During 2021, nearly 50 million people in the United States voluntarily left their jobs. This is an unprecedented figure and remains relevant throughout 2022. It is what has been called the Great Resignation.
The
causes are diverse, but many are closely related to the Covid-19 pandemic, its impact on employment, and the change in people’s perception of work. Some of these causes include the following:
- Many workers who would have resigned from their jobs during 2020 did not do so because of the great uncertainty at that time, delaying their decision.
- The stress caused by the lockdown, where many families were forced to work from home without suitable conditions, and the excessive workload borne by workers in some essential sectors, such as health or technology, led to the physical and mental exhaustion of many people.
- The experience of remote work during the pandemic and the associated flexible hours opened the eyes of many workers who no longer consider returning to the office every day on a rigid schedule.
- Faced with such a critical situation as that experienced during the pandemic, many workers have reconsidered their personal and professional goals, seeking greater fulfillment and a better work-life balance.
And will this Great Resignation reach our country?
So far it has not occurred: although 27% of Spanish workers claim they have considered leaving their jobs voluntarily, only 30,000 people actually did so last year.
The causes are related to the
differences between our labor market and the American one, and among others, the following stand out:
- The unemployment rate is much higher in Spain (12.6%) than in the United States (3.6%), a fact that reduces workers’ expectations of finding a new job if they leave their current one.
- The current severance pay model has a negative impact on mobility: workers with more seniority perceive that by resigning from their position, they give up the right to receive severance pay if they are dismissed.
Nevertheless, our economy has begun a recovery process that is generating new jobs, thanks to the end of the pandemic and the impact of European recovery funds; and if Putin’s war and the resulting inflation do not spoil it, the job creation forecasts for the coming years are very positive.
Furthermore, the
recent labor reform has significantly limited temporary hiring and notably increased permanent hiring, reducing precariousness and the uncertainty associated with it.
These two factors could trigger the resignation of many workers, but it would no longer be a direct consequence of the pandemic, but rather a more positive process: increasingly, workers will seek jobs with better working conditions, both in terms of salary and flexibility, and jobs more closely linked to their purpose, allowing them to fulfill themselves personally and professionally:
I am what I want to be!
