The Great Resignation

If you have been following the economy and our current shortages of workers to fill open jobs, you have likely heard the term the “great resignation”. At last look, I saw that there were 11 million jobs open in the US alone.

So, what is the “great resignation”? Apparently, it is a combination of workers taking early retirement and workers leaving their jobs for other reasons, choosing rather to not work anymore. Why? I have no idea, but it does appear to be widespread, meaning that there are underlying issues driving the trend.

If I had to assume, workers are unhappy with their employers or just want a change of lifestyle. This is hard for me to understand, but numbers don’t lie. People want change.

Here are some of my thoughts. These are very much my opinion and only my opinion. We are either the master or victim of our circumstances. We can choose to be happy or unhappy in any situation, job, or relationship. It is not the job, person or circumstance that is driving this trend, but rather a change in what people want and they are saying that they don’t want to work, because working does not make them happy.

I believe life, work and relationships are what we make them. If we invest in them, they will benefit us. This is much like watering a flower which blossoms and bears fruit. We see a return on our investment.

As people grapple with this idea that they are unhappy, I think that they should use a little introspection to determine why, what changes would make things better and then they would need to commit themselves to those changes. Our outcomes truly are based on what we invest in them.