Blog 75: The Great Resignation by Xavier Lo, FIA, FRM, MBA

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I think a lot of you would have heard of the Great Depression [大衰退] or the Great Recession [金融海嘯], but may not really have experienced it. However, there is a relatively more recent term that has been floating around these couple of years, and that is the Great Resignation [大辭職].

This is a term that has been floating around since the start of the pandemic [冠狀病毒病]. Normally, when someone quits their job voluntarily [自動辭職], it is because of two factors. Firstly, they have a stable financial base [穩定財政], which means that they don’t rely on the monthly income to live their lives. Secondly, they are not necessarily happy with their current job. This could be because of the pay, or the working conditions, or even the culture. The Great Resignation happened during the pandemic because these two conditions were fulfilled by external factors. For a start, a lot of people were not happy with the fact that their employers did not give them protective medical equipment and did not give them the flexibility to work from home [在家工作] (most likely to care for their family members). The stable income is also something that came from the pandemic. A lot of governments gave general pay-outs [派糖] to people to help them cope with the virus. With this money, people can afford to quit their jobs and not worry about not having enough money to sustain their living.

A result of this was that companies had to really change their culture [文化] quickly. For example, one thing that most companies offered was the option to work from home. This became a selling point for people who were looking for jobs and was a way to retain people [保留人才]. Of course, the pandemic made a lot of people redundant, but in some ways, the pandemic made it a lot better for employees as companies needed to improve their working culture and conditions to adapt to the changing world.

Lets all try to be positive and think of opportunities even in grave situations like this. That makes us better actuaries!

About the Author

Xavier Lo, FIA, FRM, MBA

Qualified fellow actuary (in UK and Hong Kong), Financial Risk Manager, and MBA graduate (listed on the Dean's List) with a passion for insurance, data science, and analytics. Experienced in a broad range of insurance roles (pricing, capital modelling, reserving, ERM), along with a touch of knowledge in banking. Member of the General Insurance Committee (2021), Actuarial Innovation Committee (2019 - 2021) in ASHK.

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