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

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#171

Post by ghaff » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:39 PM UTC

NikolaNovak wrote: post #76

aphextron wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

I think the advice is a reasonable thing to consider; a lot of responses (and presumably downvotes) are either "It doesn't matter to potential employers", which is categorically untrue - it'll matter to some, raise a question to others, and be irrelevant to others yet. How you answer that question is important, and it's fascinating that other half of comments is, basically, "Lie!". When I'm interviewing candidates, a…

Someone who has been doing "independent consulting" for six months or a year is pretty transparently obfuscating that they were unemployed. I'd probably view it in a better light--not that there's anything wrong with doing or trying to do some consulting on the side--if they were just open about taking some time off.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#172

Post by dcolkitt » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:40 PM UTC

quititor wrote: post #3

I'm not sure I believe the conclusion based on the survey. Resigning and "thinking about quitting [your] job" are very different things. I've spent my whole working life thinking about quitting but I've rarely actually quit, the pandemic hasn't changed that.

The difference is that there’s not normally a mass catalyst like the end of WFH. Many people think of quitting their job, few actually do.

That’s largely because of status quo bias. People don’t like to make any major changes to their life situation unless prompted. But if a company exists on ending the WFH arrangements that people have become accustomed to over the past year, all bets are out the window.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#173

Post by notjustanymike » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:40 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…

A 6 month gap was the healthiest emotional choice I ever made. Just be prepared that you have no idea how you'll react to it until you do it. I strongly recommend setting very light goals for the first month while you adjust, otherwise you'll stress yourself out.

For me, I went with "Take one great photo a day."

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#174

Post by quaffapint » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:40 PM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #52

I can tell you all the market for devs is white hot at the moment. I mean it was never cold, but right now seems to be insane. If the work-from-home thing has given you thoughts about what you like, now is the time to go. I see very few firms insisting on onsite work though, having interviewed with quite a few over the last few weeks. Even guys that I know would rather have people in the office and would pay them ver…

Im not seeing a lot of remote/hybrid offers in the midatlantic area (from my little checking around my area).

It's a lot more "we're remote right now and haven't determined our remote strategy" which like my current place generally means we'll expect you back, but might be a little more lenient on why you need to do a special WFH day.

I've done both full remote and full open office. I think being close enough to go in and get together to determine project path and then going remote to work on it seems to be the way to go. It doesn't look like my current employer believes the same way - even though they are doing very well right now and we're all remote.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#175

Post by pimterry » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:40 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #120

pimterry wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK it's very common. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/... is some UK gov research that suggests it's about 20% of UK university students, which matches my experiences. Obviously it's easier with rich parents, but it doesn't really require as much cash as you're imagining. It's pretty common to work a little first then use all the cash to travel later for example, or to work while you…

Doesn't university student already imply financial security? I don't know how socialist education is in the UK nowadays. I know in the Netherlands it used to be that your education is effectively paid for (either free / you get a scholarship like I did, or a very attractive loan scheme). But they changed the system so it's a loan for everyone now, which will put a damper on how many people go to college / university…

Not really. It's not free, but its dramatically cheaper than the US, and usually paid via government-provided loans with good terms (low interest, fixed repayment of 9% percent of your salary above a reasonable minimum, taken automatically by employers). It's closer to a graduate tax than a traditional loan.

Everybody can have a loan for the full cost if they want one, people from poorer families get outright grants instead.

Certainly not perfect, but my impression is it hasn't significantly hindered uptake from lower income students and its not a major financial burden in practice.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#176

Post by yosito » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

yawaworht1978 wrote: post #26

Most people are open for new opportunities and are proactively or passively checking at all times anyway. If a recruiter calls me and has an up to date cv, I will have a chat with them. This might lead to something, if not, at least they have their crm updated for the next calls. And when the need arises, you can get back at them, one of them placed me in a FAANG with full remote recently, totally unexpected. I think…

I get so many recruiters contacting me that I could never do this. 95% of them are low quality jobs anyway.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#177

Post by manuelabeledo » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #123

I think a lot of people are just biding their time, if they have job security now then why take the risk? It's a global pandemic, it's possible it'll turn around again (example: despite a national vaccination rate of nearly 50%, the number of 'rona cases is on the rise there because of the even more infectious Delta variant).

> if they have job security now then why take the risk?

Because, at least in the US, and at least in IT, it is a buyer's market.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#178

Post by kaesar14 » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #132

KineticLensman wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't taken a gap year myself but a good friend took a six month unpaid travel-leave period in the company we both used to work for. He had a great time. When he finished and got back into work he realised that his break very similar to a female employee taking maternity leave. As it happened, our company was quite good with maternity leave, and many of the women who took it resumed very successful careers. So, p…

> When he finished and got back into work he realised that his break very similar to a female employee taking maternity leave. I have not met a single woman who would compare maternity leave to a travel leave and a “great” time. Infants are a ton of work, and between recovering from the birthing process (a vaginal tear with a few stitches is considered one of the best outcomes), learning how to breastfeed, only sleep…

I think all he meant was it was a similar break in terms of length of time and the company did a good job of re-integrating women who went on maternity leave for that length of time, leading to a good company culture in general for getting employees out for long amounts of time back into the thick of things.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#179

Post by f6v » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:42 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 want and can take it - take it. You never know if you’ll be able to afford it in the near future.

Re: “Great resignation” wave coming for companies

#180

Post by acdha » Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #160

koheripbal wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most businesses would very much prefer NOT to have to deal with employee health plans. Forgetting the cost to them - it's a massive annoying overhead and nightmare to manage.

Big businesses would prefer it. They already have the huge HR departments to manage it, and it serves as price obfuscation so the worker cannot accurately compare alternative employers’ offerings. It also works against small businesses that cannot afford to offer health insurance, because the small businesses’ employees cannot purchase health insurance with pre tax money, while the big businesses can compensate peopl…

It’s also a huge disincentive to switching jobs: I’ve known people who took or stayed at jobs they didn’t love just for the benefits who would have preferred to be independent or at small companies but had families, various conditions which didn’t prevent working normally but would have made individual insurance prohibitive. The ACA helped, but not enough and not in every state — especially because large group plans can mean less pushback on every charge.