These last few years are going to be known for many things.

There has been alleged fraud in a Presidential election which resulted in the worst president in modern times (Joe Biden). There was a pandemic that shut down the entire world and resulted in so much chaos. There was the incident with George Floyd that led to a chain of crime and anarchy across the nation. There has been unprecedented tyranny in not only our country, but throughout the world (especially Australia and Canada).

But one more thing will stand out about this time and in the end, I do hope that it is a net-positive event. I’m speaking of what is now being called “The Great Resignation”.

Millions of people quit their jobs and it’s been for different reasons, but I do think that it will result in better work conditions for many.

But why exactly did people quit their jobs? Well, thanks to a new survey by the Pew Research Center, we have some insight into the reasons.

The largest percentage of people (63%) said that they quit because their pay was too low. This doesn’t mean that it was the only reason, but when the people who quit their jobs were asked, 63% of them gave this as a reason. 57% of people said that they quit because they felt disrespected at their place of employment.

Another big reason was a lack of flexibility with 45% of people saying that they quit because there wasn’t any flexibility in choosing when to work.

43% of people said that their benefits weren’t good enough. 39% said that they were working too many hours. 30% said that they were working not enough hours.

I can identify with a lot of those. The last “real” job that I held I was underpaid, disrespected, there was no flexibility, I almost got fired because I refused to work on a Sunday (which was outside of my normal schedule), and I had no say whatsoever in when I got to work.

Just to show you how insane it was, there were multiple occasions in which there was literally no work for me to do and my supervisor didn’t want to let me go home. I eventually learned to not ask for permission and did what I wanted to do.

But sadly, these conditions still exist and they make work depressing. If employers would ease up a little bit you would have happier employees who are more willing to come in and do a good job.