5 Reasons For The Great Resignation (Part 1)
5 Reasons For The Great Resignation (Part 1)
This is the first post of a six-part series on potential causes of The Great Resignation.
When Did The Great Resignation Begin?
When did The Great Resignation start? It did not begin with the pandemic. The Great Resignation has been in the news. It has been a topic people have been talking about since 2020 as employees left their jobs. Employees were leaving their jobs for many different reasons wanting to learn new skills, work online, or they may have been retiring. This article will go into the causes of The Great Resignation and when it began. Here are thirty reasons for The Great Resignation.
What Is The Great Resignation?
The Great Resignation, also called The Great Quit or The Great Reshuffle, is an ongoing economic trend in which employees decided to leave their jobs en masse starting in 2020.
The Great Resignation is still in the process and will most likely continue despite some mainstream outlets saying that it may be ending due to the pandemic coming to an end. It will probably not end soon as more businesses and people move from working in-person to online.
How Did The Great Resignation Start?
The Great Resignation began long before the pandemic. How so? Everything was already moving online from the Dot Com boom in the early 2000s. During the 2010s, people found they were able to start their websites and blogs or discover that they could work online. The Internet has created digital nomads, online businesses, remote work for companies, and freelancing.
The Internet has allowed people to find creative ways to discover their passion, make money, and grow an audience. A person only needs a website. An email list. A YouTube Channel. Then a person can find creative ways to monetize those different online platforms. These platforms and new opportunities that Millennials and Generation Z have embraced have accelerated the transition from working a traditional job to working online, whether owning an online business or freelancing. In short, The Great Resignation did not begin with the Covid Pandemic.
Covid
The first reason is the Covid Pandemic. The pandemic is the main reason people may think of as the cause of The Great Resignation. However, as shown above, it began earlier with the Internet.
The pandemic only accelerated businesses to embrace moving online. It also drove small companies to find new creative ways to make money, often at a lower cost than a traditional brick-and-mortar business. It has also allowed people to find new opportunities and earn income outside a regular job.
Government Mandates
The second reason is the government’s response to the pandemic. Covid, or the pandemic, did not mandate you to wear a mask, social distance, or get a shot to keep your job. The government and the health bureaucrats did that, not Covid. The government made the mandates. After a couple of weeks, if not sooner, some people got sick of these requirements and orders.
Businesses Making Employees Do Things To Keep Their Jobs
The third reason is that huge businesses enforced the government mandates by making employees wear face masks to get the Covid vaccine to keep their job. These employees got tired of their careers, making them wear face masks, interacting with paranoid customers, and later their employer requiring them to get a Covid vaccine. These employees decided to resign or quit and find another alternative. These employees may have found a business that did not enforce the mandates or found an online solution, such as becoming a freelancer or content creator or finding a way to do an online business.
The Great Retirement
The fourth reason is retirement. The Great Resignation is also called The Great Retirement. Baby Boomers are finally starting to retire. For Baby Boomers who are beginning to retire or planning to retire, The Great Resignation can be called The Great Retirement.
Some of the reasons for The Great Retirement are that Baby Boomers who were preparing to retire could spend more time with their families. They saw that the stock market was going up. They believe that they are ready for retirement. They put in their time over the years at work. They have put money into their 401ks and pensions. They have money in the stock market. They have in real estate for their retirement.
Discovering College Degrees Did Not Help Their Career
The fifth reason is that younger people discover that their college degree did not help them get a career. Millennials are the most educated generation, yet many have trouble finding jobs that will turn into careers. Since more people have college degrees today, Millennials later went to graduate school or got a doctorate, thinking it would help their career. When they got out of higher education, they discovered employers were not open to bringing on people with fancy degrees who had no work experience.
What do you think about The Great Resignation? Are you taking part in it? Leave a comment in the comment section and let us know.
