Quitting is contagious.

By now, you have probably heard about the sixteen employees of a California bagel store quitting their jobs en masse.

The staff of the Vacaville Noah’s New York Bagels reportedly left because their general manager had been fired.

There could be something else at play here too. Quitting is contagious.

The Sunday New York Times had an interesting piece about why so many Americans are leaving their jobs. It’s called, “We’re out of here.”

We know that late last year people left their jobs in record numbers. More than 4.5 million quit in November alone. That’s a record high in two decades of tracking by the U.S. Labor Department.

Why is this happening? Emma Goldberg writes in the New York Times that something infectious is spreading through the workforce. It catches quickly too.

Quitting is contagious. It seems that when you think about changing jobs… for whatever reason… you look around to see how your colleagues are doing.

When one person quits, it signals to others that it might be time to go.

There is even a name for this: Turnover contagion.

It’s been a rough couple of years for the American worker. First, it was Covid. Next, came supply chain issues and inflation.

It’s not been easy. A lot of people are deciding to try something new. Get a different job. Better hours. Work from home.

I think this is a real indication just how much the pandemic has changed us. Our priorities are not what they used to be.

There isn’t any indication this will be changing anytime soon either.

A Covid contagion has led to a quitting contagion.