They witness
- Thomas Sorreda, research professor in HRM at EM Normandie
- Frédéric Petitbon, People & organization partner at PwC France and Maghreb
- Arnaud Weiss, product manager at LumApps
Without speaking of “great resignation” (it would be excessive because the rate of employment and activity remain strong), France seems to be experiencing a wave of “great mobility”. The end of CDI jumped 20% in the 1st quarter of 2022 vs 2019, reports Dares.
Statistically, it is currently impossible to know what people do after they resign. “But we can deliver feelings from collected testimonies”warns Thomas Sorreda, research professor in HRM at EM Normandie.
And here is what our experts perceive from the post-resignation stage, modeled in 8 main types of resigners.
Click on the image to download the infographic:
The virtuous
Resign to do the same job but in an environment more in line with your values.
“In this family, the resigning continues to exercise the same profession but in another type of company which symbolizes a more virtuous economy. I am thinking, for example, of a financial director of a large insurer who has just resigned to join a social and solidarity economy group. He has certainly halved his salary, but he works with great pleasure,” illustrates Thomas Sorreda.
Switchers
Resign to retrain
This is obviously the course that comes first to mind when we talk about the great resignation. An architect who becomes a sports coach! Or this graduate of the very famous master’s degree in finance from Paris Dauphine University, who after a few years in investment banking has planted his resignation to train and become a yoga teacher. “For now, he still has a huge apartment in Paris. But his lifestyle will no doubt be scaled back when he launches his own courses,” recognizes one of these dog walking buddies.
The masters of time
Resign to work less (and better)
An employee whose position is telecommutable and whose employer refuses the home office, has the ideal profile to inflate the figures of the great French resignation.
“Employees aim for autonomy and a certain leeway in their organization and the management of their time. They are therefore sometimes ready to leave a company that is not very flexible for another that is more advanced on this subject. A structure in which they will for example be able, more or less explicitly, to work only 4 days a week”, analyzes Frédéric Petitbon, People & organization partner at PwC France and Maghreb.
Thomas Sorreda willingly tells the story of this nurse passionate about her profession but who, during the health crisis, had to take foolish risks by working in a university hospital in the Ile-de-France region lacking masks, gel…
“After the confinements, she resigned to settle as a liberal. She only works 2 days a week and has doubled her salary. The rest of the time, she trained in sophrology, telling herself that it might be her next job. During the crisis, a seed of reflexivity entered people’s heads. She started to germinate. Sometimes she will push, sometimes not but they try”he analyzes.
The deworkers
Quit to stop working
What Frédéric Petitbon calls “outings from the world”. “In this case, people stop working for a given period. Sociologically, this concerns both a young father or a young mother and a temporary worker in the hotel and catering industry. They throw in the towel out of exhaustion. No teleworking possible, stressful customer relations, physically hard jobs… they say to themselves “what’s the point of continuing like this”. Over time, we still do not know how these profiles will evolve: “Are they going to go back to working or not? », he wonders.
Green entrepreneurs
Resign to set up a fair trade company
Pineapple skin trainers, veggie ice cream…there are plenty of avenues to explore. “It can give the impression of wacky projects, it’s true. But in the end it’s still a good experience. At best, it works. At worst, it stops and these entrepreneurs will necessarily draw positive lessons from it”, points out Frédéric Petitbon. And to add: “These profiles are generally bac+5 with no family responsibilities. Their level of risk is therefore limited and their level of training will allow them to bounce back if necessary”.
The low constraints
Resign for a job with fewer constraints
“We recently hired a former bartender as a salesperson. The crisis opened his eyes to these working conditions in the restaurant industry and the type of management he no longer wanted. He was therefore trained in the commercial function, “ says Arnaud Weiss, product manager at LumApps. Some resigners actually leave a world of time constraints for office hours and a better work-life balance. “The desire and the demand are strong on this subject. But it takes a minimum of skills to start a new job. At least be able to train, warns Frédéric Petitbon.
Boomerangs
Resign to better return to your old box
The big resignation will also be an opportunity for some to see if the grass is greener elsewhere and if not, to come back and knock on the door of their former employer. The famous “boomerang” employees. “Consultants who are generally rather young leave to try out a project in the agricultural world, the world of start-ups… And then if it doesn’t work, if it’s finally too hard, they come back to their old company. Companies are more and more receptive to this kind of feedback. It has, so to speak, become a normal course,” testifies Frédéric Petitbon.
The mercenaries
Quit to earn more
In this family, we often resign hoping to make wage gaps. And these “hyper mobiles” do exist. At their request for a salary increase, they can no longer bear to hear themselves say “be patient, trust me, next year, we will increase you”. So they leave.
“From now on HRDs must consider how to shorten the contribution/reward cycles. Perhaps no longer be in logic of annual salary revaluation but shorter. In the semester, even in the quarter, suggests Frédéric Petitbon. *
