics, and maybe some higher levels too.
But in too many cases, this deal is a dud.
For 'essential workers', whose jobs couldn’t be done remotely,
the pandemic meant the workplace wasn’t a place of safety.
With more people on short-term contracts,
becoming freelancers, or in the “gig economy”,
work leaves them socially isolated.
And as for esteem,
one of the top reasons Americans quit in 2021 was “feeling disrespected”.
Another was “a lack of opportunities for advancement”,
potentially barring the door to self-actualisation.
But the most common reason was simply that the pay was too low,
making it harder to afford rent and food.
So, if work doesn’t meet people’s foundational needs,
and is actively thwarting their higher ones,
of course they’ll be looking for change.
But... hang on – if that’s true, why wasn’t the “great resignation”
...much greater?
Well, people still need pay-checks;
but that doesn’t mean they’re resigned to their fates.
In fact, the clearest sign of unrest isn’t workers quitting:
it’s workers organising.
When Amazon fired warehouse employee Christian Smalls
for protesting against unsafe conditions during the pandemic,
they never imagined he would create Jeff Bezos’s worst nightmare:
the Amazon Labour Union.
At the same time, Starbucks Workers United
are unionising coffee shops across the States.
Unions promise to fight for better pay and safety,
but they also offer the sense of belonging, respect, and purpose
missing from many low-wage jobs.
No wonder they’re attracting new members!
Ultimately, “the Great Resignation”
is a chance to reconsider our relationship with work:
both what needs it should fulfil, and how it can be made to do so.
A genuine living wage should be the starting-point,
but much of what people want - like basic respect -
needn’t cost anything.
In fact, giving it freely
could save recruitment and training costs in the long run.
Employers have been put on notice:
if they won’t do more to satisfy their workers,
they can expect to see staff leaving, or something even scarier:
the Great Unionisation!
But if they heed the warning,
the Great Resignation will have been good for everyone –
whether or not it’s “just a myth.”