What Do Workers Want as The ‘Great Resignation' Continues?

The top answer: Career growth.

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Millions continue to voluntarily leave their jobs every month and experts say the Great Resignation hasn't shown signs of slowing down.

On the hunt for a hybrid work arrangement, Elena Mendoza said she made a change this spring.

The paralegal quit her job at one North Texas law firm after finding another offering an opportunity to work from home most days.

“Being able to work from home gives me more liberty to be able to be home with my daughter and make sure that I'm always there for her,” Mendoza said.

“Working from home was a big issue,” she added.

The most recent numbers from the Department of Labor showed that 4.3 million people quit their jobs in May. Around 4.4 million quit in April.

“Our goal was to get the answers to that,” said Jason Parma, director of permanent placement services at Robert Half, a talent and business consulting firm.

Parma said the firm recently asked workers which factors contributed to job loyalty?

The top answer: Career growth.

“It's about what is the company doing to invest in them,” explained Parma. “Helping them with their career path, teaching them additional skill sets that maybe they're looking for to achieve another step in their career.”

LinkedIn Principal Economist Guy Berger said flexibility in where and how employees work remains a major driver in the job market.

“People are going to want to do more of it and employers, hunting for talent, will be more willing to give it,” Berger said of flexibility. “That's a big change, a big cultural, behavioral, economic change.”

LinkedIn's 2022 Global Talent Trends report noted an 83 percent increase in job posts on LinkedIn mentioning flexibility since 2019. In that same time period, LinkedIn noted 343 percent more mentions of flexibility in company posts.

For many types of jobs, Berger said it remains a job-seekers market.

“It's been way more persistent than anybody expected,” Berger said.

“We thought maybe this is just a job market awaking out of its slumber after the most intense part of the pandemic. It's stuck around for more than a year and there's no real sign in my mind, no clear sign that it's fading,” Berger added.

This story originally appeared on NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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