You’ve heard about it. It’s happening all around us. After leaving many of us paralyzed in our positions and uncertain of the future eighteen months ago, the pandemic is now leading the way to employment opportunity in the form of The Great Resignation. New grads, new moms and seasoned professionals are among those who, for greater flexibility and financial reward, are changing seats as COVID -19 continues to pick and choose its victims.
The pandemic forced all of us to stop and look at how we were working, what we were being paid, and if this made sense personally and professionally. And in many cases the answer was a resounding, “No.” Front line workers who were unexpectedly asked to work long hours for small compensation may have been among the first to hand in their resignation papers. For months they bagged groceries, stocked shelves, maintained public safety and – in many cases at great risk to themselves personally and their families – provided essential medical treatment to those stricken with some of the worst versions of the virus. They reached their limit. They said, “no more.” And who could blame them, really?
Efforts by employers to induce employees to return to the office this Fall are, in some cases, adding to employee defections. As we start our second school year with surging variant cases, many families are prioritizing flexibility and the capacity to make quick decisions with changing information about public health risks to children. Adults who have maintained social distance, dutifully been vaccinated, and conscientiously observed public health guidance are reluctant to now sacrifice all this effort to go back to the office and do work that they can perform just as easily at home.
New grads may lead the way in seeking work that is remote and flexible. This is often due less to fear of becoming ill and more to the ready availability of entry level jobs that are easily adaptable to working in an online format. This sounds great until you read the fine print: How are you going to figure out what the job is all about if you never meet your colleagues? How will you ask questions? How will you find mentors? How will your performance be measured relative to your peers? Starting a new job is always challenging. But starting a new career remotely – especially in a job that was previously not done online – can create unforeseen challenges and stressors. Later this can contribute, overall, to a negative first work experience.
Seasoned employees may have come to enjoy not working under the thumb of the boss once they adapted to the online work environment in Spring 2020. But before leaving a “known” work situation, it is critical to determine if your household budget can really support taking on an “unknown” work environment. It is important to ask: Is my existing position critical to meeting household expenses? And, if so, is there really no other option than resignation? What is the backup plan if the new, “unknown” position proves to be a bust? True, there are lots of jobs out there. But are these other jobs actually better with regard to work load, culture, and salary as compared with that job that helped you hold it steady for the past eighteen months?
Many new mothers see the pandemic as offering them a pathway they had not imagined – one that may allow them to work and not have to utilize daycare or a nanny. Certainly, working remotely can relieve many of the work/life balance stressors that negatively impacted working moms prior to the pandemic. But it is also critical to establish regular work hours and create a dedicated work space. Without these boundaries around home and work it is all too easy for one to bleed into the other. It is also critical to be realistic about the amount of child care that will be needed even when working remotely - and to reassess this regularly with the changing needs of the children and work.
Bottom line, we may never work again the same ways we did pre-pandemic. But it’s also essential to ask lots of questions and think carefully about the risks and benefits of the new options with which we are being presented.