#Quitmyjob has become one of the most trending hashtags on Tiktok & Instagram lately with a high number of I quit videos being posted weekly. As per the data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.4 million people resigned in Sep 2021 an increase of ~17% as compared to Aug. The pandemic has completely changed the way we look at work. The rise in remote jobs, new opportunities and lower interest rates etc. has opened new avenues for everyone. All of this mixed with the changing landscape of jobs has led to The Great Resignation in the US & in India.
Let’s deep dive and see what it's all about.
What is The Great Resignation?
It is a phenomenon describing a record number of people quitting their jobs and re-evaluating their careers. The idea was proposed by Professor Anthony Klotz, Texas A&M University.
Why Is Everyone Quitting Their Jobs?
Let’s look at the real reason everyone is quitting their jobs:
- Rise in start-ups: This has two effects –
a) Start-up hiring has gone up. We have been seeing more and more start-ups hiring directly from colleges in the last few years. Again leading to more choices for the current workforce to switch if they want.
b) New start-ups- More and more people are quitting their jobs to start their own ventures. The entire start-up ecosystem in India has come a long way in the last decade. With easier availability of capital and high internet penetration, we are seeing new ventures building world-class products for Indian consumers.
In this year itself, we saw 42 unicorns, 10% more than last year.
- Rise in remote jobs: According to a Gallup’s report, 45% of full-time employees worked fully or partly remotely in the month of September. Work from home has opened up new avenues for employees. Workers can now have access to 1000s which were geographically off-limit earlier.
Companies based in the US & Europe realised it’s far more affordable to hire talent from developing countries like India. Thus, creating more remote jobs for not only the current workforce to choose from but remote jobs for college students and remote jobs with no experience.
- Work-life balance: The pandemic has given all of us a crash course in remote work and work-life balance. So for some employees, the work-life balance improved and for others, it went for a toss. This nudged employees to think deeply about what kind of work-life balance they want and if switching to other organisations would improve their current state.
As per a survey by Microsoft conducted across 31 countries, nearly 41% of employees are looking to quit their jobs.
According to Prof. Anthony Klotz “There’s now a greater ability for people to fit work into their lives, instead of having lives that squeeze into their work.”
The Great Resignation - Trends And Future Of Work
Let’s look at some data to understand the changing landscape of work.
1. Attrition in Tech Jobs:
If you look at the data of the top 5 IT players in India, we can see very high churn rates in 2021.
The 4 top IT players alone are hiring 160k college graduates this fiscal year and this doesn’t take into account lateral hiring. So in case you’re planning a career in tech, it's good news for you.
2.Rapid Growth of E-commerce:
Covid accelerated the e-commerce adoption in India with start-ups like Practo growing 10X between Apr to Nov 2020. On average E-commerce grew 2-5X faster as compared to pre-pandemic.
The growth brought new job opportunities in the E-com space.
3.Landscape Of Remote Work: As per Gallup 9 out of 10 remote workers want to continue with some degree of remote work. This data along with the fact that companies are able to save huge costs tells us that remote work isn’t going anywhere.
Plus with the world slowly shifting online, companies like Facebook & Microsoft are betting big on remote work within their metaverse. This clearly shows what future remote work would look like, opening more opportunities for everybody.
Conclusion
Rise in remote work, shift to digital transactions, high internet penetration and rise in automation – all of this along with the main catalyst being COVID has changed the work landscape completely.
Now you can work for a Fortune 500 company or a Unicorn start-up, sitting anywhere in the world. The opportunities are far more than what they were 10 years ago. No matter which side of the conversation you’re on, the change is here and chances are it’s here to stay.
Hope you enjoyed the article and a quick summary of The Great Resignation. Do let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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