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There has been a lot of news lately about “the great resignation” of 2021 — people are quitting their jobs at the highest numbers since 2000.
According to NPR,
As pandemic life recedes in the U.S., people are leaving their jobs in search of more money, more flexibility and more happiness. Many are rethinking what work means to them, how they are valued, and how they spend their time. It's leading to a dramatic increase in resignations — a record 4 million people quit their jobs in April alone, according to the Labor Department.
LinkedIn even took a survey, and they found that 74% of those surveyed said the pandemic had caused them to rethink their current work situation. According to Inc.'s summary of the survey:
A great many — over half in several surveys — cite stress and burnout in their current position as a reason for looking elsewhere. Others point to dissatisfaction, and even fear, caused by knee-jerk cost-cutting actions by their current employer in response to Covid-19-related business slowdowns as a reason for bolting, with many finding fundamental unfairness in holds on promotions, frozen merit increases, and indiscriminate layoffs which impacted poor performers and stars equally, particularly as they watched executive leadership refuse to participate in the pain.
While many who are leaving are in hospitality jobs with employers like restaurants and hotels, the number of open lawyer jobs has “skyrocketed,” according to Reuters.
It's an interesting topic, so I thought we should discuss! Here are some questions to focus everyone:
- Are you planning on quitting your job soon (or have you already)?
- In general, have you reevaluated your work/life balance in the past year? What changes do you hope to make as a result?
- Did your employer have specific policies at any point during the past year that pushed people either to quit or stay (i.e., parental leave, face time requirements, etc.)?
- Have you seen coworkers or school friends quitting in greater numbers?
Here's some further reading on the Great Resignation from The Ladders, HuffPost, and the LA Times,
Psst: some of our other recent posts on the topic of quitting your job…
Stock photo (woman with head on desk) via Stencil.
Anon
Lololololol, no. I have bills to pay.
Anon
For me, the advent of remote work was the excuse to get out of an increasingly toxic office environment. “I’m tired of commuting 75 minutes each way three times a week” is so much easier in interviews than “my manager is nuts and people literally complain to me about how bad she is and it’s affecting my work product, mental health, and enjoyment of life.”
Cat
I’m resigned, all right, but not resigning :)
Cassandra
No, I was a part of the Great Layoff in March 2020 when Covid-19 hit.
Anon
My husband is planning to resign after he gets his bonus for the year. He is burned out because of this past year. I earn less than him but I am not burned out. One of us should continue to work, so that will be me
Mal
Not resigning. I guess I don’t know how these people are paying bills and getting health insurance, especially those in lower paying positions who can’t have that much saved. I have a hefty amount in savings, but still can’t fathom just not working without a plan. Plus, I like my job, though there are definitely days I’d rather nap on the couch.
Natalie
I have certainly re-evaluated my work life balance and am switching from working as a trial lawyer to writing criminal appeals. I’d rather have less stress at work.
Anon
I want to resign. Working with no childcare for 6 months during the pandemic destroyed my work reputation (even though I had 6+ years of great work before that) and I haven’t recovered. I’m also incredibly burned out. But my husband isn’t on board and I don’t think you can make a decision like that unilaterally when you’re married.
Anonymous
You (or a couples counsellor) need to have a chat with him to remind him of his marriage vows. He promised ‘in sickness and in health’ and burnout is illness. I can understand that he is nervous about permanently being the sole provider but taking a year off or switching to a part time role etc is not the same and may help your burnout.
Anon
If I were seriously mentally or physically ill he would feel differently, but I’m not. There’s no way to know that a break would only be for a year, it could end up being a lot longer. I would not support him quitting his job even if he said he was burned out, so it would be hypocritical of me to be angry with him for not wanting me to quit mine.
Also fwiw we’re Jewish so we didn’t say the traditional Christian wedding vows about sickness and health ;) although we both agree with the sentiment and it would be a different story if my job was seriously impacting my health.
Baby Weight
Oh hi! I see you, Anon. I may *be* you.
Anonymous
Did your husband take on the duty of helping with childcare for those six months?
Minnie Beebe
I resigned from my job at the end of January. Would’ve been sooner, but a death in the family coupled with Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays led to my management giving me a bit of a reprieve to think everything over, for which I’m grateful.
As for the reasons– both DH and I are (were!) in Consulting, though he travels far more than I did and also outearns (-ed?) me by a factor of close to 10 at this point. We have a child who was REALLY struggling during the pandemic– two of his good friends moved away and although I don’t want to get into too much detail, I had significant concerns about his mental health and it was clear that he just needed more attention than he was getting.
The pandemic didn’t create the problems, but did exacerbate them. In the end it made sense for me to quit. Resign. Retire. Whatever you want to call it! As I’m in my (very) late 40’s, it’s unlikely that I’ll go back to paid work.
Kiddo is doing better– he’s been enrolled in a swimming program (which would have been difficult with both parents working); he was back to school in person last spring (and now again this school year) and that’s also been extremely beneficial for his emotional well-being.
And I honestly don’t understand how I used to work 50 hrs in a week on top of everything else. I’m so busy with projects around the house, carting kids to practices, meal prep, cleaning, workouts… the days go by very quickly. And it’s been a net positive for my family. I can’t quite shake the feeling that I’m letting womankind down, but the truth is that it’s probably society that’s let ME down. Anyway, I’m (mostly) at peace with the decision.
Anon
Sounds like a great choice for your family. Glad your son is doing better. <3
Anonymous
In March 2021 I resigned from a thankless job in a toxic work environment after securing a new job. I figured if the new job wasn’t the right fit for me it would at least break me out of feeling trapped at my old high pressure cult like workplace, and it would be easier for me to move on from the new job if I needed to.
New job is a way better fit for my skills and interests, pays more, and is far less work than I’m used to doing. My new colleagues are sane and pleasant and they’re consistently impressed with my experience and skills.
I feel valued and respected for the first time in years and I no longer feel like an overscheduled failure who hates herself and disappoints everyone. I get excited when people ask me what I do for work because the projects I have are so cool.
Also this new organization is very diverse and much less openly racist toward staff than my old employer. As a BIPOC woman that’s a huge plus for me.
JB
I am so curious, What kind of interesting projects do you do now? This sounds like an amazing change
H
When my husband’s company had a big buyout last summer, we knew a big relocation event would be coming to even out staffing. So we made a list of cities we’d like to move to, and visited our top pick, which was a city we’d never been to. As expected the relocation happened, and he got our first pick. I commuted by air between my old job and our new city as long as it took (2 months, 5 hours with a connection), I worked really hard on my job search, and landed a job in the industry of my dreams. It pays less than my last job (both public sector) and I have fewer WFH days, but at least once a week I end up crying over how much I love this job.
Anon
I wish I could! I’ve been “not not looking” for about a year, but considering I’m going to have to change practice areas (insurance defense to, hopefully, privacy/data protection), there is some work that needs to be done that I simply don’t have the bandwidth for. DH was laid off this summer…right about when we closed on a house, so any additional training/paycuts are out of the picture for me at this point. I’m hoping the burnout is simply pandemic fatigue mixed with so many life changes and it sorts itself out in the near future and I can buy myself some more time.
Lawgirl2001
Any advice on changing practice areas? I too, am burnt out beyond recognition. I’m in-house and want a different industry. I get interviews and then I get to the finals, only to be told I don’t have enough experience in X, but everyone like me and they want to keep me in mind for other positions. I’m stating to burn out on my job search!
anon
My last day was Friday and I start my new position on Monday! My former employer handled back to the office pretty terribly and was far more concerned with butts in seats than employee safety. Communication was condescending and absolutely tone-deaf. I’ll be starting a new job that’s 100% remote permanently with a better title and much better pay.
Being able to cast a nationwide job search net because so many employers are open to remote workers AND do interviews online made the job search process so much easier.