Spain has experienced an unprecedented phenomenon in the last three years, with an increase in resignations and voluntary withdrawals that total 1.65 million withdrawals in the first seven months of the year, 2% more than in 2023. The peculiarity is that, unlike what happened in other countries that participated in the so-called “Great renunciation“, the data do not show signs of decline, but rather of stabilization. Something that suggests a structural and permanent change in the labor market that not only forces companies to rethink the rules of the game, but also to legislators and lawyers.
And more and more experts point out that the rise in resignations has brought to the table a social reality in the face of which legislation has become obsolete. Professor of Labor and Social Security Law at the University of Seville and senior advisor at PwC, Miguel Rodriguez-Piñerospeaks of “trabexit” and stresses that this “outdated” vision of the definition of employment relations denies the recognition of the “right to decide” of workers
This touches on an issue that is initially controversial: whether these people should be entitled to unemployment benefits. However, a high percentage of these people do not resign because of a change of job but because of other circumstances, which makes them unemployed, even if they register as job seekers with a public employment service. They are not entitled to the same protection as an unemployed person who has been made redundant.even if it was listed under the same conditions.
This also closes the door to subsidies, but also places them in second place in active employment policies, which give priority to the beneficiaries of aid. Furthermore, if the departure occurs by mutual consent and with compensation, he receives much worse tax treatment than that of a severance payment.
The situation, as we reported in elEconomista.es, leads many companies to simulate the dismissal of workers who leave to improve their conditions, which represents a fraud against the law, even if it happens in good faith, as warned in a recent study by the lawyer and professor of labor law at the Francisco de Vitoria University, Iñigo Sagardoy.
A burden to change jobs
In cases where the march is not friendly, many workers find their options for finding employment limited by restrictions such as non-compete clauses that companies impose upon hiring. The justification is to prevent the leakage of sensitive information, but in many cases it is used to retain disgruntled employees under the threat of “punishment.”
When the worker is dismissed, its application is complex (since it is the company that terminates the employment relationship), but not if it is a resignation, the clause becomes a real slab which prevents the worker from looking for work in the same sector for months.
European legislation is trying to eliminate these restrictions on voluntary labour mobility, but in Spain, legal changes continue to be hampered by the fact that “resignation” remains a “strange” concept and has not even been well studied by employment statistics. Which prevents us from knowing the exact conditions and reasons why they occur,
According to a study by Fedea, resignations are concentrated among workers who have worked the shortest. This is logical in the case of temporary workers (they feel less tied to jobs with an expiration date), but when applied to permanent workers, it is more difficult to explain in a country that, until recently, considered signing a stable contract a success.
Anchored in previous visions and values
According to the same research, led by Florentino Felgueroso, not all resignations result in a direct change of job. Job dissatisfaction or difficulties in reconciling, added to the prospect that in the future it will be easier for them to find another permanent job, can lead those employees who have been with a company for a short time (and therefore did not accumulate seniority benefits) are more likely to take a “leap into the void.”
Further research is essential for legislators to fully understand the risks and consequences that resignation entails for workers. In Rodríguez-Piñero’s words, this lack of analysis supports a legal framework.anchored in previous visions and values” which does not recognize “sufficient decision-making margins in work and professional activity”, meaning that people “have to face the costs of all types of choices”.
But for now, almost all analyses of the potential impact of the Great Renunciation in Spain (with some notable exceptions such as the work of Rodríguez Piñero, Felgueroso and Sagardoy) continue to ignore the labour and legal situation that workers themselves face when they give up. An issue that does not seem to be a priority in the labour reforms (working hours and layoffs) proposed in the medium term.
