The Great Renegotiation

Despite the post-pandemic recovery and the easing of anti-Covid restrictions, people continue to leave their jobs at record levels. At least in the United States, where companies are trying hard to attract and retain talent.

People change not only their jobs but also their industries, perhaps moving from traditional to nontraditional roles. They retire early or start their own business. Sometimes they choose to take a break to take care of their personal lives, or start a sabbatical.

According to recent research by
McKinsey
, which dubbed it “the Great Renegotiation,” the trend of leaving jobs simply will not stop.

Pandemic levels

In fact, the competition over the search for talent is still
intense
. For some categories of workers, the barriers-personal and psychological-that previously disincentivized job switching have decreased dramatically. In the U.S. alone there were more than 11 million job openings at the end of May, up substantially from 9.3 million listings in April 2021.

Even as employers rush to fill these positions, the voluntary resignation rate is 25 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels. At the current rate of hiring, firing and job creation, open positions will probably not return to normal levels for quite some time.

• The five types of workers behind the Great Resignations (
  Forbes
  ).

What the future will be

There has been a significant discrepancy between companies’ demand for talent and the number of workers willing to provide it. Employers continue to rely on traditional levers to attract and retain people, such as compensation, titles or special advancement opportunities. Undoubtedly important factors, especially for more “traditionalist” workers.

But the pandemic has revolutionized priorities and ambitions, prompting people to reevaluate what they want from a job, and from life. Increasing bids on salaries, adds the consulting giant’s research, will not help solve the imbalance. Reshuffling people, reinventing roles, and reevaluating skills will be key actions for the work of the future.

• It is not always a matter of wages (
  Fortune
  ).