The Great Resignation: QuitTok social media trend sees employees leave jobs en masse

Ever heard of QuitTok? It’s a new trend where employees quit their jobs to focus on their happiness and mental health, then celebrate the move by posting to social media.

Hashtags like #quitmyjob are wildly popular on the social media network TikTok. That specific one has more than 194 million views.

The shift away from conventional employment is also known as “The Great Resignation.”

Career consultant Sweta Regmi quit her job to pursue her own business. She provides support and career advice for those pursuing new employment and posts some of those career tips on social media.

She says she’s never looked back.

“I didn’t feel like I was supported. It was more of an interrogation like, ‘hey, why are you taking stress leave?’ So I think that’s where the support comes,” said Regmi. “I think quitters aren’t failures. It’s just about pleasing your soul, and I think that’s what The Great Resignation is, it’s all about self-realizations and you’ll be OK.

“There are employers out there that have the expectation with their Blackberries, iPhones and laptops. People don’t like it anymore because they realize, ‘hey, I want to spend time with the family so I don’t care how much you pay. If there’s no work-life balance, I’m going to quit.’ And people are celebrating that.

“It’s not about pay cut, it’s not about getting more money, it’s all about, ‘I need better, I’m worth more. I’m going to go somewhere where I’m celebrated.’”

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Debby Carreau, the CEO and founder of consulting firm Inspired HR, believes happiness and fulfilment are the main reasons people are quitting their conventional jobs. And it’s all been spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Over the course of I think 20 to 21 months, people have had the opportunity to reflect on what is most important to them, who they want to spend time with,” said Carreau. “Does their work align with their values? And many people have said, ‘My work is not working for me anymore and I want to do something different.’

“We saw it start to pick up around March where my team saw a significant increase in our clients calling us and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, our staff are quitting, I have all these open positions.’”

Carreau says she’s seen data that show more than half of Canadians are planning on making an employment change in 2022.

“That’s really significant and there are no signs of it slowing down,” she said.

But Carreau warns that people must think carefully about their future careers, and not simply hop onto a social media trend.

“We’re really seeing more and more people that are publicly resigning and talking bad about their employers which… in the moment we can be creative on TikTok or even #iquitmyjob hashtag on Twitter, but you have to think about the long-term implications.”

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