The "Self-Unemployment" Trend: What Does It Say About Workers' Insights?

Active Unemployment 

Instead of looking for job interviews or accepting new job offers, those employees choose to give themself a break to seek breakthroughs – which is “self-unemployment”. “I chose a career break after resigning and preparing for my financial savings. After three years with the company, this is the time for me to relax and cultivate new skills. I will actively search for a new job when I’m ready,” shared Cao Thanh Th. (a former employee of an Agency in Ho Chi Minh City). 

Another case is Minh Hoang, a former IT Manager. Despite receiving job offers after quitting, he refused to seek a more suitable opportunity. “I love my job, but I also want to balance my personal life and focus more on caring for my family,” he shared. 

In a LinkedIn survey, up to 78% of workers desire a drastic career change. Resigning is an opportunity for them to look back, learn new skills, and be ready for enormous challenges. At the same time, workers also have higher needs for “work-life balance”. 

The Talentnet-Mercer Compensation Report 2023 also points out that besides finance, “work-life balance” is prioritized, especially among young workers. In addition, “work value and meaning”, “gratefulness for work”, and “compatibility between work and personal values” are also top priorities for workers aged 30 and above. 

Talking about this trend, Ms. Ly Ngoc Tran, Director of HR Outsourcing Services at Talentnet, said: “Managing over 10,000 workers for many years has given us many interesting perspectives. Specifically, with the self-unemployment tendency, there will be many reasons. It could be due to work overload, workers needing a long break, or because they have not found the value of their work. These reasons make them easily discouraged and they do not have a sense of belonging in the organization. No matter what the reason is, businesses need to take action. This trend can cause more problems and challenges because the current recruitment balance is no longer in favor of businesses but is more about the workers’ decision.” 

Businesses Proactively “Take Precautions” 

“Instead of being anxious, businesses can proactively prepare for this trend with a “pincer” method: Firstly, building a working environment and benefit policies that meet the needs of current workers, secondly, businesses can prepare supplementary resources to reduce workload for the existing team and be ready for future people strategy. This solution both makes workers change their decision from passive unemployment to actively applying and “prepares” for the talent shortage that may come,” Ms. Tran shared. 

Building flexible benefit policies that meet employee’s needs 

Besides salary and bonuses, the employees also want to possess good mental health. From these desires, businesses can consider investing in building and improving benefits for employees, aiming to balance body – mind – spirit for workers. 

Ms. Tran suggested that businesses also consider classifying leave days for employees. In addition to the regular 12 days of annual leave, business leaders can add “personal leaves” for sickness or 1 “Mental health” day off. This policy helps workers feel cared for and becomes a “bright spot” to attract potential candidates for the business. 

Reducing work pressure for the operations team 

Businesses need to prepare for long-term solutions, avoid imbalance for workers by reducing their workload. To solve the situation of talent shortage but too much work, businesses can apply automation solutions with software and AI to replace and support current tasks. 

In addition, businesses can consider using HR Outsourcing services from reputable third parties to reduce the administrative workload for the HR team so they can focus on strategic business activities. Finding alternative human resources from third-party services helps provide human resources according to business requirements, ensuring the quality of the workforce in the short term. 

“The self-unemployment trend is a challenge but also creates an opportunity for businesses to re-evaluate current HR policies to ensure updated and suitable ones for employee expectations. By putting employees at the center of HR policies, businesses can confidently “gain points” with employees and candidates, turning “active unemployment” into “active work”, Ms. Tran concluded.