The Great “Reflection”
Tomorrow is the day in the United States where we take time to give thanks for the various blessings and gifts that we have in our life. The holiday’s tradition goes back to the very founding of the country, even before it was an independent nation based on the traditions started by early settlers to this land. If you have been keeping track of the news over these last several weeks you likely have come across news articles on what has been termed “The Great Resignation.” This term is based on the unusual phenomenon happening of having numerous people that are out of work, and yet at the same time having employers having a great number of job roles that they have going unfilled.
While there have been many thoughts on what has led to this “state of affairs,” with some of the reasons being quite volatile and political in their nature of explaining it, I have my own thoughts on the subject. As one whose primary focus in life is working with those who are in search of the right employment opportunity for themselves, I get to talk to, work with and listen to a great many job searchers. And, given the events in our world since March of 2020, where life has been rearranged because of the largest pandemic in our lifetime, it truly makes a whole lot of sense to me as to what is happening.
I do not think it is that people do not want to work. Yes, there may be some that will be happy to receive assistance from others or look to live on the income of others in their family. However, I have tended to find that individuals like to stay active. For many, that not only means during the years that we traditionally were led to believe people work, between their 20’s to their early 60’s, but for many that timeframe has stretched into their late 60’s, 70’s and even their early 80’s. Some of the looking to work longer than predecessors is indeed driven by economic need. However, for others, it is all driven by a desire to stay connected to others, to learn new things, to contribute to their immediate environment, and give of the talents they possess.
The pandemic, the fallout from it on how individuals had to adjust how they lived, the realization that perhaps they were missing out on time with their family and maybe most of all were being unappreciated by those for whom they worked, particularly given the time they were putting in versus the quality of life it was providing them, are all factors in what has happened. And, the “Great Reflection” (as I believe it should be called) works both ways. Companies, while seen as a “non-entity,” are led and managed by people. Those individuals learned lessons too along the last 20 months. Work indeed could get done if people were not in the office every day, but on some sort of virtual schedule. Real estate for an office was expensive to upkeep and maintain. If my staff is working virtually, perhaps my pool of available candidates is not only limited to the geographic area where my business is, but to other parts of the country or the world. Do we need to continue to do things the way we have done them before?
Will we get back to the way things were before the pandemic and its impact on our immediate society and the world? Likely not! What changes are in store for us? I think that is still revealing itself and may be continuing to do so for a long time to come. However, we have done so as a society and country before and will do so again somewhere in the future.
Give thanks this Thanksgiving for what you have and for the people in your life. But, also give thanks that you have more options on how you may choose to live your life or balance what you do for a living in your life with the time you get to spend outside of that work-life. I certainly don’t think we have a group of quitters in our country, but instead a group of individuals that are looking to live the best quality of life for themselves and those who are dear to them. If you are one reflecting on how you may want to move forward, not only from 2021 but in the coming years, my best wishes to you in terms of taking the time you need to take those steps toward what is right for you in your life.
