Where are the workers: Mass. professionals explain why they’re a part of the Great Resignation

It has been dubbed a lot of things – the Great Resignation, the Big Quit, the Great Reset, etc. An economic trend in which workers are quitting their jobs in droves.

Regardless of the name, employers are struggling to fill vacancies. The latest U.S. Department of Labor data revealed there at 11.5 million job openings across the nation. That’s 5.6 million more jobs than available workers.

So where are the workers?

Anchor and investigative reporter Kerry Kavanaugh tackles that question in a three-part series examining the unprecedented national staffing crisis.

In part one, she sits down with a group of workers to understand what’s behind the labor shuffle that led to so many job openings.

All six group members admit they made the decision to not return to their pre-COVID-19 jobs or careers on their own. Some opted to make a big change, while others were left with no choice.

Rey Reyes was working in retail for a telecommunications company when the pandemic hit. He had more than a decade of experience and was a rising star. But the demands and hours of the job were taking a toll and keeping him away from his family. So he decided to switch gears.

“It was more about my time,” said Reyes. “I have two little girls now and I felt like I needed to be at home. COVID-19 it was a blessing in disguise because it brought me back home for a bit.”

While at home on lockdown, he decided to explore an old interest – real estate.

" I realized that I could make more money doing real estate,” said Reyes. “I made enough money to just realize that, yeah, I don’t need corporate, I could do it on my own.”

He’s now a real estate agent making his own schedule and opportunities.

When the pandemic hit, Tracey Russell was working in food marketing. She spent 20 years grinding away in the corporate world and was starting to lose steam.

Last year, she decided to leave behind her career in corporate marketing and bought a bridal shop in Cape Cod.

“The job no longer served me. I think it was a slow trickle to be honest with you and COVID-19 just kind of helped bring me over the finish line. I just made the conscious decision to leave the job,” said Tracy.

“The companies that respect that and empowered employees to understand that they were there for them and care for them are where good people stayed.”

Tracy says she’s much happier and has no regrets.

Chris Medeiros had a lengthy career as a corrections officer and was feeling burned out.

“You’re getting mandatory overtime at least once or twice a week. You don’t see your kids and you don’t see your family,” he said, adding that COVID-19 taught him just how fleeting life can be.

He is now a financial advisor and hasn’t looked back.

“Having this career now, you know, I can pick up my kids every day from school. I can go to my son’s soccer games.”

Sarah McMahon was laid off after the public relations firm where she worked lost most of its clients due to COVID-19. She decided to take a chance of herself and started her own public relations and social media management business.

“I couldn’t find a job, so I’m going to try this, I have these two clients, we’ll see if I can build up some more. And we’ll see if it sticks,” said McMahon. “I think that it’s a big risk, obviously. But the reward is so great.”

The four say they now feel more in control of their own lives. Like them, a record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in March in search of people better pay, benefits or opportunities.

But not everyone has been in the driver’s seat on career and work changes.

Necessity forced Jean Simmons and Cyndi Gauthier to exit the workforce. They gave up working to care for disabled and ailing loved ones.

“Prior to March of 2020, I worked full time for an insurance company. Then the pandemic hit. My mother was in a nursing facility. My son was sent home from his day program,” recalls Jean.

She was trying to balance working from home with caring for her adult son with developmental disabilities and her elderly parents. At the end of 2020 , the pace eventually took a toll on her. She decided to retire early.

“We’re living on my pension and we’re getting by. But it’s certainly a big hit,” said Jean.

Cyndi Gauthier has an adult daughter with autism. She left her job as a nurse before the pandemic because she couldn’t find a day program that her daughter could attend.

“It’s been impossible,” said Gauthier of her experience during COVID-19.

As 25 Investigates previously reported, many programs for the disabled continue to operate remotely due to severe staffing shortages that prevent from getting services back to pre-pandemic levels.

So with fewer options for her daughter, Cyndi has passed up good paying nursing jobs to stay home with her daughter who requires round the clock care.

She supplements savings with selling homemade personal care products.

“I think the worst part for me is just the total lack of freedom. I feel very isolated. I don’t expect it’s going to be like this forever,” said Cyndi.

Both Jean and Cyndi say they’d be back at work if not for the lack of programs and services currently available to individuals with disabilities.

Though caregiving and self-employment are the top reasons this group of workers cited for dropping out of the workforce, they’re not the only ones. Employees also cited early retirement and fear of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace.

The mass exodus of workers has left employers scrambling to find staff and figuring out how to retain them.

In Part 2 of “Where are the workers?”, Kerry Kavanaugh talks to Massachusetts employers to learn about the challenges they are facing in hiring personnel and what they are doing to keep workers from leaving.

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