"Leisure Over Money"... Why MZ Generation Quits Within a Year of Joining [Heo Midam's Youth Report]

Employment Freeze Due to COVID-19? ... This Year's Resignation Rate Increased Compared to Last Year
3 out of 10 MZ Generation New Employees Decide to Change Jobs Within a Year of Joining

At the Gwanghwamun intersection in Seoul, citizens dressed in thick clothing are hurrying on their way to work. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

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[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] # Kim (28), a second-year employee at a mid-sized company, joined his dream company after about a year of job hunting. However, since last month, he has been preparing for a job change by writing self-introduction letters after work in his spare time. Kim said, "Due to frequent overtime, my personal life disappeared. I go to work early in the morning and come home late at night, and when I get home, I just sleep," adding, "I decided to change jobs because I felt life was not enjoyable." He added, "Even if I earn less than my current salary, I want to work at a company that guarantees proper rest."

As job hunting has become more difficult for young people amid worsening employment conditions after COVID-19, a survey revealed that the resignation rate actually increased compared to last year. Initially, it was expected that job changes or resignations would slow down due to prolonged economic recession and increased uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the resignation rate rose instead. In particular, some of the MZ generation (born early 1980s to early 2000s), who prioritize 'work-life balance' (WLB), were found to resign within less than a year.

A recent survey by the job matching platform 'Saramin' targeting 538 companies found that the average resignation rate in the first half of this year was 15.7%. This is 1.8 percentage points higher than the resignation rate in the first half of last year (13.9%).

Companies with increased resignation rates cited the main reasons as ▲ MZ generation-centered organizations tend to change jobs or resign relatively easily (41.3%, multiple responses allowed).

Following that, they identified ▲ deterioration of company performance and financial status due to COVID-19 (22.3%), ▲ difficulty in improving organizational culture such as external reputation (21.2%), ▲ worsening work environment including increased overtime (16.8%), and ▲ rapid worsening of business conditions this year (15.6%) as managerial issues leading to increased resignations.

Office workers are working. The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. Photo by Yonhap News.

The reason why the MZ generation changes jobs or resigns more easily than other age groups is related to their characteristics. They prioritize their own lives over work and have low loyalty and sense of belonging to organizations. Also, the MZ generation believes it is difficult to accumulate wealth solely through salary and, unlike previous generations, they think they can be happy through other means without succeeding within an organization.

Lee (26), a six-month employee at an advertising company, recently decided to resign as well. He said, "The vertical hierarchy at work is too severe, and even when I express my opinions to my boss, they are not accepted, so I decided to quit," adding, "Communication with my boss is not smooth, so I wondered what I could learn here."

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the employment platform 'JobKorea' targeting 343 male and female office workers in their 20s and 30s about their 'first job change experience' found that 75.5% of respondents had changed jobs. Among them, 37.5% decided to resign within less than a year after joining.

Ultimately, the MZ generation moves to companies with better conditions such as work-life balance and salary, and if they judge that they cannot grow in the company, they decide to resign immediately. Some even plan their resignation simultaneously with employment. This phenomenon has led to the emergence of a new term, 'Twijunsaeng' (퇴준생), meaning 'resignation + job seeker.'

Experts analyze that as the concept of lifelong employment becomes increasingly vague, more office workers are dreaming of changing jobs. Professor Kwak Geumju of the Department of Psychology at Seoul National University said, "In the past, the concept of lifelong employment, staying at one company for a long time, was firmly established. Therefore, there was great anxiety about changing jobs. However, young people today are different. They tend to change jobs if their expectations are not met by their workplace. If another company offers even slightly better conditions, they decide to move."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.