Are phobias at the root of the “Great Resignation”?
In the United States, 4.3 million employees – 2.3 percent of the total workforce – quit their jobs in a single month. The search for a sense of purpose or flexibility are the most common explanations. However, fear is a widely underestimated factor in why people resign.
Fear generates flight behaviors (among other things), with four of the most widespread phobias partly explaining this wave of resignations:
- Fear of needles. Employees are more afraid of needles than the vaccine or virus, and give up jobs where vaccination is compulsory.
- Fear of dirt and germs. This phobia is even more acute during a pandemic, and prevents people from going to work because of the perceived risk of contamination.
- Social phobia and agoraphobia are even more keenly felt in a climate that is generally anxiety-provoking. People who suffer from these phobias stay home because they’re afraid of being put in situations that trigger panic attacks.
Fear affects all employees, albeit to varying degrees. It freezes people in the past, preventing them from being genuinely present and making the best possible decisions.
What are the fears that could have an impact on you and your team? And how can you help dispel them?
To go further
“Is fear driving the great resignation ?”
by Kathy J. Hagler (Medium, 14 October 2021).
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