Fin24 reports that SA has not seen a sweeping ‘Great Resignation’ trend like developed countries, but that might be changing.

In richer countries, labour markets tightened in the past year as record numbers of employees resigned from their jobs. SA has seen the loss of highly skilled professionals to emigration, while others have quit their jobs to work remotely for international firms. But the country has not seen the same mass resignation trend. PwC, which published its latest executive directors' report on Tuesday, believes that's because SA's economy only fully opened in 2022. Before that, companies were not pushing for the return to the office as in developed economies that have been living free of lockdowns for much longer. "I think we might start to see a larger spike in resignations and attrition as traditional-focused employers start to push people more back to the office. We typically have a bit of a lag with regards to how the world moves," said PwC’s Andreas Horak. But while more people may be yearning to work remotely, permanently, Horak reckons that the reality is that a hybrid system is a more practical solution that most employees can settle for. "With Covid-19, we've seen that flexibility doesn't come necessarily at a cost to the company. Now we need to create a conducive environment where people don't feel that they are forced to pick between contributing to their own families versus their own careers. This needs to be the debating point in boardrooms," said Horak.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Londiwe Buthelezi at Fin24 (subscriber access only)

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