The Digital Exhaustion and the Big Quit

The pandemic and the post-pandemic period have created a paradox: While most of the executives and workers attest that they experienced — and still do — digital exhaustion, at the same time they express a desire to work from home! And although usually, the response to contradiction differs by culture, this seems to be a cross-cultural reality, with a great number of people worldwide embracing the remote-work model, despite digital exhaustion, and burnout.

In the US this has been emphatically expressed by the Great Resignation and the big quit movement, leading to 4 million people quitting their jobs in April 2021. While the majority of these quits related to precarious and unpaid work, especially in economies where the employment relations were already at stake, this movement needs to be taken into consideration in designing the new norms and patterns of work.

The real question is what has actually led people to follow the Great Resignation movement. Is it accidental that in companies with inspiring leadership, well-being strategies, and human-centered cultures, people still enjoy going to work?

Will a hybrid, hyflex or blended mode of work be more appealing to future workers, or is it not really a matter related to the pandemic, but rather a reality that conveys the message that everything rises and falls on leadership.

It seems that paradoxical thinking will prevail in business, and creative leadership is called once more to answer how massive change and stability can work together.