The Great Stay: why employees have stopped moving jobs

The workplace has moved on from a "post-lockdown era of frenzied change" dubbed the "Great Resignation" and entered a "decidedly more cautious and staid" period – the "Big Stay".

Employees are now "prioritising employment stability over new horizons", said Helen Coffey in The Independent. But what is behind this new trend and what does it mean for employees and employers?

'Openly embittered'

In the UK, the proportion of people leaving their jobs voluntarily fell from 3.6% in the first quarter of 2021 to 2.3% in the same period of 2024. Across the pond, the quit rate reached 3% per month at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022, but it's now fallen to 2.2% in the first quarter of 2024.

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Anthony Klotz, a professor of organisational behaviour at UCL School of Management, told Coffey that after the first lockdown, high levels of "burnout", more remote work opportunities, pandemic "epiphanies" as people had "big existential thoughts about life", and a "backlog" of resignations led to a huge shake-up across all industries and demographics.

But now, employees are "hunkering down and remaining in their current jobs for more extended periods of time", said Jack Kelly in Forbes, because in a "changing economic landscape", employers have "greater leverage".

In the face of an "uncertain economic outlook", British workers are "fearful of rocking the boat", said Tom Howard in The Times. People are becoming "increasingly reluctant" to move jobs "for fear of being the last in and first out if things go wrong".

The "Great Stay" is leading to a new trend of "resenteeism", said The Guardian, which is "when you hate your job, but stay in it even though you should probably leave". This has created an "openly embittered and miserable" workforce, it added.

'Canny companies'

But it's not all bad news for workers, said Metro, because the "Great Stay" is also "all about sticking around in a secure role with good pay, benefits and conditions". Now, what "ticks the boxes" for employee satisfaction are "things like commuting contributions, a stipend towards skills development, or bonuses that are linked to performance".

What workers want in 2024 is "job stability with a side of genuinely useful benefits". "Canny" companies know this is and are "happy to step up" and offer good pay, benefits and flexibility to workers. So "if this is what matters most to you", then it's "no wonder that staying put is the defining workplace trend right now".

"Should you stay or should you go?" wonders Coffey. "That's up to you," but "either way, you don’t have to settle for stagnation".