‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect • Hacker News Board

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#331

Post by throwaways885 » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

awsthro00945 wrote: post #262

sanderjd wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you might get fired or laid off or burnt out and leave and only then discover that you have invested too much of yourself into this faceless entity that does not care a whit about you. This is one of those things where peoples' warnings to the young come from hard won experience, but where it doesn't sound right to people who have not themselves yet gained the experience. So we fail to impart the lessons and…

>This is one of those things where peoples' warnings to the young come from hard won experience, but where it doesn't sound right to people who have not themselves yet gained the experience. Speak for yourself. I am very experienced. I have worked at many companies, some of which I left abruptly, and others where my close friends were fired/laid off. But guess what? None of that matters. Just because a friendship sta…

You have to be careful, because work friends can suddenly vanish when you change jobs, but anyone with a bit of social awareness can navigate this.

WFH has changed work from a social experience into something boring. I get it, work is work, and maybe treating it as a more significant part of life isn't a shrewd move, but I am definitely missing out something in this current state.

(That being said, I do understand that I may change my mind in 10 years, assuming I have a family. But I can only talk about how this seems today.)

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

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Post by dougmwne » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

acid__ wrote: post #141

Eh, I love my company and I love my coworkers and I’m unbelievably excited to see them in person. In fact, I’ve already started going back into the office (since April) and 1) my productivity is easily 5-10x what it was before 2) I’ve had amazing so many conversations that never happened over zoom — both productive and personal - and as more of our company’s employees return over the coming months I’m even excited fo…

Glad it's working well for you. I'm the polar opposite and I hope we both will continue to have a plentiful choice of workplaces where we can work in the style that's best for each of us.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

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Post by cpursley » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:28 PM UTC

achow wrote: post #166

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #42

In my experience at least talking to some younger people there is a clear dichotomy: despite all the talk about Gen Z being "digital natives", people new in their career are much hungrier to get back into the office because they don't yet have good career networks built up and they're eager for mentorship. It is older, or at least more established workers who are less keen on that. I don't think FAANGs will have any…

From a single, young: I miss the office for.. - Free and convenient food. - Social chatter & engagement. - Making friends with employees who I don't know and connecting with new employees. - Work life separation (balance). - Proper workstation, climate controlled environment. - Sense of belonging - team outing, after hours beers.. - Intra and inter company sports and games. - Meeting potential dates. [Not me. Just em…

Sounds like you just need to put some effort into building a social life outside of work...

And dating a co-worker in today's climate? No way, to much a risk -at least in the US.

The rest of them (comfortable space to work, food) are easy to solve with minimal effort. Especially on a dev salary.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

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Post by okareaman » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:31 PM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #309

okareaman wrote: post #161

I was extremely lucky to WFH during the first 12 years of my software career. When I finally got a job in an office I was shocked at how awful it was. The 2 hours commuting every workday, the flickering fluorescent lights, the noise of coworkers, the smell of burnt coffee or popcorn, the boss that drops by to see how you're doing and causes you to lose a hour of concentration so I might as browse the web until quitti…

The 2 hour commute is your fault, not the fault of office job's. My commute is 10 minutes.

Move closer. Why didn't I think of that?

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#335

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:32 PM UTC

redisman wrote: post #230

null_object wrote: post #12

I honestly don't know whether these articles are over-stating their case, and neither do I know how typical my own experience is, but for some reason it bothers me that the tone of the HN discussion is so reflexively dismissive. I understand that a lot of people will respond to a question of whether they intend to quit their job with a 'you bet!' even at the best of times, but I'm seeing a lot of people quitting and…

It’s also not just WFH. Covid made many people think hard about their lives with all the extra idle time they had and traumatic and world changing events tend to do that. I left my job in February because I realized I wasn’t happy and could do better. I had just slowly gotten used to the insanity but covid snapped me out of it

[deleted]

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

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Post by saiojd » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:33 PM UTC

seneca wrote: post #14

eric4smith wrote: post #7

I think regardless of the stats, there is a movement of people wanting a better work and life balance. But what will this mean for society? For one, I see in the immediate future a bit of a reduction in commerce for a while. This is simply because people will have less money To spend. Duh. Still… humans always persist and adapt. Therefore in maybe 5 years there will be more of a Renaissance and a big change in how we…

Meta-response, but what is with the carriage return after every sentence, (and sometimes in the middle)? It's a jarring way to write.

In my opinion it's an instinctive response to HN's line spacing being too low, and paragraph width being too high. But That being said, the people here are disproportionally used to starting at packed lined of code so the problem doesn't get picked up.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#337

Post by IggleSniggle » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:33 PM UTC

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #246

jensensbutton wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At my FAANG they did studies and on average people are working MORE hours each day since the switch to WFH. If they were concerned about maximizing hours then they'd leave it as in. I suspect there are other concerns.

I have to wonder whether they're available for more hours or actually putting in more work. Home distractions tend to extend the work day for people who have pride in their craft.

At least for me, the hours I used to spend driving my car are now spent doing actual work, because that’s what I’d rather be doing anyway. The only reason I don’t work more hours as it is is that I have other obligations. Just seems like a total waste of resources along multiple dimensions to have me driving around my brain.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

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Post by phreeza » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:37 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #135

phreeza wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the first part, not so sure about the conclusion though. What makes you think that WFH increases attrition? The FAANGs could easily spend some additional dollars to make "their" WFH more attractive than the competitions, similar to what they did with offices.

Depends a lot. WFH when most companies won't allow it is a perk that will keep people around. However once WFH is a common thing it is much easier to switch. If you WFH you can work anywhere in the country (in theory world, but there are tricky issues there that I don't know much about) which means you can switch from a job in the Bay to NYC with no problem, then jump to the one job in some tiny village in Montana -…

I guess I was unclear in my comment. I meant that FAANG can spend money on WFH related perks (premium equipment, food delivery, whatever) that second tier companies are maybe not willing to pay, thus retaining the same advantage they had in the office work era that was mentioned by the grandparent in their post.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#339

Post by beerandt » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:38 PM UTC

mdorazio wrote: post #19

null_object wrote: post #12

I honestly don't know whether these articles are over-stating their case, and neither do I know how typical my own experience is, but for some reason it bothers me that the tone of the HN discussion is so reflexively dismissive. I understand that a lot of people will respond to a question of whether they intend to quit their job with a 'you bet!' even at the best of times, but I'm seeing a lot of people quitting and…

I can only speak from personal experience, but fwiw I'm currently consulting with 2 non-tech Fortune 500 companies. Both have implemented "hybrid" return to office policies where employees have to live within 100 miles of the office and be able to come in 1 day a week or 1 day a month depending on team. I've talked with executives in charge of large teams at both companies about this issue and so far it looks like th…

>Both have implemented "hybrid" return to office policies where employees have to live within 100 miles of the office and be able to come in 1 day a week or 1 day a month depending on team.

This sounds a bit too much like jobs that claim 10% or 25% travel that pull a bait and switch, or don't hire the 2nd opening for your position, so your responsibly to "cover" for the dept really means double work, or same amount of work but more like 60-75% travel.

Same with jobs the promise of a 40 hr week, but ends up being 60 hrs to handle everything that's your responsibility.

So my question is: what guarantees or addl compensation are people getting (in writing) to keep the one day a month from turning into more?

Excuses like: "oh that one day is for our staff meeting- if your team leader wants weekly update meetings in the office you need to be there"

Or "you're responsible for coordinating and meeting with your team as needed to fulfill the responsibilities of your position"

Etc

Extra day off or extra days salary or just compensation for extra commute? Or just put up with it til it crosses a line?

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#340

Post by Johnny555 » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:40 PM UTC

95% of workers are considering changing jobs

That seems awfully high unless "I thought about it, but decided to stay here" counts as "considering".

In my peer group, it's probably closer to 20%. It's probably much higher in low paid jobs like service workers, but I imagine that most McDonalds workers consider changing jobs every day even under normal circumstances.