Job abandonment: not to be confused with other trends
The temptation is great to mix, in a curious stew, the trends of the moment. And to think that the famous “great resignation” or the fashionable “right to laziness” necessarily have a link with the figure that fell yesterday: 70% of dismissals for serious or gross negligence are linked to job abandonment according to Dares, the statistics department of the Ministry of Labour, in its study* published on 22 February.
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A first study that does not allow any comparison
The simplistic analysis would therefore be to correlate these elements by explaining that work is no longer what it was since the Covid, and that the vaunted quest for meaning has gained ground. But there are perhaps less esoteric explanations for this phenomenon. First, is it really a phenomenon? This is the very first time that the organization has looked into the matter. Were there fewer job abandonments in the years before? Are we witnessing an explosion of crews leaving the ship? We know absolutely nothing about it.
More than a third of job abandonments in shortage sectors
Next, let’s look at the industries where this practice is most prevalent. They culminate in trade, transport and warehousing, three branches with a shortage of candidates. Conversely, they are rare in the industry.
Who says shortage of candidates – which the industry does not suffer from – means that employees have control over the choice of their employer. The current one does not suit them? They abandon their position and go to be hired elsewhere where the grass of their working conditions and the salary seem better to them.
This Dares survey is therefore a message sent to companies, particularly in the logistics sector, hit head-on by these job abandonments. This message is in a few words, which have nothing to do with a supposed quest for meaning: all you have to do is make your jobs more attractive, and your managers less repressive so that your employees don’t take to their heels.
Of the 123,000 abandoners, 41,000 come from these three sectors, ie more than a third. What light some warning signals in the branches concerned.
Employers who push their employees to leave their jobs
Another more unknown factor to explain job abandonment: they can be suggested by the employer himself. A practice commented on by an HRD interviewed by Cadremploi, which sheds a particular light on this practice. When an employer wishes to separate amicably from an employee or to let go of an employee who asks him for a contractual termination, but does not want to pay him compensation, he must dismiss him for serious or gross negligence, which will at least allow the employee to receive his unemployment benefits. But how to avoid recourse to the prudhommes in the event of a badly put together file? By asking him to abandon his post, of course. This is what Guillaume Chevalier, ex-executive in a motorway development company, experienced. Read his testimonial here:
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Unemployment benefits, before it’s too late
This survey also shows that French employees are quite well informed. The unemployment insurance reform has been on people’s minds for a year, and more specifically since the re-election of Emmanuel Macron. However, the new text provides precisely that the abandonment of position is no longer qualified as dismissal – which automatically gives right to unemployment benefits, provided that the necessary conditions are met. From the entry into force of the law, the abandonment of post will be assimilated to a resignation, which will complicate the access to the allowances in question, since it is necessary to go through a commission to obtain them.
The implementing decrees are expected by the end of March 2023.
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What happens to those who have left their post?
The Dares survey only takes into account abandonments that took place in the first half of 2022, and in the batch, 43% of those who no longer gave a sign of life to their company registered with Pôle Emploi, and received their compensation within three months.
We can assume that this rate has not fallen throughout the past year. It could even have increased since the beginning of 2023 and will experience a real improvement this month and next month, until the publication of the implementing decrees and the entry into force. of the law. We can even suppose that after the application of the texts, the number of drop-outs will drop sharply.
As we can see, the phenomenon of job abandonment can serve as a warning to employers with little regard for well-being at work and to toxic managers. Improving well-being at work will enable them to prevent their employees from running away from them at the first opportunity. It’s just common sense that is often the key to resolving meaning-making issues.
* DARES FOCUSN°12 study, How many employees leave their jobs and what happens to them?