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YES, PLENTY OF PEOPLE HAVE QUIT The term Great Resignation was coined in 2021 as businesses were beginning to reopen following the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. At the same time that job openings began to soar, a record number of American workers were quitting their jobs. During 2021, more than 47.4 million people left their jobs. In December 2021 alone, 4.3 million people walked out the door! 1 All that movement continues to have a big impact. Businesses, especially those in the food and hospitality industries, are facing a chronic shortage of workers. Those that had to close down and let their employees go are having a hard time bringing employees back. Even those that fared better during the pandemic have seen employees quit as the shutdown has eased. EVERYONE HAS A REASON FOR LEAVING But why would anyone just leave a steady job—especially amid all the uncertainty that the pandemic is still causing? After all, quitting means losing a steady paycheck. It may also mean giving up health care and child care benefits. It may even mean uprooting the family and moving. While researching the Great Resignation, Amy Fontinelle of Investopedia identified some common themes in the reasons employees were giving for jumping ship. • Many were taking an opportunity to earn more at another company.
• Some had decided to move to a location they liked rather than sticking close to their workplace. • Most had made the decision after taking stock of their work-life balance and reevaluating their priorities. 1
The big takeaway: people weren’t just quitting. Overwhelmingly, they were planning to step right back into the workforce just as soon as they could negotiate terms that better suited them. Quitting wasn’t a snap decision on their part but a move based on decisions that were sometimes years in the making. The powerful changes the pandemic wrought simply prompted them to pull the trigger on that move. THEY’RE NOT QUITTING— THEY’RE RENEGOTIATING Having a record number of employees hand in their resignations certainly hasn’t been easy on the economy or on the individuals involved. But some good has come of it. Everyone is beginning to realize a critically important fact: every worker has enormous value to their current employer. Many had never thought to question their working conditions before. But then someone quit, and then someone else, and then someone else. And they could feel the effect it was having. They could see the value they brought to their employer. And that changed everything for them. It allowed them to start redefining their careers.
38 APRIL 2022 | MELALEUCA.COM
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