Brewing worker resentment could fuel a 2025 quitting spree

The job market could be poised for a fresh wave of people quitting, according to a new Glassdoor report.

Nearly 2 in 3 workers report feeling stuck in their current role, according to an October poll of 3,390 professionals on Glassdoor, with those in tech and advertising feeling especially sour about their prospects.

Employees' satisfaction in their career opportunities has been on the decline since 2022 after people settled into new roles following the post-pandemic hiring boom known as the Great Resignation.

"People don't feel like the job market is working for them right now, even if you hear economists and policymakers talk about how strong and resilient the job market is," Glassdoor senior economist Daniel Zhao tells CNBC Make It.

"A lot of that has to do with the fact that people feel stuck in their careers, specifically around career growth, opportunities to advance up the career ladder, to get a raise or to find a job that's a better fit for them."

New jobs could reignite quitting spree

Workers' pessimism about their current jobs comes at a time when the quits rate is "unsustainably low" at under 2% (down from about 3% for much of the Great Resignation period), and activity around new jobs and hiring has been cool for much of the year.

"The desire [to quit] is there, but the opportunities aren't," Zhao says.

That could all change as businesses configure their hiring plans for 2025. For example, some sectors, like housing, real estate and tech, could be buoyed by the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts, Zhao says.

Other employers are revisiting their hiring pipelines after putting them on pause during the presidential election cycle, says Terry Petzold, managing partner at the executive recruiting firm Fox Search Group.

"There's increased optimism in hiring" now that a president has been elected, he says, noting that with Donald Trump headed to the White House in particular, hiring could pick up in manufacturing, transportation and logistics, as well as oil and gas.

More workers could make lateral moves for smaller paychecks

Workers' pent-up frustration with their jobs, when coupled with new opportunities, could prompt a wave of what Glassdoor is referring to as "revenge quitting."

But, they might not be securing big title bumps and pay increases. More job-switchers in today's market are settling for lower pay: In 2024, 17% of workers took a pay cut when moving jobs, compared with 15% in 2023 and 14% in 2019, according to Glassdoor data. Pay cuts are more common among managers and those who leave a management job for an individual contributor role.

"We are seeing many folks who switch from being a manager back to an individual contributor," Zhao says. "Seeing a pay cut, to some extent, makes sense."

"We do also hear anecdotally from some workers that they don't necessarily want to be a manager right now, or they've tried it and find it too stressful or not really aligned with where they want to go in the future," he adds.

Middle managers have been disproportionately affected by layoffs in recent years, Zhao says. Plus, the managers who survive a layoff often take over more responsibilities of the ones who leave, which could drive them to burn out and quit on their own.

Still, a job change could be a good move to help address the employee disengagement crisis. "Lateral moves get a bad rap," Zhao says, but "there is a lot of benefit to broadening your horizons, getting experience in a different area or at a different company, even if it is the same seniority or the same pay. You still learn a lot by getting into a new environment and new context, which can help boost your career growth in the long run."

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