Why ‘layoff epidemic’ is spreading across companies

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Quitting a job can be empowering, but caution is needed before making the decision Quitting a job can be empowering, but caution is needed before making the decision Getty Images/BBC When organizational behavior professor Anthony Klotz coined the expression “Great Resignation” in 2021, its sole intent was to address the trend that has driven large numbers of American workers to leave their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. But now Klotz wonders whether he has, to some extent and unintentionally, created a prophecy that has come true. Quitting went viral — both online and in real life. In the United States, for example, data published in January by the North American Bureau of Labor Statistics show that around 49 million professionals resigned from their jobs in 2021 and more than 50 million in 2022. And there are studies that show that many of professionals who stayed in their jobs are still thinking about resigning. A LinkedIn survey involved a pool of 2,000 professionals. Among them, about three-quarters of Gen Zers and two-thirds of millennials are considering quitting their jobs this year. And older generations are still considering possible layoffs, including 55% of Gen Xers and a third of Baby Boomers. More than half of workers are willing to look for a new job to move away from the 100% face-to-face model. Professionals who leave cite many reasons for the decision, such as the desire for greater flexibility, money or benefits, or to abandon negative company cultures. But there is also the notion that layoffs beget layoffs. The researchers coined the term “contagion dismissal” to describe the phenomenon whereby, when a person resigns, the chance that his or her colleagues will follow suit increases—according to one study, by up to 25%. For Klotz, the numbers of resignations that dominate the headlines made the effect spread quickly through the professional world. According to him, in a way, the “feel-good factor” of leaving a job can be empowering for professionals. “Many of us have felt somewhat powerless throughout the pandemic years and even the years leading up to it,” he says. “Quitting your job can be an empowering moment.” He continues: “During the relationship with our employer, he has the power. We need the salary, so we do what the employer wants us to do, even if we don’t want to.” “Once you start thinking about resigning, that power dynamic starts to change. And that really is tempting and heady.” “When you start to think ‘I don’t need this anymore, I can do what my colleague did and go work at that other company’ there’s a surge of power,” says Klotz. Professionals can end up regretting having quit their jobs without the necessary analysis and consideration Getty Images/BBC It’s tempting, he says, because “it feels liberating.” And when professionals are constantly reading the news about people quitting or even watching viral resignation videos, “it can be hard to resist.” Klotz says that before it went viral, “Quitting was kind of taboo, something you went through alone. It was kind of a secret process. Over the last few years, there’s been this wave of people who have felt more comfortable talking about it.” But not everything is perfect. The tendency to quit can overshadow the difficulty many people face when quitting their jobs. For Klotz, for example, one of the disadvantages of the resignation becoming so public is the feeling that it would be an easy and reasonably quick decision. This can lead people to make a hasty call and quit rather than thinking through the decision. If everyone is doing it, it sounds easy, according to Klotz, “but of course it’s one of the biggest career decisions anyone can make.” ‘It’s Hard to Predict How Things Will Turn Out’ University of Memphis management professor Caitlin Porter is one of the authors of a recent review of research on the turnover epidemic. She indicates that the resignation speech as a trend rarely tells the real difficulties of the process. “Do you know what it’s like to leave a company?” she asks. “If you live in a metropolitan area, there might be another employer you could visit, but if not, you might be moving your family.” Starting in a new position is not easy either. “Typically, it takes at least six months to a year to get up to speed and build the relationships you need to be effective in your new role,” continues Porter. “Your whole life is compromised. Starting a new job is really one of the most stressful times. It’s a lot of work. It’s very difficult.” Porter adds that the newfound glamor of quitting can also tempt the wrong people. People most susceptible to contagion are those who are least “embedded” in their jobs – often younger employees or employees with “little stability” in other demographics who may actually not be in the best position to leave. . And even if a new job offers better pay, flexibility or other benefits, changing companies frequently can make it difficult to progress professionally. Experts say that professionals who resign before the “due” time – that is, before they have achieved enough in their current job to benefit from the next one, or at least that they have stayed long enough to get good references – can have their careers harmed . This can be especially negative for groups that are already naturally marginalized, such as women and people of color, who typically “don’t rise to the same levels in organizations as members of privileged groups,” according to Porter. For her, this is due, in part, to the fact that those same groups have the highest turnover rates. It’s an issue that the trend toward dismissal only exacerbates. Even though he probably helped fuel the resignation trend, Anthony Klotz advises professionals that the best thing to do right now is to resist the temptation. He states that a possible professional transition should not be treated as a simple change, but as an important life change – simply because this is the truth. “In a way, there’s a parallel between quitting and breaking up a long-term relationship in your personal life,” he says. “It’s complicated, it’s emotional and you really don’t know how you’re going to feel until it happens. It’s hard to predict how things are going to turn out.” Read the original version of this report (in English) on the BBC Worklife website.

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