There’s a reason 2021 earned the tagline, “The Great Resignation.” According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 100 million people quit their jobs during 2021 and 2022.
“The Great Resignation was a wake-up call to leaders that we must prioritize a greater connection between work and mission, provide clear career trajectories and opportunities for upward mobility to ensure our workers have the skills needed to sustain challenges, and move into the future,” said Michael E. Hansen, CEO of the Cengage Group, an education technology company in Boston. “Losing sight of these employee priorities can have an impact on culture and the bottom line.”
To isolate trends in workforce movement and new opportunities for the tech sector, his company surveyed workers who had resigned in 2021 and found a new job by the following year. The results included:
- 34 percent of respondents left their job because the company’s mission no longer aligned with their values.
- 24 percent felt stuck in their role or industry with no growth opportunities.
- 30 percent said they moved to a company that had a clear path to growth and development.
- 27 percent said the new company’s mission more aligned with their values.
- 81 percent have no regrets about quitting.
- 85 percent are satisfied in their new role.
- 50 percent switched industries completely.
- 21 percent of those who changed jobs during the Great Resignation now work in tech, a larger percentage than any other sector.
- 29 percent of tech workers who resigned did so for better professional development opportunities elsewhere.
- Only 14 percent left for more pay.
The Great Retraining
Hansen believes the Great Resignation has given way to the so-called Great Retraining:
- 77 percent of tech workers who resigned said they took an online training course to give themselves a leg-up in job searches.
- 89 percent of those who pursued online training believe it positively impacted their job search.
- 66 percent said access to employer-sponsored training was an important factor in accepting their current job.
- 89 percent of them plan to take full advantage of employer-paid online training to upskill.
- 56 percent added that their prior employers didn’t offer those same training opportunities.
“Businesses should be focused on growing and empowering top talent, including creating connections with local education institutions and other partners to further opportunities for current and prospective talent,” Hansen said.
Layoffs Alter the Picture
2021 saw employees gain the upper hand in relationship to their employers. Employees were happy to quit, and many employers struggled to fill positions. But things changed in the early months of 2023. With so many layoffs in tech, some workers who resigned and are now re-employed are voicing concern:
- 72 percent of tech workers are worried about job security and how a potential recession could impact their employment status. In such a frame of mind, they are unlikely to consider resignations or moving to new roles.
- 76 percent plan on taking an online training course or certificate program to broaden their skills and make them more marketable to avoid a potential layoff.
There has also been a surge in online searches for tech industry jobs. According to Fasthosts, a web-hosting and cloud solutions company in Gloucester, U.K., job searches rose by 156 percent over the past year for cloud engineering positions and 86 percent for data analyst jobs. Developer roles are also seeing far more searches. Software developer job searches online increased by 50 percent, front-end developer jobs by 46 percent and web developer jobs by 26 percent.
Michelle Stark, sales and marketing director at Fasthosts, believes these increases were influenced by mass layoffs among tech employers.
“It’s important to keep in mind that it’s not just those who lost their jobs due to the layoffs who will be contributing to the higher searches, but also those who still remain,” Stark said. “Many remaining employees may feel a sense of unease about the future of their positions, as we’ve seen recently with Amazon that these cuts are far from being over. It’s only natural that they would be investigating other options that may be more secure.”
Taking Control of Your Career Path
Jeff Pollard, an analyst at Forrester Research, noted that even in the burgeoning cybersecurity sector where employer after employer bemoans a shortage of talent, workforce reductions are taking place. He cited the example of membership platform Patreon, which cut its entire in-house cybersecurity team and gave the business to a managed service provider. He offered tips to tech professionals who have been laid off or are worried about their job security.
“Remember that no one is indispensable,” Pollard said. “No matter how secure you feel in your company or role, this is a great time to start cultivating new skills.”
That might be learning a programming language, mastering a new tool, pursuing a specialized certification, working on your presentation skills or just becoming more of a subject matter expert in your current domain.
“More skills give you more opportunities, and more opportunities lead to better compensation,” Pollard said.
Another tip is to define who you are and what you are good at. For example, it takes a certain skill set to be the interface between tech and business. Not everyone is the person who helps senior executives understand technology and how they can use data to make better business decisions.
“If you can summarize what you do best, it will go a long way to helping you land your next gig and make it an even better fit,” Pollard said.
Drew Robb is a freelance writer in Clearwater, Fla., specializing in IT and business.
