Resume Now’s 2025 survey of 1,000 workers across four countries found that
58% named “staying in a bad job too long” as their biggest career regret —
outranking not asking for a promotion, not speaking up, and not pursuing
further education. Only 38% said quitting was their top regret. Bankrate’s
2025 Jobs & Pay Report independently corroborates the underlying
dissatisfaction: 48% of workers are likely to look for a new job in the next
12 months (down from 56% in 2023, as “job hugging” takes hold in a weaker
market), while 69% worry about their job security and pay raises have fallen
to a multi-year low. The convergence from two independent sources strengthens
the inaction-regret signal.
On the action side, Joblist surveyed over 15,000 US job seekers and found
that 26% of those who quit their previous job regretted the decision. This
is substantially lower than the widely cited
Paychex figure of 80%, which specifically targeted Great Resignation quitters
surveyed in October 2022 — a historically anomalous cohort driven by pandemic
restlessness and social contagion. The Joblist sample, drawn from a broader
population over a longer window, better represents normal-conditions quitting
regret.
The revised framing resolves the earlier contradiction. Under normal labor
conditions, quitting regret runs around 25-30% (Joblist), not 80% (Paychex).
The 80% was an artifact of a specific, unusual period where many people quit
impulsively into a market that cooled faster than expected. Over time, per
Gilovich’s temporal pattern, quitting regret fades (the new job improves, or
you quit again) while staying regret compounds (another year passes, the
resume stagnates). The steady-state pattern is inaction-dominates, consistent
with the broader career-regret literature.
Źródła: działanie
Rejestr twierdzeń
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1/2 źródeł niezależnie zweryfikowanych słowo w słowo z podanym źródłem
[1]Joblist — Q2 2022 United States Job Market Report
Zweryfikowane
Badanie pierwotne
26% of people who quit their previous job regret their decision
Cytat
“"Over one in four people who quit their previous job (26%) regret their decision."
”
Dane źródłowe z
2022-07-15
Dostęp
2026-04-26
Weryfikacja
Cytat niezależnie pobrany ponownie i potwierdzony słowo w słowo z podanym źródłem podczas naszego audytu ugruntowania.
Obliczenie
Joblist surveyed 15,158 US job seekers; of those, 628 had quit their previous job. The 26% regret rate is measured among actual quitters (n=628). This is an independent source from Paychex and covers a broader time window than the Great Resignation-specific Paychex sample. The lower rate (26% vs Paychex's 80%) likely reflects a less sensational survey framing and a broader population beyond pandemic-era impulse quits.
[2]Paychex — Employee Regret After the Great Resignation
Badanie pierwotne
80% of professionals who quit during the Great Resignation regret their decision
Cytat
“"Eight in 10 professionals who left their jobs regret their decision. Professionals swapping industries are 25% more likely than those who stayed within their industry to feel this way. Those who left during the Great Resignation are only 11% more likely to be satisfied with their new salaries than their previous earnings."
”
Dane źródłowe z
2022-12-15
Dostęp
2026-04-26
Obliczenie
Paychex surveyed 825 employees and 354 employers in October 2022. The 80% figure specifically targets Great Resignation quitters — a historically anomalous cohort. We use the Joblist 26% as the headline rate because it is less period-specific and comes from a larger sample. The Paychex 80% represents the upper bound under unusual market conditions.
Źródła: bezczynność
Rejestr twierdzeń
Każda liczba poniżej jest tym, co podało dane źródło — z dosłownym cytatem, na którym się oparliśmy, i sposobem, w jaki doszliśmy do naszej wartości. Kliknij dowolny link, żeby zweryfikować bezpośrednio.
1/2 źródeł niezależnie zweryfikowanych słowo w słowo z podanym źródłem
[1]Resume Now — The Road Not Taken: Greatest Career Regrets Revealed
Zweryfikowane
↗ 7 other entries
Badanie pierwotne
58% of workers say staying in a bad job too long is their biggest career regret
Cytat
“"58% of people say their biggest career regret is staying in a bad job too long — compared with just 38% who say they regret quitting a job. Workers regret 'job hugging' more than not speaking up in meetings, not asking for a promotion, or not getting a college degree."
”
Dane źródłowe z
2025-01-15
Dostęp
2026-04-26
Weryfikacja
Cytat niezależnie pobrany ponownie i potwierdzony słowo w słowo z podanym źródłem podczas naszego audytu ugruntowania.
Obliczenie
Resume Now polled 1,000 workers across the US, UK, France, and Germany in January 2025. The 58% is the share naming "staying too long" as their single biggest career regret from a list of options. This is a "biggest regret" ranking, not a binary stayed/didn't-stay question, so it captures intensity rather than simple prevalence.
[2]Bankrate — Bankrate's 2025 Jobs & Pay Report
Źródło referencyjne
48% of workers are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months (down from 56% in 2023) amid wage stagnation and 'job hugging'
Cytat
“"Look for a new job": 48 percent. "Back in 2023, 56 percent of workers said they planned to look for a new job." "Less than 3 in 5 workers (57 percent) have received a pay increase over the past 12 months, the lowest share since polling began in 2022." "most workers (69 percent) say they are worried about their job security."
”
Dane źródłowe z
2025-08-01
Dostęp
2026-07-01
Obliczenie
Bankrate's nationally representative survey (KnowledgePanel, probability-based). In 2025, 48% of workers are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months — down from the 56% who planned to in 2023, a decline Bankrate attributes to "job hugging" in a weaker labor market. Intent to leave is not identical to regret about staying, but the persistent active dissatisfaction (69% worried about job security, wage stagnation at a multi-year low) corroborates the Resume Now finding that staying can breed regret. The earlier version of this entry misattributed the historical 2023 figure (56%) as the current headline; corrected to the 2025 figure (48%).
Zastrzeżenia
Figury działania i zaniechania pochodzą teraz z niezależnych źródeł (Joblist vs Resume Now), lecz odpowiadają na różne pytania: Joblist pyta osoby rzucające pracę, czy żałują rzucenia (binarne, konkretne), podczas gdy Resume Now pyta wszystkich pracowników, jaki jest ich największy żal zawodowy (uszeregowanie z listy, ogólne). 26-procentowy wskaźnik żalu po stronie działania z Joblist jest znacznie niższy niż 80% z Paychex, co odzwierciedla różnicę między próbą specyficzną dla okresu Wielkiej Rezygnacji a szerszą populacją. 58% po stronie zaniechania to odsetek wskazujący pozostanie jako swój największy żal spośród kilku opcji — a nie pytanie tak/nie o ich obecną pracę. Obie figury informują o kierunku (żal z zaniechania przewyższa żal z działania w długim okresie), lecz precyzyjna różnica 0,32 porównuje nieidentyczne narzędzia. Ustalenie Paychex pozostaje istotne jako dowód, że żal z rzucenia pracy może gwałtownie wzrosnąć w określonych warunkach rynkowych, nawet jeśli z czasem słabnie zgodnie z czasowym wzorcem Gilovicha.
