Recycled Bullsh-IT

Apparently, thousands of ungrateful staff are leaving their companies in droves now that they naively believe the pandemic is over. Dubbed the ‘Great Resignation’ or the ‘Big Quit’, it seems to have startled many organisations that their churlish workers would waltz out when the future looks rosier.

 But is it really a big surprise? After eighteen months of being cooped up at home, a number of F-you factors have combined to encourage people to jump ship:

The Great Gig in the Sky

Some of us have twigged that working at home means it matters less who our employer is, and matters more what we do, when we have to do it, and who we do it with. Reaching this enlightenment has opened our eyes to take charge of our professional life and pick and choose what we work on. It’s possible that our current company could accommodate our new needs (interesting work, flex time, no Big Brother surveillance, Money for Nothin’, etc.), but more likely we’ll get our buzz from a savvier outfit who get the Gig Economy vibe.

9 to 5

Others miss the sociability of an office-based existence, interacting with people IRL, drinking machine coffee, putting post-its on our sandwiches in the communal fridge, etc. Or just getting out of the cramped, messy home away from our increasingly irritating in-laws. If our current company isn’t offering a better workplace experience than the one we left pre-COVID, we will be tempted by other organisations offering gourmet food & drink, relaxation zones, gyms, ergonomic furniture, great acoustics (e.g., silence when we want it), etc.

Runaway

For the few of us who were used and abused by our employers but felt compelled to lay low during the furlough periods and mass sackings, the white-hot jobs market is triggering many of us to stick two fingers up to our current lords and leadershits and go forth and multiply to those companies that have learnt to treat their staff properly.

Cool for Cats

For the more financially motivated, there’s a killing to made at Fintech start-ups as we enter another bubble period, where opportunity-starved investment funds fall over each other to chuck loadsamoney at any budding entrepreneur peddling a Blockchain-based bullsh-IT pitch for the money markets. Rake it in, spend it fast, explode, repeat.

Convoy GB

If all else fails, let’s get an HGV licence and earn a mint driving around supplies of CO2 and natural gas in a diesel-chugging tanker to support climate change. We just need to be careful we don’t get any Insulate Britain protesters stuck under our wheels though…

John “Big Jobby” Moe