The Great Resignation and the Trust Gap It Revealed

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News

Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — March 25, 2026

In 2021 and 2022, millions of Americans left their jobs. The media called it the “Great Resignation.” Some said workers were lazy. Others said stimulus checks made people soft.

The data tell a different story.

This was not laziness. It was a response to a growing trust gap between corporate messaging and corporate performance.

The Revenue Record

GoDaddy’s public filings show steady revenue growth through the pandemic years.

According to its annual Form 10-K reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:

• 2019 revenue: approximately $2.99 billion
• 2020 revenue: approximately $3.32 billion
• 2021 revenue: approximately $3.82 billion
• 2022 revenue: approximately $4.09 billion
• 2023 revenue: approximately $4.25 billion

Revenue did not collapse in 2020. It increased. It continued rising in 2021 and 2022.

This period also included office closures and reduced physical overhead. Demand for online services expanded as small businesses moved online.

The financial trend was upward.

The Worker Experience

The experience on the ground did not always match the numbers.

In March 2020, many employees were told to work from home with little preparation. Some workers had proper home offices. Others did not.

Some worked from kitchen tables. Some worked from bedrooms. One former employee described using two TV trays in a living room while sharing space with a roommate. Another coworker worked from a closet before eventually resigning.

Apartments designed for living were suddenly full-time offices.

The expectation remained the same: perform as before.

Isolation increased. Stress increased. In some cases, requests for short-term disability were denied even when employees had paid into the coverage.

Meanwhile, public filings showed continued revenue growth.

That gap mattered.

A National Pattern

GoDaddy was not unique in seeing strong financial recovery.

U.S. corporate profits fell sharply at the start of the COVID-19 disruption in early 2020. However, federal data show profits rebounded quickly and rose above pre-pandemic levels in the years that followed. By 2021 and 2022, corporate profits as a share of national income were elevated compared to pre-COVID levels.

The broader economy showed a similar pattern: initial shock, rapid stabilization, and then expansion in many sectors, especially digital services.

Workers absorbed disruption. Many corporations stabilized faster than expected.

That contrast shaped public perception.

The Quiet Signal

When employees hear one story internally and read another story in public filings, trust weakens.

The Great Resignation did not have a leader. It did not have marches. It did not have slogans.

It had exits.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly 47 million Americans quit their jobs in 2021. About 50 million did so in 2022. These were voluntary separations, not layoffs.

Changing jobs can send a signal as clearly as any protest.

For many, leaving was not about laziness. It was about clarity. It was about deciding that the terms no longer aligned with lived reality.

Reporting and Analysis

The revenue figures cited above come directly from GoDaddy’s annual Form 10-K filings with the SEC for fiscal years 2019 through 2023. National corporate profit data come from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and Federal Reserve economic series.

This article does not claim wrongdoing. It documents a measurable financial trend and compares it with worker experience during the same period.

The Great Resignation may best be understood not as chaos, but as a large-scale withdrawal of consent. When trust erodes, mobility becomes leverage.

March 2020 marked a rupture for many workers.

The years that followed showed the response.

For more social commentary, please see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com

This article is part of the ongoing WPS News archive project and will be preserved in future Amazon print volumes.

References

Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2023). Corporate profits. U.S. Department of Commerce.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2023). Job openings and labor turnover survey (JOLTS).

GoDaddy Inc. (2020). Form 10-K for fiscal year 2019. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

GoDaddy Inc. (2021). Form 10-K for fiscal year 2020. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

GoDaddy Inc. (2022). Form 10-K for fiscal year 2021. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

GoDaddy Inc. (2023). Form 10-K for fiscal year 2022. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

GoDaddy Inc. (2024). Form 10-K for fiscal year 2023. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.