Forget Going Back to the Office—People Are Just Quitting Instead

The wave of resignations marks a sharp turn from the darkest days of the pandemic, when many workers craved job security while weathering a national health and economic crisis.

While a high quit rate stings employers with greater turnover costs, and in some cases, business disruptions, labor economists say churn typically signals a healthy labor market as individuals gravitate to jobs more suited to their skills, interests and personal lives.

“It was effectively me against the help-desk queue,” the 37-year-old says.

“It feels wonderful to take my staunch love for proper grammar and make it into a job,” says Mr.

Many people are spurning a return to business as usual, preferring the flexibility of remote work or reluctant to be in an office before the virus is vanquished.

a talent consultant who led human resources at LinkedIn during its early years.

was an administrator at Utah Global, a public-private partnership at the University of Utah providing services to international students.

But when the pandemic moved classes online, she took on “kind of a product manager role” for Utah Global, she says, overseeing the shift to virtual coursework.

That’s not work I had ever done before,” the 33-year-old says.

Draney was reluctant; remote work suited her better and she was still concerned about the virus.

a program manager who left his job with a large industrial company in April to work for Fabricated Metals, a manufacturer in Louisville.

Within days, the 33-year-old had an offer with a higher base salary than he had requested plus a quarterly incentive bonus.

During the pandemic, Detroit-based Ally Financial Services took on around 2,000 employees “that have never stepped foot within our organization,” and turnover is highest among that group, says.

Remote work also has expanded the recruiting pool for rival companies and technology firms, making employees with digital skills ripe for poaching by employers nationwide, Ms.

The company hopes Ally’s Own It program, which was initiated in 2019 and grants 100 shares of stock to every employee, will breed loyalty and “an owner’s mentality” among workers, she says

Cadigan sees longer-term trends at work in the job-switching data

The more I move, the more I’m known, the bigger my network is, the closer I get to sampling the buffet table of careers to see what I’m really good at and what the market will pay me,” the talent consultant says

“I really love this job,” she says

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc

Copyright © 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc