The Great Resignation or the Great Joy in Higher Education: Emerging Lessons from the Pandemic

13 Pages Posted: 22 Nov 2022 Last revised: 4 Dec 2023

Date Written: September 14, 2022

Abstract

The Great Resignation, the Great Attrition, the Great Disengagement, and the Big Quit are a few of the names for the phenomenon occurring throughout different industries, including higher education.1 Higher education is not immune from this great exodus and is at a turning point as retention of faculty, administrators, and staff is more important than ever.2 What’s joy got to do with it?3 Can it drive those who work in higher education to stay, leave, or return?4 Money is not enough by itself to retain workers.5 Over the last two years, higher education, like other industries, is facing a fundamental shift in how people view their work, their employer, and their life.6 Perhaps this is an opportunity for the Great Joy: to (re)discover joy in your work; reevaluate what you want from work, be open minded, and possibly reinvent how you work, where you work, who you work with, and what you work on. This article explores the challenges higher education faces as the pandemic continues to alter attitudes on work. It then offers some strategies to (re)discover joy in work. Finally, it discusses ways to maximize joy in work.

Suggested Citation

Vinson, Kathleen Elliott, The Great Resignation or the Great Joy in Higher Education: Emerging Lessons from the Pandemic (September 14, 2022). Academic Impressions (2022), Suffolk University Law School Research Paper No. 22-12, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4238036 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4238036

Kathleen Elliott Vinson (Contact Author)

Suffolk University Law School ( email )

120 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
269
Abstract Views
847
Rank
206,900
PlumX Metrics