The Great Resignation as na indicator of new relationships in the workplace – a prophecy by Ulrich Beck

Abstract

This article analyzes the phenomenon called “the great resignation” or, in free translation, “the great resignation” that affected the United States from 2021 onwards, as a significant consequence of the pandemic. Despite having started in the United States, “the great resignation” was not restricted to the initial territory, having surpassed the geographic limits and affecting Brazil. Official Brazilian data indicate that, after the pandemic period, mass layoffs began across the country. From this, the present work made a comparative study between Brazil and the United States. The objective was to verify the hypothesis that the causes presented in the United States also resulted in the replication of the phenomenon in Brazil. In this sense, the layoffs were analyzed from the perspective of Ulrich Beck's theory of risk, and it was possible to determine that the reasons derived from the new perspective on work and the work environment that were configured due to the pandemic. That is, the new context enabled discoveries that, among many other circumstances, brought other possibilities to the labor market and made the worker more demanding as to the quality of the work environment.