The Great Resignation: Shifter of the Modern-Day Workweek

“The Great Resignation” which refers to the surge in resignation rates in April of 2021 is a perplexing and relativity unexplored phenomenon. With many speculating that “the great resignation” will signal a shift in the workplace and worker-employee dynamics, we must understand the factors that attributed to the record-breaking amount of people leaving the workforce. Additionally, this paper will also explore whether the four-day workweek would aid in being more people back into the workforce. Aggregated data, a linear regression model, and a theoretical model were conducted utilizing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The data and theoretical model indicate that the increase in resignation rates is primarily due to two factors: decrease in productivity and increase in hours worked during remote working, and increases in government unemployment benefits. Given the factors leading to the great resignation, they support the notion that a four-day workweek would attract more employees to a particular company or the overall labor market.