Thousands of Italian employees voluntarily quit their jobs

Several workers place a floating and “ephemeral” bridge over the Tiber in Rome.
EFE

Manuele was a stressed-out executive with frenetic rhythms until one day he couldn’t take it anymore. Stefano also said “enough” after years of working as a bus driver. And Enrica, who used to be a PR enthusiast, and has yet to make it, now always has her ear on in case it comes up. any new offer. All three are examples of real cases, from recent months, of a trend that is not entirely new in Italy but that, in the second year of the pandemic, has exploded in a way that few saw coming in this country: that of thousands of workers, with permanent contracts, who are voluntarily resigned from their jobs.

The figures leave little room for doubt. In the second quarter of this year, from April to June, 484,000 workers quit their jobs (out of a total of 2.5 million total contracts terminated in the same period) in Italy. A data that corresponds to an increase of 37% compared to the previous quarter, and 85% if the same quarter in 2020 is taken as a reference, according to the latest figures released by the Italian Ministry of Labor. Even more. In some regions, such as Veneto (north), the latest data available even indicates that the phenomenon has continued at least Until September of this year.

“The percentage of workers who voluntarily left their jobs is higher not only than 2020 data, but also 2019, 2018, and 2017”, Stresses researcher Francesco Armilleri, from the London School of Economics and one of the first to spot the trend. “The increase is even more pronounced if one looks at the data of workers with contracts of more than three years, and those of some sectors, in particular the health professions, followed at a certain distance by those of the manufacturing industry,” he says. El Periódico de Catalunya Armilleri. “Also striking is that there are a significant number of people who have been fired and found a new job within 30 days”, He adds, underlining that even so the phenomenon is too recent to understand precisely what it originates from.

In fact, observers are not absolutely certain about the causes of this situation, or whether it is a passing trend (or not). The hypotheses are multiple, and vary in each case. Several analysts point out that many of these workers – among them, the sanitary– have suffered from the so-called ‘burnout syndrome’, a extreme physical and emotional exhaustion that gives the feeling of having the meaning of life and reduces productivity. Other experts point out that the trend could be the result of an accumulation of overdue decisions, that is, workers who delayed their decision due to the great insecurity that the initial stage of the pandemic represented, as well as that it could be consensual resignations with companies that are In crisis.

The reality is that, in Italy, “there is still a lack of culture of caring for well-being at work,” the psychologist recently explained, asked about the phenomenon by the Italian edition of the Huffington Post. Weather in Biancamaria Cavallini. Hence, also that, months after a similar trend was detected in the United States – where the economic recovery began earlier – a widely shared hypothesis is also the one that points out that many would be making the decision to obtain job improvements – including more flexible schedules and the possibility of telecommuting-, and more possibilities for growth in the coming years. With the challenge that this will entail for companies.