WP2 Rough Draft
The COVID 19 ripped through countries around the world wreaking havoc and creating chaos. Families were broken, jobs were lost, and a global sentiment of pain and anguish was felt for the better half of the past two years. With that being said, in lieu of all the bad that has occurred, the pandemic helped cultivate change to and growth in different sectors of society. From social movements to mental health awareness, the pandemic has been marked as a time of new beginnings and reconstruction of the old. One of the areas of life that saw the most change in the most dramatic of ways was the workplace. Whether you worked as a UPS driver or banker on Wallstreet, the COVID 19 pandemic altered the daily lives of virtually every American across the nation. As the country took a pause and watched thousands of innocent people die or become ill, many individuals were either laid off or decided to take time to re-evaluate their lives. Regardless of the reason, the resulting effect has been coined The Great Resignation where employees have voluntarily resigned from their jobs in large masses. The reason? The majority of people asked said they realized that job satisfaction was more important than making money. While some believe that the shift towards pursuing job satisfaction as a result of the Great Resignation is temporary, I argue that it will become the key factor for future generations joining the work force because Americans are fed up with incredulous work hours at minimum wage when there are ways where individuals can find a better balance between work and pleasure.
The Great Resignation as it’s been called refers to the large numbers of people who quit their jobs in 2021. From the initial outbreak of COVID 19 there was a national spike in the amount of jobs quit in 2021, roughly 2.8% of Americans quit their jobs or took time off. While some workers chose take time to reassess their life path, others were forced to quit, “more than 22 million people lost their jobs or were furloughed in the pandemics early states. On the other hand, those who willingly quit their jobs mostly attribute their decision to seeking a career that inspired them, one that made them feel more liberated and had more meaning. In 2022, Careershifters, a website that helps people find more satisfying work, surveyed more than 5,000 employees. The survey revealed that 56% changed career paths due to dissatisfaction with their role, 16% due to lack of satisfaction with company culture/management, and 12% about their work-balance life. In addition, it was found that 30% of American workers under the age of 40 have considered changing their occupation since the start of the pandemic. Looking at Americans of all ages, 22% of the entire workforce considered changing their career field; the result: the Great Resignation and thousands of people seeking change and new beginnings all things people won’t be so willing to let go of once achieved.
Therefore the quest for job satisfaction will become a permanent factor in the workforce because workers who have found a career that adds passion and value to their life will not settle for a job that feels less adequate and doesn’t sustain a feeling of fulfillment. As younger generations begin to enter the work force post pandemic, most people are not as patient as past generations to achieve the success they aim to achieve, “younger workers are increasingly seeking out jobs that have meaning to them and not as willing to spend years on a corporate ladder. They are changing employers and career fields more rapidly than ever before to follow a passion or make a difference and are less willing to pay their dues in a job they feel … doesn’t offer them growth or challenge.” Those who are new to the workforce are more likely to seek jobs that offer something more than just a paycheck at the end of week, nor are they willing to put in joyless grueling work only to reap the benefits in the long run. Younger generations seek instant gratification, it’s the result of having grown up with technological advances. Virtually nothing in modern society requires people to be patient for very long, your amazon package arrives within 48 hours, thus it’s unrealistic to expect a generation raised on having literally everything at their fingertips to settle for a job that doesn’t give them that gratification they’ve grown up having.
By extension, the ways Americans worked before the Great Resignation was unsustainable, having had a break from the harsh work hours and pay has allowed many to realize that the way they were living was inhuman and unhealthy. In 2020, before the pandemic, 80% of Americans reported feeling that they had “too many things to do and not enough time to do them”. On average Americans work 47 hours with approximately 18% working over 60 hours a week to make ends meet. According to Dorie Clark, a professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the Columbia Business School in New York, “COVID affected everyone in the sense of causing us to question our priorities in life and examine what we’re doing and whether we might want to make changes.” Because of the shift in the way work was conducted during the pandemic, people were given time to think about their professional lives and where they fit into the greater context of their community; what they like or what they don’t like. As many have experienced the change from working out of necessity to working because you love what you do, the freedom in that will be very hard to erase or forget about. Thus, job satisfaction is here to stay in society for at least the next couple of years as some people are finally finding meaning and joy in their work once more and why would anyone ever want to give that up?
Admittedly, the frenzy to seek job satisfaction could fade and be replaced by another social facade, similarly to other social trends that were seen during the pandemic. As the world slowly begins to heal and return to “normal life” the lessons and revelations gleaned from the pandemic could fade with time as the harsh realities of the real world set in once more. Bills will always need to be paid and children will always need to be fed. Having to provide for a family is hard, especially if there’s only one bread winner in the household. Most individuals would sacrifice their own happiness to ensure that their family members have food in their stomachs and a roof over their heads. With that being said, the data shows that a large number of Americans feel the injustices within their work lives and if enough people take part in the Great Resignation and go after what they want, it could evoke change that would benefit those who have to work for a salary or worry about making ends meet.
In conclusion, the pandemic sparked thousands of Americans to quit their jobs, resulting in the Great Resignation. From the Great Resignation people began to view the workforce in a different manner, one in which inspiration, personal growth, balance, and well-being were incorporated together. Many people believe that with time, the trending job satisfaction clique will eradicate itself, but it will prevail as enough people have experienced the change in jobs and felt what it feels like to be excited to get out of bed every morning to start the day and no one will want revert back to feeling numb and dissatisfied in their job. If enough people join the cause to work for what they care about, it could evoke change in the places that once were seen as sad places to work. The continuation of something created during the pandemic and sustained afterwards could show the world that change is possible and it can be everlasting if we want it to be.
