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

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

#71

Post by iammisc »

wayoutthere wrote: post #45
wolverine876 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you suggesting as an alternative? Less economic opportunity?

Just that there is a future where those who don’t want to work a menial job aren’t forced to do so in order to survive. Which may mean accepting a lower level of productivity. But a lot of people get bored without work, and extra money to buy nice things will always motivate people, so there will still be a large labor pool and automation can take care of the rest.

This technocratic vision of the future does not square away with human nature and reality.

Much more likely is a Butlerian Jihad to destroy automation and return us to a more pastoral way of life, even with advanced technology.

Only socially awkward engineers, business majors (most of whom are incredibly anti-social contrary to common perception), and finance types actually believe in this vision. Normal people are horrified, or will be once they actually experience what this entails.

Humans are not meant to lack meaningful work.

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

#72

Post by bississippi »

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…

But but there is free sandwiches and a ping pong table so you can come to our company and “change the world” and “build back better”

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

#73

Post by nanidin »

iammisc wrote: post #19
rektide wrote: post #2

i find myself quite sympathetic to this perspective. to revitalize, some serious change is needed, that opens a wide number of people a sense of agency & possibility & opportunity. with the titanization of industry, there's less & less compelling ways to employ oneself, & re-enabling upstarts & small scale competitors (who are not simply bought out & plucked up as soon as they show promise). it is the difference betw…

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…

> Why are you being downvoted?

Lack of proper capitalization.

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

#74

Post by hinkley »

mgh2 wrote: post #52
nopcode wrote: post #22

I resigned during the pandemic. The lockdown stripped my job to the essentials: No colleagues, no coffee corner, no nice fancy office, no treats (lunches, dinners, drinks), brainstorms, etc. I was left with something that was boring me to death. I felt perfectly happy in that job for 5 years before covid.

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…

If nobody is allowed to be sad because someone else has it worse off, then nobody is allowed to be happy until everybody is happy.

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

#75

Post by Zababa »

> Though pay is important, money alone isn't the solution. Some very well-paid people are among the most disengaged, and disengaged white-collar workers are slightly more likely than others to be looking for a job.

Two things here:

- Well-paid could still be under the market (happens a lot in software)

- If you're well-off it's easier to not depend on your job

If it's mostly the first problem, paying more will solve your problem.

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

#76

Post by thatswrong0 »

mgh2 wrote: post #52
nopcode wrote: post #22

I resigned during the pandemic. The lockdown stripped my job to the essentials: No colleagues, no coffee corner, no nice fancy office, no treats (lunches, dinners, drinks), brainstorms, etc. I was left with something that was boring me to death. I felt perfectly happy in that job for 5 years before covid.

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…

Thinking about suffering in a comparative / absolute sense is often pointless and doesn't do anything to alleviate the suffering. Asking someone "Do you know how privileged you are" reeks of condescension and lacks empathy.

What you're doing is not helpful. I'd be surprised if you were actually trying to make the OP feel better.

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

#77

Post by Jeff_Brown »

bjornsing wrote: post #65
Jeff_Brown wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

No, I'm CTO at a small NGO in Bogotá that models the effects of government policy. Which I got because a friend started the NGO. So I guess I'm not evidence that such opportunities are rife.

But they do seem to be. Native English speakers are quite valuable in their own right here. And there's a strong big-fish-small-pond effect if you're an expert in something. Research tends to be written in English, as does documentation.

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

#78

Post by pornel »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #40
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…

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.

It can be both true that you're earning many times more than an average worker, and still severely underpaid compared to the value you've created for your employer.

The wealth inequality in the world is just staggering. You may be well off to the point money is not an problem for you, and still be piss-poor compared to your company's CEO and shareholders.

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

#79

Post by itronitron »

I recommend the following rules to organizations that are hoping to maintain or maximize employee engagement. I may have missed a few.

1. Do not lie to new hires during the hiring process. I know this is a hard one because you want to sell the company, but it is important to set expectations appropriately. Unmet expectations (created by the company) will ultimately be paid by the company in full.

2. Do not antagonize new hires during the sign on and orientation process. Choose the employees that manage or take part in the sign on/orientation process very carefully.

3. Do not move employees down the organizational hierarchy as a consequence of a re-organization. This is so common that I think most managers don't even register that it's happening. Breaking this rule is more likely to diminish the engagement and foster the exodus of long-term employees. While that may be the entire point of the reorg currently disengaged employees have less engagement to diminish so the reorg is more likely to have a negative impact on highly engaged employees.

4. Don't measure employee engagement by how often the employee comes and talks to you. If you're making decisions based on what you are hearing from the employees that are always at your door, then may God help you (especially if those employees are above you in the management chain, because in that case you are not actually making any decisions).

5. Equally enforce the professional standards of conduct set by the organization. Every company has fuck-ups. Stories of how the company deals with those fuck-ups will be passed down to future generations. In some cases those stories will literally define the company. An organization that is not equally enforcing professional standards of conduct is not meeting employee expectations.

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

#80

Post by setr »

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…

>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?

It's been that way for thousands of years -- what's new now?

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