The Rise of Revenge Quitting: The Next Major Workplace Shift Explained

If you’ve tracked shifting labor dynamics over the past few years, you’ve watched one big workforce trend roll seamlessly into the next. It all started with the Great Resignation, when millions of workers walked away from their roles amid the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the public health crisis faded and the once-red-hot labor market began to cool, we saw the rise of quiet quitting, followed quickly by the Big Stay: a period where employees grew far more hesitant to leave the stable positions they held.

More recently, however, a far more fraught shift has taken hold. Driven by mass layoffs, quiet firings, strict mandatory return-to-office policies, and growing anxiety over displacement by artificial intelligence, workers across industries are now reeling from what analysts have dubbed the “Great Betrayal.” As thousands of employees have either been let go or walked out voluntarily to push back against rigid in-office requirements, workplace morale has plummeted at companies across the United States. It should come as little surprise, then, that the latest viral buzzword and workforce trend is what industry observers are calling “revenge quitting.”

This is not an entirely new phenomenon: at its core, it grows out of a long-building sense of detachment between employees and their jobs. The core idea of revenge quitting is simple: workers who feel extreme burnout or deep frustration with their roles are far more likely to resign abruptly, with little regard for whether they leave on good terms with their employer. In many ways, it is a natural extension of two earlier trends that have been simmering since 2023: resenteeism (disengaged physical attendance at work) and loud quitting (publicly calling out toxic work conditions before departure). After spending months, or even years, stuck in unfulfilling jobs that bring little joy or professional satisfaction, it is easy to see how many workers eventually reach a breaking point.

We already saw echoes of this dynamic during the height of the pandemic, when retail workers and other frontline essential staff quit in droves after COVID-era requirements — such as enforcing public mask mandates — made already low-wage, high-stress jobs completely untenable.

Many experts now predict revenge quitting will become a common occurrence next year. In a recent 2025 workplace trends report, job platform Glassdoor noted that “a wave of revenge quitting is on the horizon.” It remains unclear, though, exactly what this wave will look like. Rising employee resentment could push more workers to hand in their resignations, but it is also likely that many will choose not to burn professional bridges amid a still challenging job market.

There are certainly times when speaking up and calling out harmful, unethical workplace behavior is the right choice — even if it damages your relationship with an employer or manager. In other circumstances, however, a more strategic approach involves sharing honest feedback about your reasons for leaving, while remaining respectful and providing your employer with adequate notice before your departure.

Even with this nuance, it seems likely that workforce turnover will remain elevated next year. Hiring could pick back up in multiple sectors, driven by expected interest rate cuts and looming changes to the White House administration. While employers hold more power in the current job market than they did just a few years ago, millions of workers have reached their limit — and one way or another, many are ready to walk away.