Beyoncé released a new single “Break My Soul” on Monday. The song refers to the resignation and stress of employees, hinting at the recent trend of the Great Resignation.
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The great resignation is part of the spirit of the times. If you need proof, just ask Beyonce.
The superstar’s new single, “Break My Soul”, which was released on Monday night, is affecting workers’ malaise, which has helped a record number of Americans leave their jobs. This is the first song from her seventh studio album Renaissance, which will be released on July 29.
Beyoncé’s ode to the release of your job is the latest cultural reference to the Great Resignation labor trend, which began in the spring of 2021, around a time when the US economy was opening up wider after a pandemic era.
Since then, Americans have used the social media site TikTok to quit their jobs in public, the so-called Quit-Toks. In a popular Reddit forum, users share stories of text messages about leaving and resigning to bosses.
“It’s interesting the extent to which the phenomenon has penetrated the spirit of the times,” Nick Bunker, an economist at Job site Indeed, told the Great Resignation.
Beyoncé’s song “is an example of wider public awareness or discussion about people leaving their jobs, which reflects what is happening in the labor market and society,” Bunker said.
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Beyoncé wants us to quit our jobs
“Break My Soul” topped iTunes for the top 100 songs on Tuesday, according to PopVortex.
In the first verse of the song Queen Bey makes riffs on the burnout of employees over the rhythm of driving in the house:
“And I just quit my job / I’ll find a new engine / Hell, they work so hard for me / I work until nine / Then after five / And they work on my nerves / That’s why I can’t sleep at night.”
Shortly afterwards, Beyoncé used a vocal sample from Big Freedia’s 2014 song “Explode” to repeat the theme:
“Free your anger, free your mind / Free your work, free your time / Free your trade / Free your trade, free your stress / Free your love, forget the rest.”
Many fans alluded to the big resignation on social media on Tuesday. “One hour a week and I understand why Beyoncé told me to quit my job,” one wrote on Twitter; “Beyoncé tells me to quit my full-time job and become a full-time streamer and I like it … maybe … I can just do it … ??” another tweets.
Fiverr, which offers freelance services, uses the song as a marketing platform, tweeting: “Beyoncé wants us to quit our jobs and make a living on our own terms. You heard the woman. “
Burnout, pay continues to fuel the Great Resignation
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More than 47 million people left their jobs voluntarily last year, an all-time record, according to the US Department of Labor.
The rapid pace continued in 2022. More than 4.4 million people left in March, a monthly record; a similar number did so in April, the last month for which federal data is available.
Anthony Klotz, an associate professor at the College of Management in London who coined the well-known nickname for the trend when he taught at the University of Texas A&M, recently cited widespread burnout as one of the four pandemic factors leading to increased dropout rates.
More time at home gives workers time to re-evaluate their priorities and values, and employees are reluctant to give up telecommuting.
The general history of the last two years is more [one] to workers who find more opportunities and use them, not because of burnout and job abandonment in general.
Nick Bunker
economist at Indeed
“Research shows time and time again that people leave not because their work is not well paid, but because their work is not significant enough or does not perform well enough,” according to a recent report by Korn Ferry, a global organizational consulting firm.
Wages seem to play a role for many workers – and some economists see this as a key driver.
Hourly wages jumped 6.1 percent in May from a year earlier, the biggest annual increase in at least 25 years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
The dynamics are the result of record levels of demand for workers, which has led businesses to compete for scarce talent by raising wages, especially in certain industries such as leisure and hospitality (bars, restaurants, hotels) and retail.
Vacancies are close to the highest values of all time; workers have taken advantage of this availability to leave their current roles and take on new, higher-paying concerts, Bunker said.
“The general history of the last two years is more [one] to workers who find more opportunities and take advantage of them, not because of burnout and job abandonment in general, ”said Bunker.
In the past, burned workers may not have felt they had the strength to quit their jobs and easily find a new one, he added.
Low pay and lack of opportunity for advancement are linked as the main motivation for workers to leave work in 2021, followed by a sense of disrespect in the workplace, according to the Pew Research Center.
How the cooling labor market can affect resignations
Whatever the reason, the wave of resignations seems to fuel stress and dissatisfaction among other staff members – which in turn can contribute to more resignations, especially if labor market conditions remain favorable for workers.
More than half (52%) of employees who chose to stay (after leaving a colleague) reported taking on more work and responsibilities, according to a survey by the Human Resources Management Society.
Nearly a third of them struggle to get the job done, 27% feel less loyal to their organization, 28% feel more lonely or isolated, and 55% wonder if their pay is high enough, according to a study published in October.
Of course, there are indications that the labor market may cool this year – and probably with the trend of the Great Resignation.
On the one hand, the Federal Reserve is raising borrowing costs for consumers and businesses in a bid to slow the economy and curb high inflation, which is eroding the purchasing power of average consumers despite higher wages. The US Federal Reserve forecasts a slight increase in unemployment as a result of its policy.
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