The Great Resignation & Quiet Quitting: what these trends say about the future of work

Over the past few years, and particularly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen a flurry of articles about the end of the workplace, the rise of independent work and the disappearance of jobs. Terms like The Great Resignation, The New Normal and Quiet Quitting seem to be on everyone’s lips. And over the last couple of months, we’ve seen mass layoffs in many of the world’s top tech and IT companies, like Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, Klarna, and Amazon. These layoffs have also affected start-ups and scale-ups. But what exactly are all these terms and what do they hint at when it comes to the future of work?

The Great Resignation, the New Normal and Quiet Quitting, what exactly are all these trends?

THE GREAT RESIGNATION

The Great Resignation, also known as the Big Quit or the Great Reshuffle, is a global phenomenon that started in the US in early 2021 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This ongoing trend sees employees across industries resign from their positions en masse. A recent PWC report found that one in five respondents said they are extremely or very likely to quit their jobs in the coming year. The pandemic made many people rethink the meaning of their lives and pushed them to search for fulfillment in their job and a more equitable work-life balance. This search for meaning has led to many people quitting their jobs and abandoning their careers to pursue their dreams or do something they have always wanted to do but never had the time or opportunity to explore.

QUIET QUITTING

Quiet quitting became a well-publicized trend in the US and other countries in the last few months, partly as a result of social media. The term quiet quitting refers to doing the very least amount of work, putting in the minimum effort and enthusiasm only required of you at your workplace. As a result, it is a bit of a misnomer because the employee doesn’t technically quit their job. They simply detach any emotional and time investment outside what is strictly expected based on their job description. A Global Workplace Report, conducted by Gallup in 2022 showed that only 9% of UK workers were engaged or enthusiastic about their work.

THE NEW NORMAL

The New Normal is the situation that an economy, society, workplace etc. reaches after a crisis when this is different from the one that existed before the crisis started. In our case, the crisis in question is the Covid-19 pandemic and the New Normal is the changing work landscape. This new normal ties into the rise of remote work, the expectation of a more balanced work-life scenario and overall more freedoms and opportunities in the workplace. It is also synonymous with increased job hopping, a search for meaning in work, but also a relatively unstable job market – particularly in tech.

What workers truly want

So, with all this in mind, what do workers truly want? The trends mentioned previously simply highlight the acceleration of a tendency that appeared well before Covid, especially among IT and tech professionals. They now want:

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Workers now want to be able to place as much importance on their personal life as they do their career or their job. This translates as fewer, more predictable work hours, more paid vacation time, more parental leave, more reasonable workloads and the ability to speak up and communicate when they feel that they are underwater or struggling at work.

A MEANINGFUL JOB

More than ever, the pandemic put things into perspective for many employees and highlighted their search for meaning in their life and also their jobs. As such they are looking to work for companies that contribute to society, that give back. They want to feel that what they do matters. For some people, their job is meaningful if it allows them to put their skills to use or use their creative faculties. For others, it’s simply working in a field that relates to their interests and where they feel that their contribution is valued.

CONTINUOUS LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

In the aforementioned study by Gallup, 57% of employees stated that they want to upgrade their skills, 71% said learning new skills increases their job satisfaction and 61% said they will stay at companies that invest in their training and development.

FLEXIBLE WORKING CONDITIONS

Workers now want to be able to work from home and/or from abroad as much or as little as they’d like. This of course ties into their desire to have a better work-life balance. They also want more flexible work hours so that they can adapt their work schedule to their needs.

What the future of work looks like

All these trends have created tensions among companies and employees around the world. Nothing better illustrates this than the recent backlash against Twitter from its current and previous employees recently. As such, employees are increasingly rethinking their roles in the companies they work for.

This global context is pushing more and more professionals to turn to independent work as freelancers or contractors. Indeed, as of September 2022, there were around 4.3 million self-employed workers in the UK. This number has been steadily increasing over the last few years, with only a slight downturn in 2020 due to the pandemic. And professionals registering on freelancing platforms is also increasing. This is particularly true in sectors where remote work is widely accepted, such as web design, tech, IT, digital marketing…

As such, umbrella companies, management companies, and unique solutions like Hightekers are also on the rise. And the benefits of working with a management company like Hightekers are considerable:

• You get to be an independent freelancer while keeping all the benefits of being an employee. You will be able to sign a local contract while continuing to choose your missions and your clients.

• You are offered personalised assistance in contract negotiation: your account manager will help you determine the right ADR (Average Daily Rate) with the client.

• An improved work-life balance thanks to the ability to choose your freelance missions, but also thanks to considerable time savings owing to the avoidance of administrative tasks.

• You’re guaranteed fair pay, and you always get paid at the end of the month. You no longer have to invoice and follow-up with customers, Hightekers takes care of that every month and guarantees to pay you at the end of each month.

• You have access to specialist knowledge of the IT industry and a strong community of over 1500+ consultants. Whether you want to improve your skill-set or discuss a professional opportunity, you are no longer alone!

• International mobility: Hightekers is active in 6 European countries (soon to be 10), which allows you to accept assignments all over Europe while benefiting from a local contract.

• No administrative mental burden as Hightekers manages that. You no longer have to create or manage a business, so you don’t have to spend time on administrative tasks.

• Finding meaning in your freelancing missions as you’re able to select them yourself. You are the only one in charge of choosing your customers: no one will tell you what to do.

• Regularly change environment and clients: you are free to change missions whenever you want.

• In complete control of work hours and missions. Your choices, your clients, your schedule.

• Assistance with training and development. Whether that’s with your account manager or the other members of the 1500+ consultants network, you are supported throughout your career.

So, it’s likely that IT and web professionals, but also workers across many sectors, will increasingly turn to independent work and search for solutions like Hightekers.

Find out more about the role of a management company for an IT consultant.