The Great Resignation: What role did the pandemic really play?

The trend is clear: more people have quit their jobs in the US during 2021 than ever before. Europe is worryingly short of truck drivers, leading to shortages of everything from food to fuel, and in the UK, Amazon is offering sign-up bonuses in order to keep its operations fully staffed.

But why now? People are convinced that this is covid-related and, while we agree, we’re not sure the pandemic has played quite the role people think it has.

Why now?

People intrinsically fear change. How many people do you know that consistently moan about their job, only to get out of bed and head to the office (real or virtual) again the next day? They would rather be unhappy than upset their routine.

Not. Any. More. When change is forced upon us, the way it was in 2020, we must adapt quickly. Fear gives way to necessity, and we make the best of the situation, feeling relieved if we experience anything but the very worst outcome.

Suddenly, we’re halfway there. Change has happened without us needing to make a decision. So, is it now easier to continue along that path? To finish the job that’s been started and go for a new life; a wholesale move towards what we’ve always wanted?

Underlying issues

The reasons being given for the Great Resignation, as the quitting trend is now known, are many and varied. But they do fall into a few themes.

In fact, there’s nothing new in terms of the factors that make people seek new roles: lack of support and engagement from senior teams, poor cultural fit, perceived lack of value. The newer factors related to better work/life balance are definitely in the mix and that’s to be expected after people got a taste for more flexible lifestyles and the lack of a daily commute.

However, these issues are not really new. They’ve been sitting, quietly in the background for a while. Which is why the pandemic may well have brought them into sharper focus, but it’s not caused them by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, Korn Ferry ran a survey at the start of 2020 (at a time where, if covid was a known entity, it certainly wasn’t threatening to leave China, let alone impact our global way of life as it did). They asked people about their new year’s resolution and discovered that, for one third of their respondents, it was to find a new job.

A lack of fit with corporate culture, poor engagement and wanting to make more of a difference were some of the reasons cited. Interestingly, finding a better work/life balance was not.

What do we have to lose?

Fast forward to July 2021, and another survey reveals the impact of the pandemic. Now professionals are saying that they would quit their job even without another lined up (we’re sensing that lessened fear of change again) and nearly half the respondents said they were more likely now than pre-pandemic to leave without a new role secured. Interestingly, with 36% saying the pandemic had allowed them to re-evaluate, it’s easy to see why a trend that may already have been brewing has quickly become a landslide action.

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing and certainly revisiting this data a year on shows that there may well be more factors at play than just covid-19 when it comes to the Great Resignation. People avoid change but, once removed from their comfort zone, can be surprised by their own willingness to challenge boundaries. The lessons here, perhaps, is for employers to invest in the bigger picture and start building cultures that can and do accommodate people’s individuality and aspirations.