The Great Reset (Resignation)
The Great Reset (Resignation)
It’s obvious that our attitude to work has changed vastly in the past eighteen months and you may have heard many mentions of ‘The Great Resignation’.
The Cliff Notes Version: Workers are quitting their jobs in droves. The pandemic has changed the way we look at work, our lives, everything and it seems we are done sticking it out.
Businesses are experiencing the greatest number of resignations in decades, and here’s why it’s a good thing…
Entrepreneurship is on the rise. People finally have the permission slip they didn’t fully know they needed to escape the big cities and try to create a life and also a BUSINESS that fits into their new life - not the other way around.
It’s not a radical concept, but it is radical just how many of us are doing it right now. Together. Without even realising it.
Being someone who felt called to pull the plug three years ago on a stable London job with a great salary and all the usual increasing frustrations (such as more work, more responsibilities, more stress without a payrise in sight), I get it.
While it wasn’t a pandemic that made me look at life and work through a different lens, it was a huge health event, though my catalyst was different, the frustration was the same.
I wanted out of the loathsome daily commute, the lack of respect, the lack of flexibility, the feeling that my hard work was never noticed and that I was boxed in by silos and egos in my work. I wanted to be able to do more.
The glass ceiling I kept hitting my head on just just too much.
Mostly there was an absence of care when it came to taking extra care of my immuno-compromised health - which for me was simply a few extra doctor visits than an average person.
Now many others have lived through their own traumas, or life changes, either brought about as a direct effect of the pandemic or by the deep thoughts this “unprecedented time” has given us access to.
We all know someone who was laid off as a side-effect of government-mandated lockdowns. Most of us know someone who lost a person they knew or worse, a person they loved. We are all sharing trauma right now, in this moment, and it’s making us question everything.
It all comes back to one shared consensus about it all: Life is too damn short.
Too short for the mums struggling with going back to the soul-sucking 9-5 and missing their babies grow.
Too short for the University grads that took the first job they could out of school that barely covers their rent.
Too short to miss the birthdays, anniversaries, Christmases and honestly, just the dinners because you never know what could happen tomorrow.
We know we can do better. We want better for our lives and we are starting to see the unfurling of that recognition as more people create businesses that suit who they are, what they love and how they want to live.
Office workers having the option to work from home realised they thrived doing so, but hated the job they were doing. They saw options and they grabbed a hold.
This caught me by surprise, as I’m sure it did many. Just three years ago, as I turned on Zoom to meet a potential client, I was met by grumbles about ‘why video?’ and ‘do I have to use the camera?’.
As the world has changed, we have all changed with it. Zoom is a verb instead of a brand. Virtual Assistants are in insanely high demand. The pandemic has propelled some businesses forward and the demand for support - especially virtual support - is higher than ever.
The rise of entrepreneurship is a positive for all of us. It leads to innovation and opens up jobs to people who didn’t have so many options before and were desperately trying to fit the mould the world created for us.
Now we are in control. We are learning and growing and stretching, showing everyone that we are not meant to fit in any predetermined mould but rather be kneaded, carved and transformed by the fire within.
We can do better. And now we are. I, for one, am so here for it.
