The Great Resignation. The Start of Something Good?

By Karen and Erica

We are fascinated. Everyone is quitting. Employers are in desperate need of workers.

We really do understand why front line workers who are not paid more than minimum wage would quit. The calculation that there must be a better job out there just has to be right. We can also understand why health care workers would quit. They must all be beyond exhausted. We thank them for their service.

But does that account for all the quitting? We looked into it, and of course the story is more complex than that. And some of that complexity directly involves us.

Apparently Americans 55 and older accounted for 90% of the increase in people quitting as compared to 2019. Indeed, more than three million baby boomers took a premature retirement during the pandemic. Now that is interesting. Are they just advancing retirement? Or are they also convinced there must be a better job out there? That’s optimistic.

In fact, perhaps something else is at play. We are surprised that people over 55 are referred to as non-prime age workers. What is that all about? Who could be more prime age than those of us with decades ahead who are experienced and skilled? Workers younger than that are just getting started. And there is no question that we older workers can keep up. But if people over 54 are going to be defined as non-prime, and if it is expected that people of that age will retire, then one can imagine the Great Resignation being a self-fulfilling social presumption rather than a movement generated by workers themselves.

Should we care that older workers are quitting? We think so. These are the workers that know what they are doing and can train those coming up in the ranks. Happily, the overriding trend is apparently for older workers to continue to work. It is still anticipated that, by 2030, 9.5 % of the civilian work force will be older than 65. So we will not lose all that valuable experience. Indeed, some data show that mid-career resignations were highest, while there were fewer resignations among both younger workers, and workers between 60 and 70. Some speculate that the relatively lower level of resignations among the older set is because employers realize they need experienced personnel, especially when work is remote. That would be a nice development.

There is also some suggestion that, even now, companies that actually practice diversity, equity and inclusion are better able to retain employees. We think, of course, that diversity, equity and inclusion must include age—because it is the right thing to do but also because it is the more profitable thing to do—but we are not sure if that is really happening in too many places.

So what does it all mean? We hope that, when we come out on the other side of this disaster called COVID, we will find some changes for the better. Workers will have more power, and more pay—especially those that are employed to keep us healthy and educated and fed and transported. Appreciation for the value of older workers will grow, among employers and younger workers. Creative new ways to employ older workers will be invented. Retirement from one’s first career will not be seen as a dead end, but rather as an opportunity for everyone.

We hope living through COVID was an involuntary and nasty downpayment for progress. Let’s not waste it.