Resig-Nation: The Top UK Cities Where People Want To Quit Their Job

‘The Great Resignation’ is a term which boomed in 2021 after there seemed to be an influx of people leaving their jobs post-pandemic after having time to reflect on their lives. This trend has continued into 2022, particularly as the cost-of-living rises, many are searching for that next better role – whether that is due to pay or culture.

But where are these quitters?

We here at Funky Pigeon have analysed the search volume for a list of 20 keywords relating to resigning/quitting your job, including “how to write a resignation letter” and “how do I quit my job”, discovering the search volume for each in the 60 most populated UK cities, to discover where in the UK the most people are researching quitting their jobs.

Cambridge tops the quitter list!

When it came to where in the UK was searching the most for phrases related to quitting their job the most Cambridge came out on top with 97.97 average monthly searches per 10,000 people in the city, indicating the city has the most people currently unhappy in their job.

In second place was Milton Keynes with 85.28 average monthly searches per 10,000 people and in third place was Manchester with 81.35.

 

The Top UK Cities for employees researching quitting their jobs

Rank	City / Town	County	Average Monthly Searches (per 10,000)
1	Cambridge	Cambridgeshire	97.97
2	Milton Keynes	Buckinghamshire	85.28
3	Manchester	Greater Manchester	81.35
4	Leeds	West Yorkshire	80.26
5	Reading	Berkshire	78.07
6	Norwich	Norfolk	77.65
7	Peterborough	Cambridgeshire	76.84
8	Exeter	Devon	74.57
9	Ipswich	Suffolk	74.50
10	York	North Yorkshire	73.46
11	Colchester	Essex	72.29
12	Bristol	Bristol	72.21
13	Bournemouth	Dorset	69.95
14	Northampton	Northamptonshire	68.32
15	Oxford	Oxfordshire	68.31
16	Nottingham	Nottinghamshire	67.99
17	Aberdeen	Aberdeen	67.77
18	Newcastle upon Tyne	Tyne and Wear	66.70
19	Edinburgh	Edinburgh	66.59
20	Swindon	Wiltshire	64.81
21	Watford	Hertfordshire	63.87
22	Glasgow	Glasgow	62.90
23	London	London	62.82
24	Slough	Berkshire	62.79
25	Telford	Shropshire	60.92

*For consistency, the search volume was analysed per 10,000 people as the population of London is a lot higher than other cities and would therefore rank top.

The West Midlands is a county of quitters…

BUT, when taking a look at the counties, it was actually the collective population of the West Midlands which has the most quitters in the UK, with 203.88 monthly searches for resignation terms per 10,000 people.

In second place was West Yorkshire with 178.35 per 10,000 and third was the county of the top quitter city, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire with 174.82.

Rank	County	Average Monthly Searches (per 10,000)
1	West Midlands	203.88
2	West Yorkshire	178.35
3	Cambridgeshire	174.82
4	Tyne and Wear	174.72
5	Greater Manchester	155.38
6	Buckinghamshire	143.31
7	Berkshire	140.86
8	Devon	127.64
9	Essex	117.45
10	North Yorkshire	109.05
11	Lancashire	103.62
12	Dorset	101.44
13	Merseyside	96.18
14	Hampshire	86.74
15	Norfolk	77.65
16	Suffolk	74.50
17	Bristol	72.21
18	Northamptonshire	68.32
19	Oxfordshire	68.31
20	Nottinghamshire	67.99
21	Aberdeen	67.77
22	Edinburgh	66.59
23	Wiltshire	64.81
24	Hertfordshire	63.87
25	Glasgow	62.90

Just missing out on the top 25 in position 26 was London, with an average searches per 10,000 population of 62.82.

Quit with a resignation card!

The most popular keyword across all of the counties/cities was “resignation letter” with the intent likely being to see examples of resignation letters for inspiration and instruction on how to actually write a resignation letter.

We understand how awkward it can be to hand in your notice, what do you say? If you had a positive experience what excuse do you give to stay on good terms? If you have had a bad experience how do you phrase your resignation in a polite way?

To take the stress away we have released a range of resignation cards. The cards contain a pre-written generic notice message which reads:

You just need to fill in the blanks and your resignation card is ready to go!

 

Is it legal to quit your job with a greeting card?

You may be wondering, is a card a legitimate form of notice? Well, to be sure, we sought the legal advice of the specialists at Richard Nelson LLP.

George Miller, Employment Law Specialist at Richard Nelson LLP, said: “There’s nothing to stop you from resigning via a card. Some employers might appreciate making light of the situation, but of course take your relationship with your boss into consideration before doing so. In regards to the legalities, you only need to be clear that you are ending your employment and give the date on which your employment is ending. Don’t be vague and say something like you ‘intend to resign’ as this is too uncertain.”

“When it comes to the format of your resignation, your contract may say that any notice of resignation should be given in writing – and if it does, you should resign in this way, meaning a card would be sufficient. If your contract does not say anything about how you should resign you can do it in any way you like, including verbally, by text or even video message. However, if you resign verbally, it’s usually a good idea to confirm your resignation in writing anyway to avoid any disputes.”

How to quit my job without notice?

There were a few monthly searches for this specific phrase across the cities analysed and 110 monthly searches on average across the UK. So we thought we would get help clearing this up.

George Miller said: “Legally you can only resign without notice, or by giving less notice than required, if you are doing so in response to a fundamental breach of contract by your employer. If you do this and you have more than two years’ service, you may have a claim for constructive unfair dismissal. These claims can be complex and you should take legal advice if you believe you may have a claim.”

And in regards to the amount of notice, this all depends on the contract of the individual.

Miller says: “Your contract should say how much notice you are required to give when you resign. If this is not in your contract or if you don’t have a contract, the statutory minimum amount of notice you need to give your employer is one week, unless you have been employed less than one month, in which case there is no statutory minimum period.”

So, if you are in the market for a new job, why not quit your current one with a personalised card instead of an email or letter!

Explore our full range of resignation cards.

Methodology:
We took a list of the 60 most populated UK cities from https://www.thegeographist.com/uk-cities-population-1000/ and analysed the Google search volume in each city for the same list of 20 keywords:
resignation letter, template for resignation letter, writing a resignation letter, how to write a resignation letter, notice letter, letter of notice, resignation letter example, notice letter template, resignation by email, resignation email, how to write a notice, what is notice period, leaving notice, notice to leave job, quit job, quit my job, how to quit your job, how do i quit my job, how to quit job without notice, how to know when to quit your job
To make the findings fair due to population differences, we then worked out the amount of total average searches per 10,000 people for each location to give the final figures.