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What if a company’s ecological commitment became a criterion as important as remuneration, the atmosphere at work or the prospects for development in the eyes of employees? In any case, this is what “climate quitting” suggests, a phenomenon which pushes employees to leave their company when they believe that it is not sufficiently committed to ecological issues.
Have you ever heard of “conscious quitting”? This term designates the fact of wanting to resign or separate from a company whose practices go against the values that one defends, whether ecological, political or humanist. Described by ex-Unilever CEO Paul Polman, who published an investigation on the subject, this phenomenon confirms the growing extent of employees’ desire to get involved through their profession. But if “conscious quitting” encompasses different values, ecological commitment clearly stands out in the desire to leave or refuse a job. So much so that we devote a specific expression to it: “climate quitting”. This term, which can be translated into French as “climate resignation”, recently appeared in the English-speaking media after the publication of several surveys on the subject.
We can notably cite that of the English audit firm KPMG at the beginning of the year and carried out among 6,000 working adults. THE survey reveals in particular that 20% of employees surveyed said they had refused a job offer when their company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments did not correspond to their personal values. The results also indicate that almost one in two people (46%) want the company they work for to demonstrate a commitment to ESG.
For some, ecological commitment is more important than salary
The “climate resignation” is also illustrated in France: according to investigation published by the European Investment Bank (EIB) last March, 67% of French people aged 20 to 29 consider the climate impact of their potential future employer as an important criterion when choosing a job, while 23% believe that this is a priority criterion of choice. In any case, commitment to climate and environmental issues seems to be increasingly establishing itself as a priority in the job search or in motivating factors at work. And for some, it would even surpass criteria such as salary conditions or prospects for advancement within a company.
An article recently published by the media The Conversation reports the progress of a study on the subject (not yet published) carried out by Grace Augustine, professor at the University of Bath in England, and Birthe Soppe of the University of Innsbruck in Austria . The latter, who interviewed around ten people as part of their investigation, explain that certain employees who resigned out of ecological conscience nevertheless said they appreciated their work. “They were well paid, found their work intellectually rewarding and had opportunities for career development and travel,” the researchers said.
Although it is currently difficult to assess the extent of this phenomenon, everything suggests that the trend of “climate quitting” could increase in the decades to come, especially if we take into account the fact that it is mainly carried by members of generation Z. This is also the conclusion reached by John McCalla-Leacy, head of ESG at KPMG, who carried out the opinion survey cited above. “For businesses, the direction to take is clear. By 2025, 75% of the workforce will be millennials, meaning they will need to have credible ESG plans if they want to continue attracting and retaining this growing talent pool“, estimates the latter.
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