dissatisifed city worker crossing street

Since the pandemic changes to the world of work, from working from home to a large proportion of the workforce going on furlough leave, have had some big consequences on the labour market. One unexpected outcome: huge numbers of workers have quit their jobs to move to new sectors, accepted jobs for higher or lower salaries, or stopped working entirely. In the US, 3.2% of the workforce quit their jobs voluntarily (4.3 million US workers) in September 2021 compared to 2.4% in 2020 - showing rates of resignation since the pandemic continue to climb. In the UK, rates of resignation are at their highest level since records began, with 38% of job changes in July to September 2021 being due to resignation.

Google searches for ‘resignation letter’ in the UK from April 2020 - November 2021 illustrate how many more were, and are, looking to go.

graph showing Google Trends data for "resignation letter" searches

While there is no single reason for this surge in resignations, recent data and industry surveys can give us insight into contributing factors.

‘The great burnout’

In a recent survey, burnout was the leading reason that employees have left their job since the pandemic with almost a third of UK workers having experienced burnout, stress or depression while working from home. With fewer resources and contact from home and a large proportion of organisations lacking wellbeing policies, these challenges have had a big impact on working life. And what’s causing homeworkers to burn out? One key factor is longer working hours, with the Office of National Statistics estimating home workers clocked up on average 6 hours of unpaid overtime a week compared to those in the office since the pandemic. These hours eat into essential rest periods that soon mount up and are a serious risk factor for burnout and serious health issues, with longer working hours associated with higher risks of heart attacks and strokes.

The ‘she-cession’?

Along with poor wellbeing making many workplaces untenable, working parents and those with caring responsibilities have been unable to continue working in their current roles. This has had a notable impact on gender equality with US unemployment for women at 1.9% above pre-pandemic levels. With a greater burden on women to carry out unpaid labour at home (cleaning, cooking, childcare), the great resignation has also been called a ‘she-cession’ with a risk of deepening inequalities and reducing the number of women in the labour market.

What can employers do to combat the Great Resignation?

While media reports have built a narrative that many people are reassessing their lives and careers since the pandemic, most people switching jobs are staying in the sector according to recent figures from the ONS. This could mean that relationships with employers and working conditions, rather than the type of sector, may be more important than ever to retain staff. With 73% of CEOs saying that labour and skills shortage is the most likely external issue to disrupt their business, improving wellbeing benefits packages and working conditions makes concrete business sense.

To combat burnout, deploying wellbeing policies and benefits that are effective and bring real change to worker wellbeing is a key aim, with 63% of employees surveyed in the UK who work from home supporting initiatives that ‘encourage physical health and wellness incentive programmes’. In the same survey, 55% said that the most effective thing that managers could do for their health is to ‘keep communications and work expectations within working hours’.

With rising numbers of resignations and labour shortages expected, employers who support their staff with wellbeing strategies that tackle work-life boundaries, offer flexibility and listen to their employees are more likely to weather the storm and have a competitive business advantage.

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