The Great Resignation

In news- The Great Resignation, a new term came up in 2021 to capture the rising trend of employees leaving jobs.

What is the Great Resignation?

The Great Resignation, also known as the Big Quit, is an economic trend/ phenomenon in which a large number of employees voluntarily resign from their jobs after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
It started when the American government refused to provide necessary worker protections in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in wage stagnation amid rising cost of living.
Some economists have described the Great Resignation as a kind of general strike.
The term was coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, who predicted the mass exodus in May 2021.
It has largely been fuelled by burnout, but other factors also include the shift to working from home and the desire to move into a more stable profession.
In light of these resignations, the labour market has incentivised companies to offer better benefits and higher salaries.
In 2020, the World Economic Forum surveyed 300 global companies and found that 43 per cent of business expect to reduce their workforce with new technology.
Providing opportunities for lateral job moves, healthy work culture, better workplace and offering employees more remote working opportunities are some of the solutions for this problem.

Trends in India & world-

Many studies have indicated that the pandemic is the single-biggest factor behind higher attrition rates, not only in the West but also in India.
India’s top IT company TCS’ attrition rate rose to 15.3% in Q3FY22 as compared to 11.9% in the previous quarter.
On the other hand, the country’s second largest IT firm Infosys’ voluntary attrition has risen to 25.5% in the third quarter from 20.1% in the September quarter and 11% year-on-year (YoY).
Another IT giant Wipro’s attrition rose to 22.7% (voluntary TTM) on a trailing 12 month basis from 20.5% in the second quarter (QoQ).
Following the Great Resignation, the IT and technology sector is hiring at unprecedented rates with the top five IT companies hiring around 1.7 lakh people in 2021.
In 2020, resignation rates across the US plummeted due to the fear and uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
However, one year later, as the workforce experienced a collective burnout, individuals left their jobs at unprecedented rates.
Estimates indicate that in total, 75.5 million people in America resigned in 2021.