72% Of Young Workers Who Quit Their Jobs During Great Resignation Regret Their Decision

Written by Paul Sacca on March 18, 2022

72% of workers regret quitting jobs during the Great Resignation, new poll says. The Muse, called new trend shift shock and a reality check.

Nearly 4.3 million people quit their jobs in January, down slightly from the record 4.5 million who left their positions in November. In 2021, 48 million people quit their jobs during the Great Resignation, which was an annual record. However, a new survey found that a vast majority of young workers had regrets about leaving their jobs for what they thought was greener pastures.

A poll from survey company The Muse discovered that the current career environment has enabled eight out of 10 young employees to feel empowered to quit their jobs after six months if they do not see it as a fit. There were 20% of respondents who said they would leave a job after only a month if they were dissatisified with the new working arrangement. There was 48% of respondents who said they would attempt to get their old job back.

The survey of more than 2,500 millennial and Gen Z job seekers also found 72% of young U.S. workers who quit their jobs regret their decision.

Kathryn Minshew – CEO of survey company The Muse – called the new trend “shift shock.”

“They’ll join a new company thinking it’s their dream job and then there’s a reality check,” Minshew told Fox Business. “Though it’s hard to assess the culture of a new company through Zoom.”

“In some cases, job seekers don’t ask the right questions during an interview process,” Minshew continued. “Other times, it’s because a recruiter misrepresented the role or was overly optimistic about the company in an effort to get them to join.”

“It’s this really damaging phenomenon where people are brand new in our role, and they suddenly realize it’s not at all as advertised,” Minshew said of the recent trend in job-hopping from the Great Resignation.

However, the current surplus of job openings allows workers to quickly find a new job if they’re not quite satisfied. In January, there were 11.3 million job openings in the United States, edging up ever so slightly from December’s record high of 11.4 million, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“People are much more likely to accept the good and the bad and to show up as engaged and productive if they have entered the situation with their eyes wide open,” Minshew explained.

In the survey, 72% said they were surprised to find out that their new roles or companies were different from what they were told during the interview process.

“It used to be that if you started a new job and didn’t like it, you needed to stay for one or two years to avoid a black mark on your resume,” Minshew noted. “But we’ve seen this really interesting shift in perceptions.”