Great Resignation never ended in India, set to continue in 2023: Michael Page study

The great resignation never ended in India, according to Michael Page Talent Trends 2023 India study released on Wednesday which found that the number of people switching to new jobs has risen steadily after the pandemic.   

As many as 23 per cent of the surveyed employees switched to new jobs in 2022, compared to 20 per cent in 2021 and 10 per cent in 2019, as per the study which is based on 6,863 employees in India. A majority of the respondents were in senior-management roles.   

While the Great Resignation started in early 2021, driven by the opening up of a large number of digital-led roles as organisations accelerated their digitising journeys in the wake of the pandemic, it was expected to cool off by the year end. “In 2022, we saw this number increased by 18 per cent when, according to most, it should have stabilised. And with 75 per cent of the workforce being “active job seekers” this year, along with increasing volatility of the global economy, we foresee this number to continue to increase throughout 2023,” said the report.  

The shift is not only a result of the pandemic, but a broader evolution of talent expectations where they no longer expect to stay in a role, but expect their employers to deliver where it counts. Otherwise, they will not hesitate to look elsewhere, the study pointed out.  

The talent market is in a flux where 75 per cent are “active job seekers”, meaning they are looking right now or plan to find a new job within the next 6 months. A whopping 98 per cent of all employees are open to new opportunities. Besides, companies can only confidently rely on fewer than 1 in 10 people in their current workforce to be retained this year.   

“The year 2022 saw yet another year of high attrition, which is attributed to a shift in mindset where employees want to get the best for themselves. But companies overhired in the past few years, so there were layoffs. This is a phase and it is settling. But this mindset is not changing where employees are constantly on the lookout for something better,” said Ankit Agarwala, Managing Director, Michael Page India. 

He added that they expect layoffs to settle down as the ones which needed to happen have happened already. “Once that settles, for the rest of the year, we’ll again see the people looking out for roles,” he added. 

The study also found that loyalty has lost its lustre as 9 in 10 people who started a new job within the last year are open to new opportunities. Job hopping has become the norm and there will be a greater challenge for employers to retain top talent, it added.  

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