Where were you when the term “Great Resignation” first landed?
It didn’t arrive with COVID-19, another benchmark we may wish we had never heard of. While the Great Resignation became mainstream in the past year, the idea is not as new to the hiring world as you might think. In fact, I first heard of it in 2019, as a concept framed by Mays Business School (at Texas A&M University) professor Anthony Klotz.
Is the Great Resignation the next normal?
One of the most notable reasons for the trend seems to be the sudden realization that our identities are no longer defined by where we work. And whether you call it the Big Quit, the Great Realization or, perhaps most accurately, the Great Reassessment, the driving sentiment remains the same: employees are realizing that what they want from their jobs may be something entirely new.
The pressing challenge for employers now is how to hire and retain their workforce — and it doesn’t look like this challenge is going to go away quickly.