Variations on a Theme of Resignation: Idling by, Backpedaling, or Driving Forward?

• Published date: 01 January 2022
• Author: Jeremy L. Hall
• Date: 01 January 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13455

Variations on a Theme of Resignation: Idling by, Backpedaling, or Driving Forward? 7

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 1, pp. 7–11. © 2022 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13455.

Variations on a Theme of Resignation: Idling by,

Backpedaling, or Driving Forward?

In November, 2021, the U.S. news media

was replete with stories about the “Big Quit”

(Thompson 2021b), or “Great Resignation”

(Cohen, 2021; See, for example, Rosalsky 2021,

Thompson 2021). The trend broke in April, 2021,

when resignations, or quits, broke an all-time single-

month record in the U.S. Then something poured

the gas on it, and the trend continued to accelerate,

with the record being broken again in July, August,

and September. The first sign of slowing only began

to show in the most recent monthly reports. Still,

we’re talking about a cumulative total in the tens of

millions of employees. The U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics reports total “quits” of 4.6 million in

September and 4.3 million in October, corresponding

to 3.1 and 2.9% of the total workforce, respectively

(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2021). The term

“Great Resignation” is attributed to Anthony Klotz,

an organizational psychologist at Texas A&M

University, and it became popular following an article

in which he advised people on how to quit during the

pandemic. Whatever you call it, the term is a little

deceptive, as many of the observed quits are the result

of job swapping in low wage sectors and job hopping

from blue collar to professional opportunities. In

other words, people are moving around to better

themselves, but the quits still far exceed the reported

hires.

So why are people leaving the workforce, or at least

their current employment? Why in the wake of an

economy-crippling pandemic would individuals

willingly separate from their sources of income?

There’s no singular answer, but the trend can

be understood by considering a combination of

factors. Government support, such as increased

unemployment benefits, might explain part of the

shift. The pandemic raised stress levels for most of

us, and the solution to work-induced stress is, more

often than not, found in the solace of family and

leisure. Flexibility that was briefly afforded by the

telecommuting lifestyle introduced in response to

fear of spreading infection has since been replaced

by mandates to return to the dusty offices we once

occupied…but with restrictions. That return is

marked with expectations to mask, which many find

to be more than a minor inconvenience, or vaccinate,

which many view as an affront to their individual

liberty. In light of both, fear of becoming infected or

carrying the infection back to fragile family members

certainly played a major role. Maybe it was the

stagnant pay of a crappy job (Thompson 2021), or

the family pressures associated with virtual school

and shuttered daycare centers. There is more still:

when human beings come into contact with death or

illness, it often causes them to take a step back and

ask deeper, more existential questions (Kaplan 2021);

what matters to me? What brings me happiness? What

gives me purpose? What do I want to do with the

time I have left?

The Great Resignation has impacted all sectors,

but some seem to have borne the brunt. Facing

termination in response to federal mandates imposed

by the Biden administration, many healthcare workers

made a well-documented exodus from jobs that had

been characterized by extremely high stress during

the throes of the pandemic. These workers were once

lauded as heroes, but some among their ranks were

quickly demoted to zeroes because of their vaccination

status. Others are in the restaurant and hospitality

industry, where customer-facing roles put them

directly at risk for exposure to the virus and potential

infection. Government, so far, seems to be feeling

minimal effects. These shifts reflect a generational

transition, not in the sense that one generation is

stepping back to allow another to replace it, but rather

in the sense that a realignment like this can only be

expected once in a generation.

Research is almost certainly underway to understand

the individual motivations behind this transition. I

conjecture individuals with certain beliefs and values

are voluntarily separating from organizations that

have taken positions with which they disagree. Let

us also not neglect the fact that the pandemic is not

Jeremy L. Hall

University of Central Florida

Editorial