White-collar staff calling shots as job markets recover

Having hunkered down at home and clung on to his job through the 2020 lockdowns, Dutch IT worker Benito Castillion is now on the hunt for a career-enhancing move - and it’s a shift of perspective he shares with millions of white-collar staff worldwide. 

Based in Prague, the 46-year-old had updated his LinkedIn profile and started attending virtual job fairs. “If the pay is right and there is a good opportunity to switch jobs I’d be willing to take the risk,” he told Reuters. “Now I see companies are willing to pay a bit more. That is important now.”

That mindset is driving what one US management professor has dubbed the “Great Resignation” and a US recruiter the biggest movement of human capital for decades, as skilled workers start to re-evaluate careers and life choices.

Having spent more than a year living with the stresses of the coronavirus pandemic, many now find themselves able to call the shots on pay and conditions as companies compete for staff amid labour shortages created by fast vaccine-led recoveries in rich-world economies.

In Europe’s largest, Germany, more than a third of companies complained of staff shortages last month, the highest rate for three years, an Ifo institute survey showed.

Lockdowns have meanwhile shone a harsh light on employers who failed to support and motivate staff working remotely for the first time in their careers, often under difficult conditions.

The Microsoft 2021 Work Trend Index showed 41 per cent of the global workforce are considering resigning this year - a near doubling of job-switching intent on the two years before the pandemic.

“I’ve spoken with around 20-30 companies who all say the attrition of candidates leaving is skyrocketing,” said Blake Wittman, European Business Director of recruiter GoodCall, which lists L’Oreal and Nestle as clients.