Midlife crisis may be driving Gen Xers to quit their jobs.
Millennials and Gen Z may have fueled the Great Resignation in the beginning. But, according to Vox, employees 40 and older are calling it quits at a higher rate in the first quarter of 2022.
Many factors drive Gen Xers to quit, but a midlife crisis could be one factor that impacts what they do with their careers in the second phase of life.
5 Ways Midlife Crisis Impacts Our Career.
The oldest Gen-Xer is 52, and the youngest turns 42 in 2022, the age range of when a midlife crisis usually hits, give or take. Midlifers will likely:
- Experience significant life shifts, creating changes in priorities that no longer align with their current career path.
- Built successful careers but felt stuck and dissatisfied. Their options may have narrowed down as they age, causing demotivation and disengagement towards their job.
- Face the idea of mortality and feel they are running out of time. They think they should have achieved more by now; thus, they begin to question, "Is this it?"
- Feel defeated by the monotony of day-to-day tasks. After working their asses off for twenty-odd years or so, they no longer see the value of their work.
- Going through high levels of work stress, which peaks at 45. Work stress and competing demands from other areas of life, especially those within the Sandwich Generation, make midlifers feel overwhelmed.
In a survey conducted by isolved, factors like burnout, anxiety, and the need for financial security lead nearly half of all workers to plan on exploring new job options in 2023.
"Of the 37 percent of employees who actually applied for new positions last year, 60 percent changed jobs. Of those, 62 percent did so because they wanted a higher salary, 32 percent because they wanted better benefits and 25 percent wanted more work flexibility." - Retail Wire
Don't rush to quit your job if you are going through this.
It's best to reflect and evaluate before making big decisions or changes in life.
This is where self-coaching is a critical tool that can help you manage work challenges better and identify your next step in life. I have been experimenting with self-coaching tools for the past few years to navigate my career challenges, and I believe it is a skill that all professionals should have to take back control of their career path.
