4 ms·

Beware, strong opinion ahead: I think the whole resignation story is just nonsense. I am almost certain it can be explained by people being worried in 2020 so

Beware, strong opinion ahead: I think the whole resignation story is just nonsense. I am almost certain it can be explained by people being worried in 2020 so much that they sticked to whatever job they had. Which leads to... many people quitting in 2021. Surprise! It's probably similar to the whole supply chain hickup.

addicted 5y ago
I’m fairly convinced that the Great Resignation is the sum of: 1) Natural turnover that did not happen in 2020 adding to natural turnover in 2021. 2) 2021 natural turnover. 3) People (primarily women) not being able to return to work because of child and elderly care. The reason I don’t think it’s something more than that is that other countries are not seeing a great resignation. Only the US is. And the US didn’t even have struct lockdowns unlike other countries including countries richer and poorer than the US on a per capita basis.
- hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
  > 3) People (primarily women) not being able to return to work because of child and elderly care. I think that one is key, BUT primarily because I also think that one is not likely to recede as quickly the other causes will. I think many people with young children, where both parents worked, and one of those parents was in a relatively low wage job, realized that it actually made more financial and "mental health" sense to have that parent just quit and take care of their children full time. With as expensive as childcare is in the US, people realized "Why am I completely stressing myself out, having someone else raise my kids, when I earn X, but something in the neighborhood of .8X goes to childcare, expenses for having a job (commuting, work clothes, etc.), and taxes. I'd rather have a slightly lower standard of living without having to deal with a bullshit job and having so little time with my kids." I believe that dynamic is one that has staying power. All of the other fantasies ("people are standing up to the man and saying they won't come back until wages increase") will face reality once people's savings run out and they realize they like having shelter and eating.
  - jleyank 5y ago
    To some degree, older folks or folks with money are leaving the workforce and not reporting themselves as unemployed. Going part time or just closing down their career. This causes a mid to high end shortage which will indirectly drain lower level jobs as well.
- im3w1l 5y ago
  > Only the US is. That's a super interesting fact but I don't think it so obviously points out that this is a non-event. Why would the turn from 2020 add but not in the rest of the world? Why would women go home to child/elderly care and not in the rest of the world? Pretty mysterious!
ozzythecat 5y ago
> I am almost certain it can be explained by people being worried in 2020 so much that they sticked to whatever job they had. I think that’s a major contributor. Anecdotally, I think burn out is another factor. Many of my co workers left, not because they would have left in 2020 anyway, but because stress and workload increased significantly. Even when the overall workload didn’t increase, many of my coworkers (including myself) were glued to our screens - working non stop into the evening, with no sense of boundaries. And for many of us, work life balance was already whack. COVID WFH just pushed it off a cliff. I’m highly paid and enjoy the nature of my work, but every couple weeks I think about resigning. Honestly, I’m tired. I am highly paid, privileged, and have a wonderful boss, but sometimes I feel like a cog in a machine. My boss cares about me but my company just sees me as a replaceable resource. And that’s not to disparage my employer. It’s just the reality of working in corporate America.
- cronix 5y ago
  > It’s just the reality of working in corporate America. I think it's just the reality of working for someone else, and the longer you do it the higher the chance of > I feel like a cog in a machine becomes. There's a lot that comes with getting older, such as hindsight. Lots of things felt different when I was first experiencing them, vs after 40 (we'll say) years of it. You see things differently, because you know more through direct experience that can't be taught.
- pwdisswordfish8 5y ago
  > I’m highly paid and enjoy the nature of my work, but every couple weeks I think about resigning. Delegation is the cornerstone of civilization. <https://sandstorm.io/news/2015-05-05-delegation-is-the-cornerstone-of-civilization https://sandstorm.io/news/2015-05-05-delegation-is-the-corne...> Have you considered exploiting work-from-home by outsourcing your job (not necessarily overseas, but to another eager body that you're able to vet face-to-face)? If you're replaceable to your company and you can find a replacement more easily and competently than your employer can—something that has to be true if the truisms that most of HN accepts are actually sound—why not replace yourself and benefit from it at the same time by skimming off the top?
ajsnigrutin 5y ago
Also a lot of people lost their jobs during the covid crisis, and moved out of expensive cities, back to their parents houses not-in-manhattan, and because of realestate prices being even higher, a lot of them can't afford to come back, atleast not at shitty pay rates the most affected industries (service, food,...) are offering.
Jansen312 5y ago
Work in global HR. Even though observations are annectodal, it is a real observable phenomena. Already companies I know are facing significant upticks of resignations just this beginning Q4. And these aren't your local fast food or retail or entry type of jobs I'm talking about.
- shoto_io 5y ago
  I’m not debating the effect. I’m sure it’s real. I doubt the folklore around why people are quitting.

addicted 5y ago

I’m fairly convinced that the Great Resignation is the sum of: 1) Natural turnover that did not happen in 2020 adding to natural turnover in 2021. 2) 2021 natural turnover. 3) People (primarily women) not being able to return to work because of child and elderly care. The reason I don’t think it’s something more than that is that other countries are not seeing a great resignation. Only the US is. And the US didn’t even have struct lockdowns unlike other countries including countries richer and poorer than the US on a per capita basis.

hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
> 3) People (primarily women) not being able to return to work because of child and elderly care. I think that one is key, BUT primarily because I also think that one is not likely to recede as quickly the other causes will. I think many people with young children, where both parents worked, and one of those parents was in a relatively low wage job, realized that it actually made more financial and "mental health" sense to have that parent just quit and take care of their children full time. With as expensive as childcare is in the US, people realized "Why am I completely stressing myself out, having someone else raise my kids, when I earn X, but something in the neighborhood of .8X goes to childcare, expenses for having a job (commuting, work clothes, etc.), and taxes. I'd rather have a slightly lower standard of living without having to deal with a bullshit job and having so little time with my kids." I believe that dynamic is one that has staying power. All of the other fantasies ("people are standing up to the man and saying they won't come back until wages increase") will face reality once people's savings run out and they realize they like having shelter and eating.
- jleyank 5y ago
  To some degree, older folks or folks with money are leaving the workforce and not reporting themselves as unemployed. Going part time or just closing down their career. This causes a mid to high end shortage which will indirectly drain lower level jobs as well.
im3w1l 5y ago
> Only the US is. That's a super interesting fact but I don't think it so obviously points out that this is a non-event. Why would the turn from 2020 add but not in the rest of the world? Why would women go home to child/elderly care and not in the rest of the world? Pretty mysterious!

ozzythecat 5y ago

> I am almost certain it can be explained by people being worried in 2020 so much that they sticked to whatever job they had. I think that’s a major contributor. Anecdotally, I think burn out is another factor. Many of my co workers left, not because they would have left in 2020 anyway, but because stress and workload increased significantly. Even when the overall workload didn’t increase, many of my coworkers (including myself) were glued to our screens - working non stop into the evening, with no sense of boundaries. And for many of us, work life balance was already whack. COVID WFH just pushed it off a cliff. I’m highly paid and enjoy the nature of my work, but every couple weeks I think about resigning. Honestly, I’m tired. I am highly paid, privileged, and have a wonderful boss, but sometimes I feel like a cog in a machine. My boss cares about me but my company just sees me as a replaceable resource. And that’s not to disparage my employer. It’s just the reality of working in corporate America.

cronix 5y ago
> It’s just the reality of working in corporate America. I think it's just the reality of working for someone else, and the longer you do it the higher the chance of > I feel like a cog in a machine becomes. There's a lot that comes with getting older, such as hindsight. Lots of things felt different when I was first experiencing them, vs after 40 (we'll say) years of it. You see things differently, because you know more through direct experience that can't be taught.
pwdisswordfish8 5y ago
> I’m highly paid and enjoy the nature of my work, but every couple weeks I think about resigning. Delegation is the cornerstone of civilization. <https://sandstorm.io/news/2015-05-05-delegation-is-the-cornerstone-of-civilization https://sandstorm.io/news/2015-05-05-delegation-is-the-corne...> Have you considered exploiting work-from-home by outsourcing your job (not necessarily overseas, but to another eager body that you're able to vet face-to-face)? If you're replaceable to your company and you can find a replacement more easily and competently than your employer can—something that has to be true if the truisms that most of HN accepts are actually sound—why not replace yourself and benefit from it at the same time by skimming off the top?

ajsnigrutin 5y ago

Also a lot of people lost their jobs during the covid crisis, and moved out of expensive cities, back to their parents houses not-in-manhattan, and because of realestate prices being even higher, a lot of them can't afford to come back, atleast not at shitty pay rates the most affected industries (service, food,...) are offering.

Jansen312 5y ago

Work in global HR. Even though observations are annectodal, it is a real observable phenomena. Already companies I know are facing significant upticks of resignations just this beginning Q4. And these aren't your local fast food or retail or entry type of jobs I'm talking about.

shoto_io 5y ago
I’m not debating the effect. I’m sure it’s real. I doubt the folklore around why people are quitting.