They are a welder, a nurse, a teacher… What they have in common is having thrown in the towel, leaving behind a job that alienated them for another, where they now flourish. In his new documentary, The great resignation, producer and host Isabelle Maréchal went to meet these Quebecers in “search for meaning” and appreciation at work.
“I really just defined myself as a nurse,” says Émilie Ricard, a young thirty-something from Trois-Rivières, who left her job at the hospital a year and a half earlier to devote herself to her passion, tattooing.
Describing her former workplace as “very toxic”, the mother confides that her mental health has taken a serious hit over the years. Today, she can no longer even pass in front of the hospital where she worked, at the risk of having “a nervous breakdown,” she says.
“If there had been the necessary resources and I had been able to have a normal work schedule, I perhaps would not have gone there,” believes the ex-nurse.
Emilie’s story is not an isolated case. Other stories similar to his own punctuate the documentary of just under an hour, which will be presented on Télé-Québec on January 24 at 8 p.m.
There is in particular the testimony of Nelson Grant, a welder who left everything after twenty years in the profession and a burnout, to get involved with a cooperative of forestry workers in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, in Gaspésie. Or that of Solène Dussault, a former primary school teacher in Sherbrooke, who left her job after 25 years of career — empty of energy, but with eyes full of water.
The quest for meaning at work
“Could the subject of job satisfaction be more timely than right now? » says Isabelle Maréchal in an interview with Duty. She mentions the recent heated negotiations in the public sector, where teachers and nurses went on strike to demand better working conditions.
“A few days ago, I was at the garage and I was talking with the mechanic who took care of my car. And there, he tells me that he has been working here for 24 years, but that he is resigning the same day! He was bored. He no longer wanted to be a mechanic. So, he started a company that makes recreational vehicles,” she says.
This era of “professional questioning”, of “search for meaning at work” was exacerbated by the years of pandemic, believes Isabelle Maréchal.
The name of his documentary, The great resignation, is also that given to the phenomenon that was observed in the United States in 2021 and 2022 — a period during which the number of Americans who left their jobs voluntarily for better conditions jumped.
The silent resignation
On our side of the border, however, the situation was different. According to Statistics Canada data, the number of Canadians who left their jobs in February 2022 was lower than in February 2020.
“But silent resignation does not appear in the figures,” argues Isabelle Maréchal. “Yes, there are people who keep their jobs. They have not resigned from their job, but they have resigned from the system,” she says, echoing these employees who no longer have motivation, and do the bare minimum of what is asked of them.
“Ultimately, these silent resignations have a negative impact for companies, so they have an interest in listening to their employees, otherwise they will resign for good,” believes the producer and host.
This documentary that she is signing is a bit of a sequel to the one she produced last year, entitled The means of the middle class, also broadcast on Télé-Québec. And the next one? It will perhaps focus on teleworking, suggests Isabelle Maréchal. “It’s another project, another important social issue,” she believes.