Meanwhile: > Tech CEO Says Workers Get Too Much Pay and Benefits https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28010718
"Sla- I mean, workers get too much pay and benefits, they should be happy to work. Why can't I find any workers?!"
Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
331–340 of 531 posts
Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
#332Earlier quoted context omitted.
> All of this stuff about workers disappearing and people reconsidering their lives is pretty much a sideshow of projected narrative that is detached from what is really going on. Well said. We’ve been bombarded with news articles and thought pieces about how COVID has forever changed the workforce, how people are refusing to work jobs they don’t like, how people are quitting en masse because their employers won’t al…
One of the stories I often hear, is that people have decided to move house to the countryside, as they are now able to work remotely. I don't know how true this is: are these people not concerned if their employer decides to reopen offices and require employees to work in the office again when the pandemic inevitably ends?
Judging by my coworkers and my company's Blind: lots of people did this; they're anxious but cautiously optimistic that the company will cave. If it doesn't, they think it's likely enough that they'll find different remote jobs.
Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
#333Earlier quoted context omitted.
Might also be an attitude problem on your side. If you're serious about getting a job, consider coaching. This "nobody is hiring, everything sucks, and I'm the victim here" narrative isn't really helping you. Also, bringing up stuff like "lies about the cough" (which I assume is OP talking about COVID) absolutely undermines your credibility as an individual capable of critical thinking, which is necessary for softwar…
I don't know. I am fifty one years old, last year I was sent packing. I found that it is increasingly more difficult for me to find a new job as a programmer, as the years go by. I am very grateful that I found a job, eventually. Dear Calltrack, don't get too upset by the reactions in this thread, some people here are, well, not very compassionate, to say the least.
It's not about 'compassion', it's about denying the Covid pandemic being real and calling it 'the cough'.
Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
#334Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey, try being over 50. I just gave up, and retired early. Best decision I ever made. I'm working for free, with NPOs, and it's been a joy. The worst part, for me, has been the naked contempt and disrespect. I don't expect to be worshipped, but raw insults are beyond the pale. It's -literally- like a hazing ritual. With all the news about "frat boy culture," I think I see where it comes from. I don't think it's just…
That doesn’t sound liveable. How do you pay for rent?
I worked for over 30 years, lived frugally, avoided debt, and saved a significant chunk of my salary.
As a result, I reached the point, where I don't need to work, if I don't want to.
I want to work. I love what I do. I don't need to make money at it. I also like to help people, so I found people that want to help people, and can't afford much.
It really is a shame. I have a fairly significant set of skills and experience. Pretty much what a startup would need, to make a new product a reality. I know how to make very high-quality software that ships. I did it for my entire career. I also do quite well on teams, and have been a problem-solver, all my life.
The folks I'm working with now, pinch themselves, every day.
Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
#335It is strange that the top known factors for this are not even mentioned in this or other similar news stories. First, closing of schools caused large numbers of women to leave the workforce in order to care for children. Until schools are fully open and day care is available those women will probably not be going back to work. Second, all markets are cultivated things. Employers in the most troubled sectors have rec…
Another element is that the government now pays people to stay at home and not work. That is the number one factor. If people did not have money, they would work.
Plus mortgage forbearance and eviction moratoriums... So you have more money in monthly unemployment and a pause on peoples' #1 expenses. Until these programs end, I wouldn't even speculate about the future state of labor markets.
Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
#336Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think tech attracts a certain type of person... People with high iq but very low scores in compassion and care.
I dunno. I get the same vibe from medicine. MDs in particular. Less so the further down the food chain you go. (Part of that is culture. The bottom is composed of immigrants who still act like normal human beings.) I think it's something that's more broadly acculturated among the highly educated and high-achieving. Or just selected for whenever competition is fierce. I also did not get this feeling from other technol…
> There's too much money in Tech. It attracts the worst, and brings out the worst.
That is my thesis.
In New York, we have the finance industry, which is just as bad (if not worse).
It has also been like this for most of a century. That does not bode well for Tech improving.
Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
#337Earlier quoted context omitted.
It might be important to distiguish doing "nothing" from not being on the job market. It's possible to contribute to society by making art, writing, cooking, spending time with family, caring for others, etc. as well as self-actualizing via exercise, reading, meditation, and so on.
Not sure how self-actualizing is contributing to society.
"Self-actualization is the complete realization of one's potential, and the full development of one's abilities and appreciation for life"
From most classical philosophers, to Einstein, Maxwell, Darwin and countless other, their work was nothing else than an act of self-actualization.
And because this is HN, shall I include Torvalds? The FLOSS movement started from volunteers.
Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
#338Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a VP does that $4 difference really mean anything to you?
We've switched many of our family's Friday night pizza nights to "make pizza at home". Can I afford $4 more? Of course. Do I see the same level of value in a ~50% more expensive pizza? Of course not.
The struggle is real.
Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
#339Earlier quoted context omitted.
If labor is a market, laborers are at a fundamental disadvantage compared to employers when it comes to clearance: the employer has an asymmetric advantage in its ability to wait to hire someone; laborers are a lot less capable. I don’t know that unemployment is a good solution, but I think it speaks volumes that people might be using it to balance the standard inequity.
This is a common refrain, but I doubt many who say have actually actual experience as an employer. In many businesses the inability to staff leads to existential threat to the entire business. If you're a restaurant and can't seat customers or a SaaS startup and can't keep your service uptime, you'll go out of business very quickly. That represents millions in enterprise value. In contrast an employer who gets fired,…
I have seen many employers who look for unicorns rather than using optimal stopping (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_stopping) for positions that are more flywheel multiplier positions rather than existential positions.
In the long term, it rarely leads to the death of their business, but it substantially lowers the quality of life of most/all of those working in the business.
Re: Employee shortages: Where have all the workers gone?
#340Is it controversial to state that many died?