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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'

#81

Post by cratermoon »

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.

Same. I quit at the end of April. I'm calling it a sabbatical and barring the unexpected I should be able to take a year. I was burnt out anyway. See the section titled "Leaving without a job" here https://lethain.com/deciding-to-switch/

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

#82

Post by RestlessMind »

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.

> But in our industry, it's not the majority of cases. I feel well compensated and not overworked.

If you are inclined to compare your compensation to compensation of workers in other industries, take a minute and compare the compensation of your c-suite with those in other industries as well. You will notice that you are underpaid and massive amount of gains are flowing to your execs.

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

#83

Post by cratermoon »

MattGaiser wrote: post #50
irrational wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s interesting how different people are. All those things you list are reasons I would want to quit a job. I don’t ever want to work in an office ever again.

Indeed. Besides the free food, those are the less desirable parts of work to me.

The free food didn't really excite me much. It was mostly junk food, or something dressed up as natural and healthy but turned out, when you looked at the label, to be junk. The coffee was good, though.

Junk like https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-are-ultra-processed... and https://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/clean-eating/how-u...

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

#84

Post by cratermoon »

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…

Tell that to the billionaires who complain about their problems.

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

#85

Post by itronitron »

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…

I don't know about GP's perspective, but from my own experience in a similar situation (pre-pandemic) the boredom is a massive source of stress because we are expected to be constantly improving our skills, knowledge, and 'productive output' in order to have valuable work experience to improve our likelihood of having future employment opportunities and access to healthcare.

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

#86

Post by mark_l_watson »

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.

yes! For about 2 decades, I worked for normal companies with normal 40 hour weeks, but, I negotiated a 20% salary decrease, and I didn't work Mondays (so, 32 hour work weeks).

This worked out really well for me. I was satisfied with my work accomplishments, I had plenty of extra time to write books and spend more time with family and friends. I don't miss that 20% loss of income.

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

#87

Post by wolverine876 »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #55
wolverine876 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> significant wage increases, which would most likely increase inflation Or it could decrease corporate profits, as more goes to their workers and less to their managers and shareholders. Hasn't it been at an historical extreme the other way? If so, the adjustment should be expected and shouldn't be inflationary.

Increasing wages across the board should lead to increased inflation either way unless people start saving at higher rates. Edit: my reasoning is that increased wages leads to increased spending, which increases prices unless goods/services can be supplied cheaper, which is unlikely since productivity growth is low.

Given M amount of money, if that money goes to shareholders or the company coffers or managers or workers, it can be spent or saved. Why is it more likely to be spent by workers?

I gotta say, the notion that it's somehow a negative that workers get a larger share is a bit convenient for the shareholders, managers, and companies.

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

#88

Post by newfriend »

srswtf123 wrote: post #64
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.

> 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?

Care to explain how I'm paying for the "very wealthy, celebrities, and so on"?

Who says they're being callously exploited? Because some company's founder now has hundreds of billions, that entitles random warehouse workers to share profits?

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

#89

Post by ornornor »

setr wrote: post #80
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?

People have been suffering and dying in terrible ways since the dawn of time. And yet we’re trying to improve on this to reduce suffering and death. What’s your point?

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

#90

Post by flavius29663 »

planet-and-halo wrote: post #46
Mikeb85 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For employers it's game theory. If employees are commodities then it's better to keep the pay structure and have X amount of attrition than to pay everyone more to keep attrition low.

I think I finally figured part of this out. Like you said, employers treat workers as commodities. This worked out great for them in the short term, as they saved money by not giving raises etc. In the long term, though, workers started realizing they often had to go back to the market to get meaningful pay raises. Now you have a situation where workers are switching as often as every 12-24 months, and the thing not…

> If you're the only firm providing stability, your investments in that in the short term might make you less competitive on pay

You're contradicting yourself here. Above you were saying that the way to keep employees is to give them proper raises, and thus enhance stability. How come greater stability equals less competitive pay?

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