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It’s worth noting that job-hopping was temporarily reduced during early parts of the pandemic. No one really knew where this was going, so companies were hesita

It’s worth noting that job-hopping was temporarily reduced during early parts of the pandemic. No one really knew where this was going, so companies were hesitant to hire and employees were hesitant to leave a job they trusted to be around (if they could). There’s a natural rebound happening as companies feel safe to hire and employees feel safe to try new jobs. This is exacerbated by the way it’s all happening at once. Going to be interesting to see how and when it settles out. The media tried to portray a lot of pandemic trends as one-way changes to our society and economies, but so far I’ve been surprised at how quickly everything has been snapping back to pre-pandemic normalcy after the temporary disruptions work their way through the systems. This goes for everything from lumber prices to work from home policies. Everything feels slightly altered, but trending back to pre-pandemic norms. I expect to pay slightly more for lumber and have slightly more work from home options, but it hasn’t been the sea change of forever elevated prices and everyone working from home forever like it was portrayed months ago. I suspect this job-hopping trend will likewise calm down once things re-establish equilibrium.

pessimizer 5y ago
I think a lot of the pandemic changes were brought about because of uncertainty, and if every actor took the careful route at the same time, it prevented losses e.g. if everybody stopped producing lumber, the margin on lumber would rise; when the risk was over the margin would gradually drop as more producers came back online. The rise in non-wage labor costs certainly helped - shifting the same lumber production from covid to after covid was going to be cheaper. The quit rate is up because it's as if workers had all agreed not to quit when the covid situation was more unknown (like what we're walking into.) If you had a nice, safe work-from-home gig that you hated, during a time of disease, risking the job was not smart until you started to see how covid was going to work itself out. Once you've gotten a good idea of that, 1) you've been working for a job you would have long quit if covid hadn't happened, and/or 2) you're working at a job that you kept because it kept you safely at home, but is now demanding that you come back into the office. The benefit of working from home (against the risk of working outside the home) has a compensation value. We're reentering covid uncertainty, and I imagine that we'll react in the same way, only less so (because we're a little smarter.)
- ipaddr 5y ago
  65% is a huge number. Changing 65% of employees is going to lead to a lot of lessons learned lost.
  - ghaff 5y ago
    I didn't see a "normal" rate in the survey but I'd note that looking, whether casually or otherwise, is a lot different from actually moving to a new company. That said, my totally anecdotal impression is that there's more than average moving around.
rdtwo 5y ago
True in many areas but a few key industries have not recovered and impact everyone else.
op00to 5y ago
It’s been a year. Give it two or three before you start making statements about returning to pre-pandemic norms.

pessimizer 5y ago

I think a lot of the pandemic changes were brought about because of uncertainty, and if every actor took the careful route at the same time, it prevented losses e.g. if everybody stopped producing lumber, the margin on lumber would rise; when the risk was over the margin would gradually drop as more producers came back online. The rise in non-wage labor costs certainly helped - shifting the same lumber production from covid to after covid was going to be cheaper. The quit rate is up because it's as if workers had all agreed not to quit when the covid situation was more unknown (like what we're walking into.) If you had a nice, safe work-from-home gig that you hated, during a time of disease, risking the job was not smart until you started to see how covid was going to work itself out. Once you've gotten a good idea of that, 1) you've been working for a job you would have long quit if covid hadn't happened, and/or 2) you're working at a job that you kept because it kept you safely at home, but is now demanding that you come back into the office. The benefit of working from home (against the risk of working outside the home) has a compensation value. We're reentering covid uncertainty, and I imagine that we'll react in the same way, only less so (because we're a little smarter.)

ipaddr 5y ago
65% is a huge number. Changing 65% of employees is going to lead to a lot of lessons learned lost.
- ghaff 5y ago
  I didn't see a "normal" rate in the survey but I'd note that looking, whether casually or otherwise, is a lot different from actually moving to a new company. That said, my totally anecdotal impression is that there's more than average moving around.

rdtwo 5y ago

True in many areas but a few key industries have not recovered and impact everyone else.

op00to 5y ago

It’s been a year. Give it two or three before you start making statements about returning to pre-pandemic norms.