Great Resignation

In 2021, 39 million people asked to quit their jobs in the United States. Some estimate that, monthly, 2.4% of the US workforce simply asked for the bills. But it's not just there, no. In Europe, countries like Germany and also in China, people have been protesting. Here in Brazil, conversations began to emerge around the heating up of the technology market ? and the difficulty in finding professionals. A conflict between traditional models and new ways of thinking that, as we know, are the driving force of innovation.

The flexibility that comes from remote work has become an asset for employees. We put this together with a survey carried out by Microsoft: 4 out of 10 young people reported that they would quit their jobs if companies cut the Home Office altogether.

There are a number of professionals literally stopping to think if their jobs, even in renowned companies and among the Big Techs, are really worth it. One of the reasons is, as mentioned above, the flexibility of working from home and working at different times. Because if people started working from home more, it meant that users started to demand more and more from services like Zoom, Netflix, Amazon and delivery apps as a whole. What it means for the tech people is: the pressure has increased. And while that led to incredible productivity, it also brought along stress and exhaustion.

 For many people, the question is: should I continue working at this company? And yes: do I need to be productive at all costs? Can't I better balance work and social time? The point here is that they directly conflict with the startup culture, which uses the personal side of employees as an asset in favor of productivity and exponential growth, which requires many days of dedication in exchange for the long-awaited unicorn status, where high productivity is not only demanded, but celebrated. For some experts, the pandemic has emerged as a catalyst for conflict and the creation of a ?new type of worker?, which focuses more on flexibility and emotional balance than solely on delivery.

The millions of layoffs who criticize the exhaustive system of the organizations where they work, have they ever thought about how they act as consumers? How do you react when your Uber or delivery is late? By demanding continuous agility and perfection from other companies, we are feeding this virtuous cycle and, worst of all, the boomerang can reach the back of your head. Think that the startup you work for can serve as a client one of the companies in the examples above that, when feeling the pressure of consumers (perhaps you included) on agility and perfection, increase the pressure for their processes and internal flows, passing this on to their Providers.

There is no way to reduce the pressure if it is not a collective movement.

The layoffs were already a start, they were a cry that something is out of place. But they cannot stop there. We need to ?clean up the house?. We need to listen to employees and managers, or understand that companies react to consumer demands and needs, and that consumers are also employees of any company out there?

Start with a less anxious look? Unplug a little and try to see the people behind everything we want to ?work immediately and perfectly?.

Thus, we will gradually create a society with greater balance, understanding that, like a butterfly and boomerang effect, each minute less in the delivery of your delivery, or in the time of arrival of your car, means thousands of minutes more of therapy, including yours.

Upper Team