“Great resignation” wave coming for companies • Hacker News Board

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#241

Post by jhickok » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

setgree wrote: post #198

dreen wrote: post #7

Im quitting and not looking for another job. Gonna use the savings to take a gap year, or a couple, work on some stuff I want maybe. Maybe more involvement in OSS is coming too? I've never had a gap year, it was all school, then immigration, work, university, more work. Any holiday time you fly back home. I kept hearing its not unusual for people in the west to take gap years, so thats what Im doing. edit: thank you…

I left my job in May and I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail now. I saved more than enough for living in a tent for 5 months (admittedly the tent was expensive but I already had it). So far it's been great. I've met a lot of folks who are burned out and taking some time to think. If long-distance hiking appeals, I'd be happy to discuss it. Long-distance hiking isn't for everyone but

My brother and I both got burnout last year and picked up thru-hiking, albeit more of the weekend warrior (3-7 days) variety. It has been a life-changer for both of us. We are planning on hiking part of the PCT for a month next year.

Good luck on the AT!

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#242

Post by slumdev » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

FinanceAnon wrote: post #97

jokoon wrote: post #85

I've been unemployed for a long time, living on benefits, without guilt or remorse. For health and other reasons. One problem being lack of social integration and interaction. But honestly I don't think I can believe in the necessity of having a job, if I can't see purpose or meaning. There are few jobs that matter, and a lot of barriers and filtering. /r/antiwork is really a viewpoint I can understand and defend.

How is this a scalable approach to everyone in the society? Someone has to work to produce food. Someone has to work to produce electricity. Until we can automate everything, most people have to work and contribute to society (unless you choose to be self-sufficient - grow your own food, produce your own electricity etc.)

We need work for plenty of reasons, but most jobs don't really contribute to our civilization's continued success. Many are even opposed to it.

I don't agree with Graeber's conclusions, but his observations are solid:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#243

Post by kesselvon » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

aphextron wrote: post #72

dccoolgai wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learn to prevaricate better... And meet a friend who will do it for you. "Yeah, I was the CTO of a startup. I learned a lot. Call this guy who was the CEO, he'll tell you about it."

>"Yeah, I was the CTO of a startup. I learned a lot. Call this guy who was the CEO, he'll tell you about it." Ah yes, an intricate lie. The very foundation of a solid working relationship.

Companies lie to employees all the time; it's literally not illegal.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#244

Post by ChrisRR » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

tfehring wrote: post #239

ChrisRR wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, America really needs to get their act together. Being from England, I hadn't even considered that healthcare is something that has to be factored into whether someone could take time off

It’s much less of an issue than it was a decade+ ago. Unemployed people in the US get free health coverage through Medicaid pretty much everywhere but the Deep South, albeit with a limited selection of doctors.

What does free health coverage entail? If there's free coverage, why doesn't everyone have it?

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#245

Post by baron_harkonnen » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

aphextron wrote: post #41

dreen wrote: post #7

Im quitting and not looking for another job. Gonna use the savings to take a gap year, or a couple, work on some stuff I want maybe. Maybe more involvement in OSS is coming too? I've never had a gap year, it was all school, then immigration, work, university, more work. Any holiday time you fly back home. I kept hearing its not unusual for people in the west to take gap years, so thats what Im doing. edit: thank you…

>Im quitting and not looking for another job. Gonna use the savings to take a gap year, or a couple, work on some stuff I want maybe. Maybe more involvement in OSS is coming too? Unless you have some serious FU money saved up, I'd strongly reconsider. A "gap year" as an adult can make you radioactive to potential employers. And that cash goes quick when there's none coming in. Trust me I know. It's alluring to just w…

> A "gap year" as an adult can make you radioactive to potential employers.

I'm not sure where you got this idea in your head but it is demonstrably false in tech right now.

I took a gap year after getting fired from an extremely toxic company. I didn't want to rush into a new role right away after such an awful experience.

Once I was ready to go back it took ~1 month to go from starting my search to signing an offer letter. I interviewed at a large range of companies and was pretty picky after my previous experience.

My apply -> interview rate was consistent with what it had been in the past, and nobody cared about either my being fired or taking time off.

> trying to get a job when you're unemployed is literally 10x harder than while employed

The only thing that changed for me interview wise was that I was much pickier after not having to work for an organization for such a long time.

The rest of the interview is much easier since you have much more time to do things like practice for coding interviews, doing take home work etc.

On top of all that, because I was so grossed out from looking at linkedin during that time, I've never bothered update my profile, and I still get the same constant stream of recruiters reaching out even though it looks like I'm still unemployed.

In retrospect I wish I had had the sense to just quit earlier. Very often interviewing when you're employed at a place you are not happy with makes you too eager to find someplace else, making you more likely to ignore warning signs during the interview.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#246

Post by mumblemumble » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #228

But human resources may be able to retain some workers by offering as much flexibility as possible, says Cathy Moy, chief people officer at BDO USA, a financial services company. It's not just flexibility or WFH. For many people it's about pay, policies, management, and a host of other issues, many of them well known but never addressed. Good luck to those firms who think the old HR playbook - making sympathetic nois…

For my part, I am guessing none of this is really in HR's hands.

The conversations I'm having in my social sphere tend to be something to the effect of how the past year has really made it clear how dysfunctional their company's team social dynamics are. And it's often not something you can expect anyone to ever fix, because that sort of thing is largely driven by senior management.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#247

Post by deanclatworthy » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:16 PM UTC

slumdev wrote: post #230

deanclatworthy wrote: post #213

Listen, I am completely on board with giving employees the right to choose the remote situation - but don't be surprised when you're competing against people from all over the globe, who will probably take a lower salary than you, who probably aren't entitled as you, and will bite at the opportunity. Furthermore, what are employers meant to do with their workplaces when employees are half-in, half-out with the office…

> don't be surprised when you're competing against people from all over the globe, who will probably take a lower salary than you, who probably aren't entitled as you, and will bite at the opportunity. This competition mostly doesn't exist. The language barrier is too great, and working across time zones is something that most companies are horrible at, to say nothing of the legal/regulatory/jurisdictional challenges…

I don't agree. And you're looking at this from a very anglo-centric point of view. This will open doors for french-speaking Africans to work for French companies. For Brazilians working for Portugal etc.

I've worked with skilled developers from all over the world, who speak more than good enough English.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#248

Post by thom » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:17 PM UTC

aphextron wrote: post #67

sfeng wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is horrible advice. I’ve hired all sorts of people with voluntary time off on their resume. Your experience doesn’t ‘expire’ in a single year. Life is about more than just working, if you have the money to take time off to enjoy your life you shouldn’t not do it out of fear.

>Your experience doesn’t ‘expire’ in a single year You're right, it doesn't. But it brings up all sorts of questions in the mind of your interviewer as to the true nature of your departure, and it immediately puts you at a huge disadvantage.

I can’t imagine wanting to work for someone who thinks this way, and it’s certainly not a common mindset in my experience.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#249

Post by hkrgl » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:17 PM UTC

dreen wrote: post #7

Im quitting and not looking for another job. Gonna use the savings to take a gap year, or a couple, work on some stuff I want maybe. Maybe more involvement in OSS is coming too? I've never had a gap year, it was all school, then immigration, work, university, more work. Any holiday time you fly back home. I kept hearing its not unusual for people in the west to take gap years, so thats what Im doing. edit: thank you…

If you have the financial means to do so, I highly recommend taking a gap year. It was a very rewarding time for me - just working on projects that interested me (tech and non-tech) and at my own pace, instead of racing towards arbitrary deadlines set by the employer. It was also the time where I could actually learn some new skills, which is quite difficult when you have a full time job. I cannot wait for the next time I can take a year off!

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#250

Post by martin_a » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 2:17 PM UTC

commandlinefan wrote: post #193

> There's not much firms can do to hold onto employees Well, they could always offer more money. Sometimes I crack myself up.

At this point, still not making six figures but it's Germany, I'd prefer a nicer office/work environment over more money.

More space, more open-minded culture, fresh food for lunch (not even free but let's split cost)...

Things like these would probably benefit me (and my colleagues) more than paying us another X hundred Euro.