The Great Resignation Is Growing Worldwide: 1 in 5 People Are Ready to Resign in the Next 12 Months.

Starting in America, the phenomenon is becoming global. Companies will have to adapt.

The phenomenon started in America with the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of the second quarter of 2020. It then amplified in 2021 with 38 million Americans leaving their jobs. While the COVID-19 pandemic appears, for now, to be behind us, this trend continues in America. Indeed, 4.5 million and 4 million resignations were recorded last March and April respectively.

Like any phenomenon that starts in America, it ends up being exported to Europe. A similar trend, but in much smaller proportions for the moment, can be observed in the United Kingdom and France. It is also affecting the Asian continent with a significant increase in resignations in India.

The auditing firm PwC has just published the results of a worldwide survey on the subject. This survey involved 52,000 workers from 44 different countries. I invite you to read the report “PwC's Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022” and make up your mind.

In my opinion, the first thing that jumps out is that this “Great Resignation” movement is well on its way and will spread worldwide.

Qualified men are more likely to be looking for big raises.

According to the PwC survey, one in five people is likely to change jobs in the next 12 months. And more than one in three are considering asking their boss for a raise. This is especially true in industries where people feel their skills are in short supply. That is, in health care, technology, media, and telecommunications.

“Skilled employees are more likely to ask for promotions and raises and feel listened to by their managers, while those who lack skills lack power in the workplace,” notes PwC.

Another notable finding from the survey is that less-skilled women are 7 percentage points less likely than men when asked if they intend to ask for a pay raise shortly.

Fulfillment at work becomes something crucial

While salary plays a big role in how workers perceive their jobs, fulfillment is now becoming something crucial. For example, 71% of respondents said that a pay raise would make them want to change jobs... while 69% said that more fulfillment at work would make them do so as well.

“Reward for work needs to be defined in new and different ways,” notes Bob Moritz, global chairman of PwC. Employees “are looking for changes in that work, especially when you think about how automation can help reduce monotony and some of the routine tasks they do. They also want to make sure that work is meaningful not only to an organization's strategy but also to the purpose of that organization”.

Lightening the workload by delegating certain tasks to robots is one thing. But you have to put the cursor in the right place. Because Generation Z workers (18-25) are twice as likely as baby boomers (58-76) to fear that technology will replace their roles in the next three years.

“This means investing in both digital transformation and skills with a focus on empowering skilled employees, providing pathways for those who lack skills, and automation that frees people to do what only people can do,” believes Carol Stubbings, global head of tax and legal at PwC.

Being able to be yourself at work is an undeniable asset

Fulfillment at work, therefore, implies finding meaning in what you do and not being subjected to boring tasks. But it also involves the atmosphere that prevails on the job. For example, 66% of those surveyed said that being able to be truly themselves at work was an important factor.

“The role of employers is not to tell workers what to think, but to give them a voice, a choice, and a safe environment to share their feelings, listen and learn how these issues impact their colleagues,” notes Bhushan Sethi, co-head of PwC's global people and organization services.

Employers will therefore have to adapt in the coming months and years to give their employees better working conditions. This means giving meaning to their missions, but also the means to fulfill themselves in their work, and above all better salaries while inflation promises to eat away at their purchasing power.