Media has pushed different narratives over the past year. As the economy came back after Covid, we see a lot of businesses that simply cannot find workers for low-paying jobs. My favourite donut shop has 1 extra day per week closed, due to staff shortages. Many other businesses are doing the same. Hospitals have also been severely short-staffed as workers experienced significant burnout.
About a year ago, we started hearing of the 'great resignation', which means that a large wave of people have chosen to retire early, or switch to a new career. I've heard it referred to in the media many times as "nobody wants to work anymore".
Conditions are worse than ever, with rent across both of our countries exploding, and inflation and corporate price-gouging rampant and uncontrolled, the homeless population has also exploded.
What's going on? I see the corporate slogan 'nobody wants to work anymore' as an excuse for a failed economy. People are no longer willing to work in jobs that don't pay a living wage, and that category of work expands every day, given the aforementioned rents and living expenses.
The new trending term, 'quiet quitting', resonates more with me. It's meant to describe workers who are no longer willing to go above and beyond the expectations of their job. It's meant to be pejorative, but I view it the other way.
My dad used to explain corporate pushes for endless productivity through his job at a lumber mill. Managers set an unrealistically high goal, in this case, 400K board feet per shift. He said guys would work like crazy, put themselves in danger, and when they eventually reach the goal, management simply moves the markers down field. "Okay, the new goal is 420K board feet!" Effort is rarely or never rewarded.
I've seen much the same through my working life. But now that quality workers are harder than ever to find and keep, employers need to step up with better incentives. I was just offered a free, paid holiday day at my work. My whole company is getting this bonus day, something I've never witnessed.
I'm also approaching my work differently. I'm holding myself to slightly lower expectations for productivity, as I look for survival tactics for working outdoors through the neverending heat waves. I choose lower impact work more often, as I'm about to turn 40, and find my gas tank is smaller, so the need to conserve energy is greater.
Just wondering what others have experienced and how you're all approaching work after the pandemic.
About a year ago, we started hearing of the 'great resignation', which means that a large wave of people have chosen to retire early, or switch to a new career. I've heard it referred to in the media many times as "nobody wants to work anymore".
Conditions are worse than ever, with rent across both of our countries exploding, and inflation and corporate price-gouging rampant and uncontrolled, the homeless population has also exploded.
What's going on? I see the corporate slogan 'nobody wants to work anymore' as an excuse for a failed economy. People are no longer willing to work in jobs that don't pay a living wage, and that category of work expands every day, given the aforementioned rents and living expenses.
The new trending term, 'quiet quitting', resonates more with me. It's meant to describe workers who are no longer willing to go above and beyond the expectations of their job. It's meant to be pejorative, but I view it the other way.
My dad used to explain corporate pushes for endless productivity through his job at a lumber mill. Managers set an unrealistically high goal, in this case, 400K board feet per shift. He said guys would work like crazy, put themselves in danger, and when they eventually reach the goal, management simply moves the markers down field. "Okay, the new goal is 420K board feet!" Effort is rarely or never rewarded.
I've seen much the same through my working life. But now that quality workers are harder than ever to find and keep, employers need to step up with better incentives. I was just offered a free, paid holiday day at my work. My whole company is getting this bonus day, something I've never witnessed.
I'm also approaching my work differently. I'm holding myself to slightly lower expectations for productivity, as I look for survival tactics for working outdoors through the neverending heat waves. I choose lower impact work more often, as I'm about to turn 40, and find my gas tank is smaller, so the need to conserve energy is greater.
Just wondering what others have experienced and how you're all approaching work after the pandemic.
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