Why corporate workers are quitting for less stressful jobs
A man I sat with at a networking event in Brighton last month shared that he worked as a financial analyst before taking up a job as a cleaner. Our table of nine was stunned.
What? How could he go from working a top corporate job to cleaning? How did such a dramatic change happen? Was it intentional?
Scott said yes, it was intentional. He chose the change. “I was so bored with corporate life that I couldn’t do it anymore. After 13 years, I felt like I was going to explode at the slightest thing.
“Now I just want a job where I can get on and off, get paid, and get on with my life. I don’t want to be called on weekends or days off because there’s a crisis at work. The stress, demands, deadlines, and policies of corporate life were non-stop. I’m done.”
Scott is not alone. Last summer, I met three other company workers doing similar shifts: an IT specialist turned warehouse picker, a general manager turned truck driver, and a lawyer turned aged care worker.
Dissatisfaction with corporate jobs in Australia is growing so much that some experts are calling it “The Great Burnout.”
“When professionals voluntarily go to blue-collar jobs, they are trying to escape a perceived threat and source of distress.”
Nicholas Duck, psychologist and career coach at Coaching
A new report from Allianz to create Nearly three million workers may quit their jobs due to mental distress, while six in 10 workers reported experiencing symptoms of burnout in the past year.
Nicholas Duck, a psychologist and career coach at Coachling, says people are growing dissatisfied with corporate jobs and finding work with meaning makes a big difference.
“People can deal with politics, demands, KPIs, and bureaucracy if the work they do is meaningful. But burnout comes faster when your values clash with the corporate culture. That’s because you have to show willpower and restraint in every meeting and interaction. Eventually, your brain says: ‘That’s enough!’ That’s basically what burnout is.”
Duck says it’s one thing to leave a job for another opportunity, but leaving an entire industry is essentially a “career change.”
“When professionals with high-status careers voluntarily go to blue-collar jobs, they are trying to escape a perceived threat and source of distress. Immersing themselves in a completely different context removes the triggers that trigger their stress,” he says.
Meanwhile, career coach Jackie Marsterson says professionals shifting to less stressful roles, working hard to break into high-status careers, and leaving well-paying positions are indicators of not just burnout but also the deep tensions in modern corporate workplaces.
“High-status careers are often associated with long working hours, high pressure and a lack of work-life balance. Leaving such environments can help a person regain their mental health,” she says.
As we sat at the table and listened to Scott explain the reasons for his career change, Scott said that one of the things he hated about his previous job was the meetings.
“I couldn’t stand endless, pointless meetings. It got to the point where I walked into a room, asked what the meeting was about, then made a U-turn and walked out immediately. No one had read the minutes of previous meetings anyway.”
Time spent in endless, unproductive meetings leads to frustration, low engagement, and wasted time talking instead of working, which can distract people from corporate work, Marsterson says.
So why do corporate careers turn to solo jobs when they decide they need a change? “Good people often burn out not because of their jobs, but because of people,” Duck says. “This is especially common when dealing with toxic colleagues and bosses. This is why lonely roles like truck driving are idealized; they provide insulation from this toxicity.”
While employees are encouraged to pause and check in with themselves, talk early, set boundaries where possible, and prioritize recovery, Duck says solving burnout requires systemic change.
“Professionals in 2026 have big ambitions for their lives and work, and contemporary workplaces cannot keep up. People are not only looking for more balance, but they also want to be inspired and supported at work. Organizations need to change much faster, or they risk becoming obsolete.”
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