For quite a while, employees have been extremely reluctant to quit their jobs. Even if they were awful-paying and just plain awful gigs, the jobs market was even more awful, and so few workers wanted to risk being without a paycheck or trying something new. But now, in another sign that the economy isn’t a total basket case, tons of workers finally feel safe enough to tell their bosses to take this job and shove it.
In March, approximately 1.9 million U.S. employees quit their jobs. That’s 100,000 more people than the number of workers who were laid off that month—and the first time in 15 months that there were more resignations than firings.
And, as the WSJ reports, there are indications that Americans have not yet really begun to quit. We could very well be on the brink of a resignation frenzy:
In a poll conducted by human-resources consultant Right Management at the end of 2009, 60% of workers said they intended to leave their jobs when the market got better. “The research is fairly alarming,” says Michael Haid, senior vice president of global solutions for Right Management. “The churn for companies could be very costly.”
Well, if they’d been treating employees well all along, the companies wouldn’t have much to worry about. But, as we all know, that hasn’t been the case. And now vengeance will be had by those about to give notice.
Workers have been waiting the opportunity to quit, and that moment seems to be upon us—big time. As the WSJ explains:
Recruiters and human-resource experts say the increase in employees giving notice is a product of two forces. First, the natural turnover of employees leaving to advance their careers didn’t occur during the recession because jobs were so scarce. This created a backlog of workers waiting for better times to make a move to better jobs.
Better times and better jobs are apparently here. Hallelujah.