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The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

gallup.com

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Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#61

Post by ineptech »

Isn't a lot of this probably just normal resignations that are not caused by covid so much as delayed by it? If X% of workers resign in a normal month for one reason or another, and we have a year where people can't do that or don't feel comfortable doing it, it would be expected to see a big spike once that year ends, right? Wouldn't the economical explanation be, "This system has been perturbed and has not found a new normal yet, so it's too early to extrapolate"?

I guess that proving that would require lots more polling and statistical rigor and would produce no viral headlines, but it seems like a more economical explanation.

Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#62

Post by kuraudo »

> One Gallup client that focused on propelling organic growth through effective workplace culture found that engagement reduces turnover in critical high-turnover roles by 36 percentage points and reduces the 100-day attrition rate by nine points.

I think fair pay and better working hours have a lot more to do with employee retention than so-called engagement. I manage a team that is well compensated and has excellent work life; we work on some really boring stuff, but this team hasn't lost a single employee to more interesting work over the years.

Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#63

Post by mgh2 »

evan_ wrote: post #53
mgh2 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean wow, I get that boredom can slowly kill a white-collar worker, but...think of the millions trying to cross the border just for a slim chance of a better future. To me this sounds like a typical American/tech worker entitlement problem. Do you even know how privileged you are by the simple fact that you are American? Most jobs are only eligible for Americans, while millions who are qualified are not allowed to…

My life isn't improved because others are suffering.

Sure, it is not. Maybe you are not using your talents properly.

Consider a change in career to help others, maybe then you will find meaning and fulfillment...

Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#64

Post by srswtf123 »

newfriend wrote: post #44
srswtf123 wrote: post #24

I can’t imagine why people might be discontent… All that’s really being asked of us is to give up all our productive years in service to people with no ethics, to make them richer. People who are more than happy to use you up and toss your corpse on the pile when you die. Is that really too much? How dare you think you deserve something for your toils. Your masters have worked you incredibly hard — harder than you th…

Sorry, but what's the alternative exactly? Force people who do actually work, produce, create, etc to pay for people who think working is beneath them? Should you be given free shit simply because you exist? If you don't want to work for someone else, then start a business. If you don't want to work at all, then figure out how you're going to live. No one is forcing you to do anything.

> Sorry, but what's the alternative exactly?

How about not exploiting people?

> Should you be given free shit simply because you exist?

Seems to work for the very wealthy, celebrities, and so on. Why, precisely, isn't this acceptable for everyone?

I'm not against people working. I'm against the wealthy callously exploiting people for grins while they, I dunno, race into space?

Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#65

Post by bjornsing »

Jeff_Brown wrote: post #41
cblconfederate wrote: post #3

> To engage workers, managers must fulfill the 12 essential elements of engagement Hm. There are few jobs that can become life goals, most are boring. And with a years long pandemic and uncertain future, to work or not to work? Work for what purpose? No level of engaging is enough if people can see through the ruse. If anything i d expect more people to go solo

I feel like if you sacrifice enough in wages you can always have a fascinating job. And moving to a developing country can leave you with a roughly equivalent salary after adjusting for purchasing powe parity. I don't have hard data but that's what I've been doing for the last four years.

Interesting. So you do freelance/consulting work and are really picky about the projects you take on, or what?

Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#66

Post by kylebyproxy »

onelastjob wrote: post #31

My opinion is that we need to move to four day work weeks and each day should have six working hours. Knowledge workers are wasting their lives at work when they could get the same amount done in fewer hours.

I'd love to see companies warm up to nontraditional employment arrangements. I've always wanted to be able to split my time between different jobs; e.g., half the year in an office environment, then half the year doing something outdoors. I feel like breaking up the monotony would help keep things fresh all around and generally improve my wellbeing.

Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#67

Post by mgh2 »

claudiulodro wrote: post #58
newfriend wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but what's the alternative exactly? Force people who do actually work, produce, create, etc to pay for people who think working is beneath them? Should you be given free shit simply because you exist? If you don't want to work for someone else, then start a business. If you don't want to work at all, then figure out how you're going to live. No one is forcing you to do anything.

> Should you be given free shit simply because you exist? Yes? > Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. > No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. > Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organizati…

*Only if you are American. Good luck if you are not.

Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#68

Post by cmrdporcupine »

bradly wrote: post #59
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, this sentiment is valid for most of the working class. But in our industry, it's not the majority of cases. I feel well compensated and not overworked. Now, is my work fulfilling? No.

I left work this year and while not overworked, I do feel like employers could increase my time off by 50% while reducing my time-in-seat by 20% but choose not to. I probably would have kept working with more time off, but 3-4 weeks off a year, just wasn't enough for the life my family and I wanted wanted to have. Compensation was the hardest thing to leave, but when looking at the life I wanted to live I realized I…

I feel lucky as I now I have 5 paid weeks off a year, which is very generous by North American standards.

It's true time is more valuable than money. However at this point I am very sick of being at home.

Re: the RSUs that is a good point. I've been at Google for coming up on 10 years, and one thing that keeps me here is the RSU "handcuffs", for sure.

Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#69

Post by iammisc »

wayoutthere wrote: post #28
iammisc wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you being downvoted? You're absolutely right. There's fewer and fewer ways to be self-employed these days. Even traditional avenues of wealth creation (real estate rentals, for example) have been closed to everyone except those with the most capital. Whereas you used to commonly see apartments rented by some older widow who had acquired a few properties or inherited them. Today, more and more seem to be owned…

HN is very much against the whole anti-work movement and still likes to push a bootstraps narrative as a collective. It makes sense when you think of what Y Combinator is and the kinds of people it attracts.

But the comment I replied to was not 'anti-work'... far from it

Re: The 'Great Resignation' is really the 'Great Discontent'

#70

Post by ineptech »

wayoutthere wrote: post #32
bartread wrote: post #20

> because the highest quit rate is among not engaged and actively disengaged workers. As opposed to what, exactly? What are you expecting to see? Highly engaged employees mass quitting? The situation described in this piece sounds fairly normal to me. People who aren't that fussed about their jobs, or actually dislike them, are always much more likely to quit. The real question is whether there has been an increase i…

I would argue that “not engaged” isn’t the worst thing in the world. The expectation that we devote our lives to work is one of the biggest things that dissolved during the pandemic. I am far less engaged at my job than I have been in years, which actually makes me better at it because I’m almost never stressed out anymore.

"Engaged" and "disengaged" are terms of art in management which refer to whether someone is totally checked out or not. Someone who spends most of the day on Facebook is "disengaged", even if they're very competent and get more done in an hour than their teammates do in eight. Someone who basically takes their job seriously and puts in a reasonable effort is "engaged", even if they're a total idiot with net negative productivity.
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