CHARLOTTE, NC (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – Americans are quitting their jobs at a record-high rate.

For the last 18 months, a vast majority of workers made a living right from their livings room

“I really like having the flexibility of working from home,” Tara Mills said. “I can make my own schedule.”

Next month, her employer is having staff return to the office on a limited basis.

“I think that’s something that a lot of companies or modern companies are coming up with,” Mills said. “That is how they are getting younger talent to come there because we want that flexibility.”

She said if the day comes when she needs to return permanently, she would consider looking elsewhere.

“I think a lot of people have come out of this with a different perspective than they had 18 months ago,” UNC Charlotte economics professor John Connaughton said.

He said a new perspective on work-life balance coupled with more government payouts has contributed to a mass exodus of workers.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.3 million Americans walked off the job in August.  

This month, thousands across the U.S. are also walking picket lines, pushing for better contracts and higher pay at companies like John Deer and Kellogg’s.

“My expectation is that you are going to see more of those going forward this year and into 2022 because the union workers have not benefited from the rapid wage increases that we have seen on-union workers benefit from,” Connaughton said.

“We keep saying, ‘hey you have got to pay attention to your people,” Humanity Works Chief Inspiration officer Kate Roeske-Zummer said.

She coaches businesses on how to provide a quality work environment.

“I think organizations are being pushed to be more flexible and to really start to look why do we have that policy in place do we really needed or not.  I think organizations are not used to needing to be that nimble with policies that they have had in place for a long time,” Roeske-Zummer said.