Businesses set face new wave of the “Great Resignation”

Businesses face a third-wave of the so-called “Great Resignation”, that’s according consultant and accountancy firm PwC.

PwC’s data indicated that nearly a third (28%) of employees expect to change jobs over the next twelve months.

The survey found that 45% of workers have experienced increased workloads over the past twelve months.

Moreover, it claimed that 62% of workers ‘noticed more workplace changes’ this year, compared to the prior year.

"The findings suggest that job satisfaction is no longer enough." PwC UK’s Carol Stubbings said.

Stubbing added that employers would need to invest in both staff and technological platforms to alleviate pressures and retain talent.

"Employees are placing an increased premium on organisations that invest in their skills growth, and so, businesses must prioritise upskilling and employee experience,” PwC’s Pete Brown added.

The emergence of artificial intelligence was seen as a key factor by the survey.

According to PwC, 82% of respondents admitted that they expected generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT, will improve their efficiency over the coming year, and, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed reckoned AI will improve the quality of their work.

Nearly half of the respondents believed that GenAI will lead to higher salaries for workers.

PwC’s findings come from its annual “Hopes and Fears” global employees survey for 2024, which included responses from more than 56,000 workers worldwide.

The so-called "Great Resignation” refers to a significant and ongoing trend that began around early 2021, where a large number of workers voluntarily left their jobs across various sectors in the United States and Europe.

It began, initially, as a downstream phenomena of the COVID pandemic, which saw many people reassess their working lives and priorities, and, was further stimulated through 2022 with employees citing burnout and high stress as reasons for seeking new career avenues.

The new availability of hybrid and remote working has been another factor, giving workers more options and flexibility in their careers.

Tightening economic conditions and the ‘cost of living crisis’, meanwhile, saw the resignation trend pause through much of 2023 and early 2024 – indeed, the advent of AI and several rounds of corporate cost cutting put the boot firmly on the other foot, with the tech sector in particular seeing a significant increase in redundancies and layoffs in 2023.