Great Resignation
Mass voluntary resignation trend beginning in 2021 driven by workers reassessing priorities, working conditions, and career paths.
Also known as: Big Quit, Great Reshuffle
Category: Business & Economics
Tags: work, organizations, leadership, well-being, motivation, psychology
Explanation
The Great Resignation (also called the Big Quit) refers to the unprecedented wave of voluntary resignations that began in early 2021, primarily in the United States but observed globally. The term was coined by organizational psychologist Anthony Klotz, who predicted the trend based on pent-up resignations delayed by pandemic uncertainty.
At its peak, over 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in a single month (November 2021). The movement reflected a fundamental reassessment of the relationship between work and life, catalyzed by several pandemic-era factors: remote work revealing that alternative arrangements were possible, essential workers recognizing their undervaluation, widespread burnout from pandemic stress, savings accumulated during lockdowns providing a financial cushion, and existential reflection prompted by a global health crisis.
The Great Resignation was not uniform across industries — hospitality, healthcare, and retail saw the highest quit rates, while knowledge workers leveraged remote work options to seek better conditions. Many workers didn't leave the workforce entirely but sought better pay, flexibility, purpose, or management.
Lasting impacts include: normalized remote and hybrid work, increased emphasis on employee well-being and engagement, higher wage growth in low-pay sectors, greater attention to company culture as a retention tool, and a power shift (temporary in some sectors) toward workers in the labor market.
The Great Resignation is closely connected to quiet quitting — those who didn't physically leave often mentally disengaged instead. For leaders, it demonstrated that compensation alone is insufficient; meaning, autonomy, growth, and respect are essential components of retention.
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