Why millions of people quitting their 9-5 job?

The 'great resignation' is happening all around us. Millions of people are voluntarily leaving their 9-5 jobs every month in search of greener pastures.

In fact, the latest figures show 4.5 million people voluntarily left their jobs in November 2021 alone. Health and tech have had especially high turnover rates, with a 3.6 per cent and 4.5 per cent increase in year-over-year resignations respectively.

So…what's going on? Are people really dropping out of the economy completely, or are they just changing jobs? The statistics alone don't tell the full story. The truth is, the economy is shifting. Employees are free to find followings online - and with those followings, they can leverage new opportunities. When many corporate positions shifted to remote working conditions, employees began to realize that they did not need to be in an office in order to be productive.

Data from January 2022 tells us that 55 per cent of employees would rather quit their job than return back to the office. Therefore, this exemplifies how remote working conditions have dramatically changed the modern world of work.

Following on from this, many businesses understand that their employees value remote working more than joining a vibrant office. Research states that '25 per cent of all professional jobs in North America will be remote by the end of 2022, and remote opportunities will continue to increase through 2023.' Thus, these new conditions will obviously impact whether a person will leave their current position.

In addition, there seem to be a lot more job openings than expected. Ironically, industries most negatively affected by the pandemic such as hospitality and food service, saw an increase in job openings once restrictions had ended. This not only signifies that these sectors are popular and more adaptive than others, it also shows that many people were not worried about finding another position after resigning.

On a much wider scale, hashtags such as #quityourjob, have a supreme amount of influence over the general public. This hashtag has been used over 87,000 times on Instagram and has nearly 109 million views on TikTok. This simple trend has inspired others to no longer be complacent in their working lives and try to find something that is better suited for them.

Numerous studies have shown that the pandemic is the main cause of increasing burnout worldwide, including in India. Due to extended emotional and mental stress, most employees experienced burnout and tiredness, which is to blame for the significant turnover rates that businesses worldwide were forced to experience as a result of the pandemic.

Every week, another group of laid-off workers decides to try their luck in the social media work economy, another new job trend. In India, there are over 15 million influencer workers, and the industry is quickly changing to reflect the preferred working habits of millennials and Gen Z. Although employees were almost as likely to identify intangible elements connected to meaning, money isn't enough by itself to keep them. Employees considering a career move placed job fulfillment and the ability to be one's authentic self at work second and third, respectively.

Staff value flexibility at work more and more is preferable. There is a gap between employees' perceptions and employers' perceptions, as 29 per cent of employees stated they would prefer full-time remote working but only 15 per cent believed their business is likely to embrace this approach.

With shifting from hometown, settling in another city, increasing pollution and population, and sky-high prices of commodities, stress build-up from office deadlines, workplace toxicity, and unrealistic deadlines are making many employees choose to leave their jobs and make a career on social media instead. It should come as no surprise that so many individuals desire to work as digital content creators or, even better, influencers, given the number of social media platforms available and the daily influx of millions of users.

They include business executives, thought-leaders, scientists, professors, and other professionals. These influencers have a social media presence and a platform to share their knowledge with a larger audience than if they had only written a book thanks to the internet and websites like Twitter and LinkedIn. Through their social media presence, these influencers may achieve slimline status and reap the benefits of enhanced professional recognition as well as other related professional advantages.