To wonder how people are affording this " great resignation?"

[malificent7]

So during lockdown everyone had time to reflect on what they really want to do with their lives and according to various media sources we are now undergoing a " great resignation" whereby people are handing in their notice to do something more part time or more meaningful.
With inflation squeezing household budgets how on earth is anyone affording to resign? Slightly jealous as work is stressing me out.

I suspect there's no real 'great resignation' - just a handful of people who don't really need to work either because:

• their previous jobs were well-paid enough to leave them financially secure
• they have 'private means'
• they have a partner in well-paid, secure work

The average person on the street can't resign unless they have another job at similar hours/salary to go to more or less straight away. The chances of being able to find another job at the same salary doing something totally different from your previous job are quite slim.

A lot of people lost elderly parents in the past 2 years and have inherited money. A friend of mine lost her mum (age 70) and is now planning to retire early, although not for a couple of years.

It's only the well off who can afford this. Just a way of showing the rest of us we aren't doing well enough.

More meaningful could be different employment, rather than doing something unwaged. I resigned from my old job because I'd had enough but I'm now doing something else I much prefer and it pays more. The pandemic gave me the kick up the bum I needed.

I am thinking of doing this, my DH has gone up from PT to FT, so I was thinking I could have a year at PT because my job is really dreadful, whilst I think about what to do next.

I just want to get out, I am getting pretty desperate!

As others have said:

• inheritance losing parent
• I think wfh as meant some people could move into jobs they maybe couldn’t have done before (so lower pay, but as they don’t have commute and childcare costs they can afford)
• they’ve sold up from an expensive area and released equity

It was all the threads saying all the keyworkers (doctors, teachers) would resign after the pandemic. I was thinking, “the majority of us wont (however much we want to) as we can’t afford to”.

I work in hospitality so one of the industries most affected by 'the great resignation'. I have found that it's not people leaving to do nothing/ retire etc but moving to have a better work balance. So either less of a commute, changing to a school hours contract, changing to a more specialised role in something they love, boredom and wanting a change. So often doesn't involve a salary change as such, or if it does is often made up by the reduction in transportation/ childcare costs.

Don't actually think it exists in terms of people leaving work completely. I think there's lots of people changing jobs but I don't suppose "the great job change" has quite the same ring to it.

I resigned and found a new job. I work less hours but I prefer the time to myself than the extra money and it doesn't feel like I have less.
Probably because I'm not buying stuff to make me happy because my job was toxic.

I don’t know if it’s everyone resigning to go part time/give up work but I do think a lot of people have realised that they are not in the right job and have started looking for something different

Could be because they want to work from home more and current job doesn’t allow it or the opposite where they want to in the office but their company has closed space down. Or, and we are seeing this a lot in my job, people are burned out after the last few years and have decided to try something different.

Also people are doing it now rather than a year ago as things feel a bit more settled. So you have two years of natural attrition at the one time

As butter says, they're resigning and moving to different jobs. One article describes it more accurately as the Great Reshuffle. Partly it's moving to different industries and partly moving to organisations that work in a way that suits, e.g., moving somewhere that will continue to allow WFH because that's your priority, or moving to a job that pays more because they want you in the office all the time.

There have been a few studies showing that the demographics of those resigning their jobs and not returning to employment are older, which suggests early retirement.

At the lower age demographics, it's more churn than resignation -- leaving jobs, but going into new ones.

Some people are in a better financial position than others and/or are less risk averse and/or are happy to moderate their previous lifestyle to do something more meaningful (to them).

Also, whilst there is a squeeze on living costs, the pandemic was financially beneficial to a lot of people. The lack of commuting, holidays and socialising has meant I was able to pay off two credit cards and get a small nest egg built up.

Also, there’s no such thing as the “great resignation”.

I know someone who is retiring when they had planned to work longer (already retirement age) but they don't financially need to.

Another person has sold up & has about 1m equity so has some to live on.

Agree with pp they are people already privileged

I'm leaving my office job after a lot of thought over how things have gone over the past 2 years, but I'm taking some time out and then working for myself. I think that's what the great resignation is about, people being forced to go back into an office and be surrounded by dickheads is forcing them to be creative with their career choices!

I think a lot of hospitality have got better paid jobs too in other sectors.

hospitality workers

I demoted myself because I was burnt out from the pandemic and juggling home schooling, a part time degree and working. It’s not all rosy back stories of why people have done this.

See also: people with long Covid who can no longer work full time.

I work in HR and a number of employees have left recently. They were all approaching retirement age and found they were unhappy back at work after being furloughed.

I think their period of being furloughed gave them the chance to try out retirement and they liked it too much to continue working for a few more years.

Don't know about the great resignation, but there were meant to be lots more people wanting to train to be teachers.

There aren't. Applications for teacher training are down.

I'm one of those who resigned. I'd been in my job for years with a great attendance record but then the pandemic struck and I was suddenly having to take days off all the time as my children were off school or nursery due to bursting bubbles or getting symptoms and waiting for a PCR result. The final straw happened when my boss booked a holiday and the rest of the team were told they couldn't be away at the same time...then DS2 tested positive for Covid! I had no choice but to resign as I'd already inconvenienced the team too much and HR were unsympathetic. At my leaving party everyone was joking 'ooh lucky you, retiring at 30' but I loved my job 😢

As my youngest was in nursery with no funding my take home was only £125 per month after childcare so we're not missing the money too much, especially as DH's salary has increased in recent years. I'm worried about how I'll ever return to the workplace though - my kids have been off school/nursery for 7 days between them now this year and we're not even half way through February.

I think it’s more a great poach. There’s loads of jobs out there at the moment, so a huge amount of movement in the market

I know lots of people quit to do similar thing in other companies, maybe sick if a toxic manager or being under paid waiting for the pay rise internally that never came and then people after a period of reflection decided to make a change for something else. This then forced some industries to become more competitive and offer better packages I know it did in tech.

@MrsWinters

I think it’s more a great poach. There’s loads of jobs out there at the moment, so a huge amount of movement in the market

Yup. This.

I think more teachers will resign. I know several who have and more who are actively looking at ways out. Including senior staff.