China is famous for having perhaps the most fickle workforce on earth. Up to 30 per cent of staff commonly leave in any given year. They are usually driven by a mixture of greed and ambition – the quest for higher salaries, faster promotions, a bigger car or a better secretary.
But since last year, more and more workers have been handing in their notices before they get that next job, often for lifestyle reasons – a phenomenon known in China as luoci, or “naked resignation”.
Hong Xiangyang, manager of Sunward Career Management Consulting in Shanghai, estimates that 20 per cent of those aged 22 to 35 have resigned “nakedly” at least once in their careers – and 80 per cent have thought about it. One Chinese newspaper named luoci the leading labour trend of last year.