It’s 9:00 in the morning. An employee comes to her workplace, equips herself with a headset and checks the daily goals: “500 calls?” The girl bursts out laughing. “We do 50,” he says. This is an American tiktoker recreation of the phenomenon called silent cessation – silent resignation – a trend that some media outlets like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal are classifying as one of the new labor syndromes affecting young generations. However, In Spain, the passive attitude towards work performance is nothing new.
ascending trend. 61% of Spanish workers report feeling demotivated from their work and 45% suffer from burnout syndrome – commonly known as burnout. According to Hays, in 2022 the lack of motivation increased by 14% and burnout by 7%. For their part, companies do not perceive such fatigue in their employees: 78% consider their employees to be motivated.
The reasons for boredom are partly emotional. “People talk about it a lot more Find a job with meaning. He is more interested in his impact on society, on his family and on his mental health. In Spain there are considerations, but the considerations are by no means ‘I’m going to stop working’, but ‘how do I fit it into the rest of my life’, confirms Christopher Dottie, director of Hays in southern Europe.
But they are also cheap. When workers are asked how to deal with their demotivation, they have done so The clear answer: money. 65% of Spanish workers say that a pay rise would restore their work spirit, while increasing recognition or work flexibility, they say, would only solve the burned worker problem by 35% and 24% respectively.
Why not give up?
The Spanish labor market is rigid due to high unemployment of around 13% and the second highest rate of temporary work in Europe. Adecco Group Director of Operations Trinidad Vega explains that it’s culturally difficult for Spaniards to take the risk of changing jobs as “it creates a lot of uncertainty, we continue to have a work-for-life mentality,” she says.
In fact, the INE data suggests so the proportion of workers who have been in their job for more than six years has only increased. Since 2007 it has crossed the threshold of 40% of the labor force and will reach 46% in 2022. Even though these workers are burned out, Dottie reiterates that they avoid looking for work alternatives because “the work model is so rigid that They will not give up the 10 or 20 years of compensation that would be theirs.”
On the other hand, job opportunities in many cases involve geographical mobility and in Spain very few professionals are willing to relocate to take up a new job. “Even nationally, Spaniards are looking for jobs closer to where we live, although that trend is also changing,” says Vega.
Not a big give up?
The big resignation was a much-studied phenomenon in the United States: “After the pandemic [los trabajadores] They created a portfolio, looked for new opportunities, they wanted to change their lifestyle…” explains Dottie. Thanks to these important considerations, nearly 50 million Americans will exit the labor market between 2020 and 2022, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Great Recession did not happen in Spain. As the Adecco expert explains, the Spanish and American labor markets are very different. While ours is still very rigid, the American is dynamic. In addition, it is relatively easy to find employment opportunities. In Spain, leaving work creates much more insecurity and trying to join a new one faces fear of temporality.