“A job I don’t love”

05 Apr “A job I don’t love”

–https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-workers-want-work-from-home-benefits-arent-happy-jobs-2023-4

“Joe is based in the United Kingdom, but his story is reflective of the question many Americans who work remotely are wrestling with: Is it worth staying at a job I don’t love to keep the perks of remote work?” -Business Insider, Ibid.

🔮 Prediction alert: we’re segueing from the carrot to the stick. This malaise and unhappiness will be fanned in order to impose the inevitable Lord Elon style: just c’mon back already. You’re not even happy at your WFH job anyway, right? 

Don’t believe me? Just watch.

“Even before the pandemic, remote workers tended to be happier and stay at their jobs longer than on-site workers. After the share of US full-time work conducted from home peaked at roughly 60% in 2020, researchers continued to find a correlation between remote work and satisfied employees. Many US workers have even said they’d be willing to take a pay cut to continue working remotely.” -Business Insider, Ibid.

So… yeah…

It was only last week that LI published, “Is hybrid a ‘hell of half measures’?” (https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/is-hybrid-a-hell-of-half-measures-5911058/) There seems to be a playing of both sides or talking out of both sides of the mouth here. On one hand: hybrid is a hell of half measures and on the other, execs are here for hybrid work! Oy.

It seems that there’s two potentials bubbling up:

• WFH but accept a pay cut to do so
• RTO and go back to butt-in-seat at the Cube Farm

 

TBH, I feel like the first option will eventually bleed into the second one. I’m sorry, I hate to sound like Eeyore, but that’s what I see coming further down the line. I could be wrong and I hope I am. When we look at how many people live paycheck-to-paycheck and how inflation surely doesn’t seem to be “transitory,” I’m not sure how a majority of people will dig their heels in and lead a full-scale rebellion against RTO for the long run.

–https://causeyconsultingllc.com/2022/07/04/the-great-resistance-may-cost-you/   published on July 4, 2022.

Yeah, you can stay at home . . . but it’ll cost ya. It’ll cost ya some money and some privacy, too, but you can do it if you really feel that passionately about it.

“As of March, roughly 13% of job postings were remote, according to the staffing firm Manpower Group, down from 17% in March 2022 but up from the pre-pandemic level of 4%. The share of remote postings could fall to 10% by the end of 2023, Stanford economist and leading work-from-home researcher Nick Bloom told Insider.” -Business Insider, Ibid.

Как интересно. How interesting. Because just last week, I saw this:

“A government report says WFH is dying out. A remote work guru says that’s false” –https://finance.yahoo.com/news/government-report-says-wfh-dying-145754942.html

The “remote work guru” they’re talking about? The same Nick Bloom. 🤦🏻‍♀️

“‘Employees in the US still want fully-remote roles but these are shrinking,’ Bloom said, pointing to the businesses that have called employees back to the office at least a few days per week or moved some remote roles abroad.

‘As a result, if you currently have a remote role, it will be harder to find another fully remote role in the US, so I can see lock-in,’ he added.” -Business Insider, Ibid.

WHICH IS IT, DUDE?

See, I can’t stand this equivocal language and adapting your message to fit whatever angle the journo has. Always remember that you’ll know the tree by the fruit it bears.

“While layoffs in the US remain low relative to historical norms, white-collar workers, many of whom hold remote positions, have borne the brunt of them. This reality, in addition to the tapering off of remote job openings and the fierce competition for those that remain, are among the reasons remote workers were 32% more likely to feel anxious about layoffs, according to a HUMU study of over 80,000 employees released in February. ” -Business Insider, Ibid.

Points to ponder:

• Do you really think we have a 3.6% unemployment rate?
• Do you really think that the top end of this nightmare will be a 4.6% unemployment rate?
• Do you believe there are 2 legit open jobs for every 1 unemployed person?
• Do you think Corpo America will bulldoze its real estate and allow WFH forever?
• Do you think cities and municipalities will give up on getting your tax dollars?
• Do you think masses of people living paycheck-to-paycheck will sit it out and demand WFH with zero income?

Be real with yourself.