The ‘I Quit' Revolution

Restless at work? Don’t join the throngs of people making a job move until you read this

- BORIS GROYSBERG AND ROBIN ABRAHAMS

WITH NEARLY HALF OF AMERICANS fully vaccinated against COVID 19, the economy recovering and pandemic lockdown rules easing across the U.S. and other countries despite the Delta variant, restless workers are changing jobs, or planning to. The quit rate in April 2021 was the highest in 20 years—and May’s was even higher than that. Indeed, between 25 to 40 percent of people currently employed are actively job searching, consulting firm Korn Ferry reports.

No wonder labor economist Betsey Stevenson at the University of Michigan has called the present moment the “take this job and shove it” economy.

There’s an inherent risk to job changes that can cause both the individual and team’s performances to falter, as our research at the Harvard Business School has shown for nearly 20 years. In addition, job changers make predictable mistakes when executing this risky maneuver, including insufficient research on the new company; changing jobs only for a salary increase or an escape from the current job; unrealistic optimism about their abilities and odds of success; and short-term thinking. These mistakes are the results of various pressures that have been ramped up by both the pandemic and its relatively speedy recovery.

What can you do to avoid the pitfalls? Here are six ways the pandemic may put you—and your workers—at risk for a reactive, reckless, restless job change and how to smartly, thoughtfully counter their pull to determine if a career move is really right for you.

Emotional Reactivity