By Allison Torres Burtka | The Muse
COVID-19 has shifted many people’s perspectives of what they want out of work and life. Maybe working remotely for the first time during COVID made your former commute seem intolerable. Or maybe you’ve decided that protecting your mental health means seeing a therapist regularly and using your vacation days more often.
Hence the predictions and onset of the “Great Resignation,” with employees quitting their jobs at record rates in the spring and summer of 2021. People are looking for new jobs because their current ones are no longer a good fit. At the same time, others are continuing to search because they lost or left their jobs earlier in the pandemic. Whatever your situation, you might be looking for something different from your next job.
People are saying, “I only live once, so I am no longer willing to tolerate some of the same things I used to,” says Muse career coach Barb Girson, who has been helping clients search for jobs and navigate their careers in response to the pandemic. For example, “I’ve had numerous different people that I’ve coached who said, ‘If they don’t relent, I’m going to leave,’ specifically when their company is requiring them to go back to the office without flexibility.”
Ideally, you get more than just a paycheck from your employer—you get various forms of additional support, in part through benefits and perks. And employers know this. To help their employees during difficult times, they’ve been rethinking their policies and practices and expanding the benefits and perks they offer. Here are some of the ones you might want to look into if you’re searching for a job during the “Great Resignation”—or anytime, really.
