All of Those Quitters? They’re at Work.

For nearly six years, Nick Haner felt that the customer would have been the sun if Applebee's were the solar system. The customer was the center of everything. He was told that the customer was correct all the time. The customer spit in Mr. Haner's face. The customer screamed that her salad should have been hot. The customer ripped his tip in half.

Something happened last year to shift that position. McDonald's was hiring and Mr. Haner saw signs in the windows. Walgreens was hiring. The restaurant was short staffed and closed early. Everyone in the area needed workers. Mr. Haner wondered why work should be centered around people like him.

Mr. Haner quit his job at a restaurant and went to work for a tech company.

More than 40 million people left their jobs last year. The Great Resignation was preceded by a rush of other names: the Great Renegotiation, the Great Reshuffle, and the Great Rethink. People were not leaving work completely. They had to make money. Savings rates dropped to their lowest in nine years in January, as much of the pandemic aid stopped by the fall. Workers realized that they could find better ways to make a living. Higher pay. The hours are stable. There is flexibility. They were expecting more from their employers.

Kevin Carroll, the company's chief operations officer, said aggressive behavior of any kind is not allowed.

Workers across the country were able to refuse what they had been forced to tolerate, whether it was rigid bosses or customer abuse. To keep businesses running, bosses had to start listening.

Nick Bunker, director of economic research for North America at Indeed, said that people have seen this as a rejection of work, but that he has seen it as people exploiting an abundance of job opportunities.

Businesses were desperate for workers as vaccines and money came in last year. Workers took advantage of the moment and recalibrated what they expected from their employers. That didn't mean millions of people logging off and throwing their laptops into the sea. It meant low-wage workers were hanging up their aprons and going to another business with a sign on the door. White collar workers told their employers exactly how and where they wanted to work.

Tim Ryan, the U.S. chair of PwC, said that the company's employees have the power because of a three-year transition that allows for more flexible work.

The executive of the company had to describe the workplace transition with a Disney reference.

I have six children and one of the characters says to Elizabeth. You better, because we're living in one, Mr. Ryan said.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the census shows a correlation between the rate of quitting and job swaps. The job switchers have tended to be in the leisure and retail industries. The rate of workers quitting has gone up in retail and leisure since the beginning of the Pandemic. White collar employers were still struggling to hire, but they saw fewer resignations. The quitting rate in finance is now just below 2 percent, and in media and technology it is also below 2 percent.

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When workers switched jobs, they made more money. Wages grew more than 7 percent in retail over the last year. Workers were able to increase their shift hours because of the decline involuntarily working.

Some of the people who left the work force were driven by older men who retired before the age of 65, but others are coming back to work. The mismatch between the baby boomers retiring and the younger generation entering the work force has led to a tighter labor supply. People aren't done with work, and can't afford to be. Less giving up and more trading up was the result of the last year.

Most people have never wanted to work and they do so because they need to live, according to Rebecca Givan, an associate professor of labor studies.

Sharon worked at Buddy's Pizza in Troy, Mich., last year, and she still remembers the angry customers she saw. Ms. Sharon gestured at the extensive menu after a woman entered the restaurant and ordered a pizza.

According to Ms. Sharon, the customer said, "Did you not hear what I said?"

Ms. Sharon was mocked for wearing a mask. The eight-hour shifts ended with burning pain in her feet. She was offered a job as an administrative assistant at a law firm in March and then quit her job at a pizzeria last month.

The last generation stayed in their jobs because they were supposed to. I'm getting sick because my body is shutting down, and I'm over it.

"If a guest refuses to calm down, it's a challenging component of the current climate in food service," said the chief operating officer of Buddy's Pizza.

This workplace moment is anti-ambition. For many workers, frustration gave way to calls for better jobs, such as promotions, industry switches, stable hours, sick leave, bereavement leave, maternity leave, retirement plans, safety protections, and vacation time. Robert Reich said that no one wants to be exploited anymore.

Last year when millions said "I quit", it reached far beyond the confines of the companies and industries. White collar workers were not quitting their jobs at the same rate as those in other industries. They made bold demands of their employers, knowing that unemployment is low and competition for talent is fierce.

Mr. Bunker said that employees have bargaining power.

They are exercising their power in regards to flexibility. The shutdown of offices gave workers a sense of control. Some of the seemingly unassailable bosses on Wall Street recognized that old rules couldn't hold. Citigroup, Wells Fargo and BNY Mellon told bankers that they wouldn't have to commute five days a week.

According to the data released this week by the Partnership for New York City, 8 percent of Manhattan office workers are back in the office five days a week.

Lyssa Walker White, 38, who switched jobs earlier this year because of her old employer's expectation, said that her quality of life increased so much that she wouldn't be able to convince her coworkers that she was worth it.

Some employers went ahead and called their workers back to the office, but found that they faced resistance. A recent open letter from workers detailing their opposition to in-person work was received by Apple, which required its employees to return to the office three days a week.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, please get out of our way.

The company didn't say anything. The requirement is still in place.

Newly formed unions took up remote work at other white collar workplaces. The membership of the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union grew from 12 to 50 organizations and 1,300 workers this year. One member organization secured an agreement that managers would cover the costs of travel for workers who have to commute, and another got its management to agree to provide written justification for employees who have to return to the office.

At a recent industry conference, Jessica Kriegel, head of people and culture at Experience.com, a technology company, gathered with colleagues in human resources and swapped all kinds of stories about facing the requests of an emboldened staff. There were stories of people asking for raises that were four times the size of their salaries. There were stories of company strategy meetings that used to be held as closed-door retreats in the area, and now include junior level staff in town halls.

Ms. Kriegel said she had given a top performer an eye-popping raise and seen another race through three promotions, rising from a contributor to a director to a vice president in just one year.

They want title bumps not associated with financial promotions in order to put it on their LinkedIn.

The H.R. director is starting to see people feel they don't get the work they want because she is watching them for exactly the type of work they want to do. It is about incredible ambition.

Mr. Haner was recently given a raise of 16 percent, which put him at an hourly pay substantially above his wages at Applebee's. He talks about his conversations with his manager when friends ask about his new job. When he requested time off for his grandfather's funeral, he was told that his company offers bereavement leave.

His morning alarm no longer makes him dread his job because of a new sensation: they treat us with respect.