Approximately 4 million workers left their jobs in April according to the Department of Labor, making a 20-year high. The retail and professional services and business sectors saw the majority of the employee departures. 

For many workers, ongoing labor shortages and the promise of better positions fueled the desire to leave. Others cite ongoing frustrations with pandemic-related dynamics and workplace frustrations behind the decision to “rage quit” their job.

It appears that April’s employee exodus contributed to a record-breaking 9.3 million job vacancies in the economy.

This number outstripped expert forecasts by approximately a million. And employers were only able to hire 6.1 million people for open positions, reflecting the need for companies to get creative in their recruiting strategies.

The rise of remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic did not correlate to a drop in workplace harassment, as many HR professionals might have hoped. 

Instead, virtual work made it easier, in some ways, for bullies to harass colleagues, with 52% of women reporting they’d experienced some sort of harassment or microaggression in the past year. Research also found that the pandemic saw a 25% increase in gender-based harassment, particularly related to the privacy afforded by on-line interactions.