After two years of health crisis, resignations in France have increased by almost 20%. In search of meaning, denouncing salaries that were too low, nearly 470,000 French people left their permanent contracts in the first quarter of 2022. Successive confinements, paradoxical government measures and the socio-economic context are all factors that sounded fed up with work.
The “Big Quit” from the United States…
It was in the United States that this phenomenon first gained momentum. The “Big Quit”, or big resignation, which affects American companies, is the embodiment of this. Nearly 48 million Americans have decided to set sail in 2021. This year, departures continue to accelerate. According to the US Department of Labor, 4.4 million people have already quit in 2022.
The Pew Research Center conducted a survey to better understand people’s motivations for leaving their jobs. She indicates that low salaries (63%), the absence of prospects for development (63%) or the feeling of lack of respect and consideration at work (57%) push Americans to take the exit door.
Read also: The “great resignation” hits research and academia
Other factors also pushed employees to leave their jobs: “During the pandemic, telework served as a revealer of all this, so for me, more than a great resignation, I am talking about a great awareness”explains Chris Kayes, professor of management at George Washington University in Washington.
This wave of resignations worried companies, which found themselves deprived of manpower, and continued on their way to France.
… is exported to France
Last May, eight AgroParisTech students insisted that “These jobs are destructive and to choose them is to harm, serving the interests of a few”. If the statement was made with an ecological objective, the general discourse quickly resonated on a national scale.
Read also: Ecology: AgroParisTech students raise questions by serving up a radical discourse
Some report a “social abuse”, others denounce “destructive jobs”and some dream of “leaving the system”. In any case, many no longer have a long-term vision of the future, often because of paradoxical government decisions. They then decide to drop everything; 1.6 million CDI resignations in 2021, according to the Ministry of Labor.
Observers are worried about the economic threat hanging over France, following this social phenomenon. A phenomenon that seems to settle over time, because “42% of under 35s plan to quit in the next 12 months”as reported by Europe 1.