Have you heard of the great resignation 2021?
In short, the world and their dog are resigning their jobs as they’ve had enough. Think we are exaggerating? Check out the stories in the media over the past month where we have heard about ‘4 million workers quit their jobs in April,’ or ‘41% of global workers who are considering quitting or changing professions.’
The bedrock of all of these articles and the associated social media feeds of people saying, ‘I’m not standing for it, I won’t go back to work or I’m leaving,’ is that people are just quitting their roles and that is it? From this bedrock, things really start to ramp up; people are feeling unappreciated, under-paid, overworked and the looming threat of commutes with 5 days back-to-back work, people have had enough.
Doesn’t sound good, does it?
The problem is and we know this might not be popular, but within the UK specifically, we at Digital 51 are just not seeing this day in day out. Our job is to speak to people all day every day, whether they be businesses, individuals, teams, we love speaking to people, so we do.
Yes, money has become an issue. Of course, it has, in the digital sector wages are without over-stating, rocketing. Why? Well because we are in the heart of a digital evolution that many did not see coming and demand is hugely out-stripping supply.
Also working patterns and location has never been more discussed. Again, this is inevitable after the biggest period of working practice change, we have seen in a generation. Some people are very much wedded to their home working and don’t want to give that up. Some are desperate to get back to work. It really just depends. None however are resigning without knowing where they are going, what they are doing and to spite their existing employer. That is just not happening. I don’t care what your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram feed says, it’s not happening on mass.
There is also a pent-up desire from people who are ready for a change. Imagine you have completed 5 years at your existing business, has progressed, had achieved your goals and the next day it was March the 25th 2020. Well, the likelihood that you decided that was a good day to start looking for a new job is very slim. Most of those people sat tight through the past 18 months. Why would you not, it was carnage out there on the job front for many. Now however those people are ready to move. Again, no-one is making a stance, packing their cardboard box and storming out as they ‘are done.’ It’s just not happening like that.
OK, so what is happening?
What’s really happening is workers are considering their options and everyone is open to hearing about new and exciting things. Many are however just considering their options AKA ‘the great toe dip.’ Many are starting to see and meet other businesses to hear what they are looking for. Let’s be honest if you are a business and you have embraced working remotely for your team, then you’ve helped create an environment where it’s never been easier to do those virtual calls.
Some people are also getting new job offers and then speaking to their existing employer and low and behold, they realise things are not as bad as they thought. People are then having the frank conversations they probably did not feel empowered to have last year, and on the back of that, decisions are being made. The huge curveball and where we think the media should be focusing their attention is around the counter-offer culture which is being heavily fostered in the UK right now. In our experience 100% of people who try to resign get counter offered. That’s not a made-up statistic and it’s not us rounding up. We have complete tens of employment offers since we started Digital 51 in March of this year and 100% of the people, we have offered new roles to, have been counter offered when they have tried to resign.
Only once all of this is done and dusted are people possibly resigning. The great resignation pieces we have referred to, does not paint that picture and we can probably see why. Let’s be honest if selling newspapers is your game, the truth has never really been something you want to let get in the way of a good headline.
There is a reason there is an estimated 1.7 million open jobs out there right now. Firstly, growth coming out of the sharpest economic event in a generation and secondly people’s willingness or unwillingness to move.
The great resignation is a great headline, but we say don’t let that or your social media feed influence you. There are some fantastic opportunities out there right now. The chances are you probably work for a great business already, with some great opportunities on your door step.
Our advice for what it is worth is to think of what’s right for you. What excites you and what do you want to spend your time doing. If that involves making a change within the digital world of Product, Creative or Development, then we would love to talk to you and see if we can help.
This article was written by Chloe Brown Marketing Intern for Digital 51. Chloe wrote this after listening to numerous rants by Simon Brown on this topic and thought you might enjoy the concept. Does our piece reflect how you are seeing the jobs market right now? We’d love to hear your thoughts, drop us a line on