The Great Resignation May Be Making A Comeback In 2025

According to a recent report, workers are frustrated and ready to make a change.

Employers may soon see a trend of workers quitting their jobs, according to a new Glassdoor report.

In the October 2024 survey of 3,390 employees, nearly 65% of the participants said they felt stuck at their jobs. This is especially evident with tech professionals, where nearly three-quarters of the participants reported feeling unsatisfied with their current role. The survey shows that overall employee satisfaction has declined since 2022.

Although employees desire new opportunities, scarcity in the job market forces some to stay in their current roles.

“People don’t feel like the job market is working for them right now, even if you hear economists and policymakers talk about how strong and resilient the job market is,” Glassdoor senior economist Daniel Zhao told CNBC Make It.

Zhao predicts employees may see more job prospects as businesses revamp their hiring plans for 2025.

Terry Petzold, managing partner at the executive recruiting firm Fox Search Group, said the presidential election may also lead to an uptick in hiring trends, particularly in the transportation, logistics, and oil and gas industries.

According to the Glassdoor report, more employees are making lateral moves and accepting pay cuts to secure more suitable roles. Seventeen percent of workers took a pay cut when moving jobs in 2024 — up two percent from the prior year

Experts say pay cuts are more common with people in management roles. Zhao says managers who survive a layoff are frequently tasked with additional work to pick up the slack. The additional responsibilities could lead to burn out.

“We are seeing many folks who switch from being a manager back to an individual contributor,” Zhao told CNBC Make It.

He continued, “We do also hear anecdotally from some workers that they don’t necessarily want to be a manager right now, or they’ve tried it and find it too stressful or not really aligned with where they want to go in the future,“ Zhao told the outlet.

Additionally, the Glassdoor report shows more workers are turning to side hustles to make ends meet. The Poll shows that nearly 40% of those surveyed have a side hustle. Fifty-seven percent of Gen Z and 48% of millennials have an additional income stream. Entrepreneurship and self-employment continue to rise. New business applications have surged 47% from 2019 to 2024.