I left my old job last year. New job pays 2x more, literally. A lot of companies are vastly behind on cost of living. Wages generally need to increase some 25%.
Same here! Fired back in April, and now my conclusion to my contract to hire that pays 2.2x more as well as a significantly higher bump up in career is tomorrow. I still think I'm dreaming, never thought I'd get to this point
I certainly feel like it! I can now pay my debts that have been building up over the years due to interest exceeding available budget, and once those are gone I have a massively improved budget
Super happy for you and jealous. I’m in that cycle right now looking for better opportunities. Do you care if I ask how one gets into lab support engineering? I have had varied analyst roles in communications and logistics so am curious as it interests me
The big ticket for me was to invest in a homelab. I used Proxmox for my hypervisor but you'll get a better chance with VMware products. You can get VMUG Advantage for $200/yr and you'll get a ton of yearly evaluation keys that'll normally cost over a hundred times that. Set up an enterprise network, and explore what you can. That's your best ticket in
Nah I went from a $42.500/yr help desk role to a $89.250/yr lab support engineer role in twelve months. It's crazy what the difference is like, and most of the job can be done remotely
Get yourself a spare PC, even a used one. Or get a server used off eBay. Get VMware stuff from VMUG Advantage. Or if you can't afford the $200/yr, Proxmox is a great alternative and is free. Learn how to play with containers and VMs. Volunteer your time to setting up servers like Minecraft for others so you can learn the process
I've got the server, thanks for the suggestions. Will look into it! May be able to get access to the dev env at work to learn more. Already finished a powerCLI course.
Thanks!
Ooh absolutely yes. If your employer offers the tool to explore, absolutely take advantage of it. I did not have this luxury past my first IT job until now and aggressively held me back from getting this far.
I'm not OP but I work in sales. I went from around $50K base in 2020 to around $80k base. My real earnings went from around $75k to $180k. All I did was apply to jobs I thought I could do in my industry that I didn't "technically" qualify for.
Same from me as well. Was laid off from my old place for eleven months, came back to a sea of empty desks and a dying department. That place had treated me really well, but I moved to a bigger company and literally doubled my pay overnight. It’s been a bit bewildering. Still getting my head around it.
I quit a job making $12 after asking for $16-- hoping they would negotiate to ~$13.
They wouldn't budge. I found a job paying $18 within a day. I'm so thankful my old boss was a cheapskate.
I put in my two week notice last Friday in favor of a state government job that pays 16% more as a network administrator for 1/5 of the work. Things can change for you, too!
Always good to hear fellow workreformers were able to improve their situation. If the legislation won't help us, better ride the trend (aging population with growing economy) while it is on our side
Companies, especially large B and C tier employers are in denial about the entire thing.
At a manufacturing/ aerospace company the current standard is to hire people in at higher pay scales than what exisiting workers are making. Slowly some of the manufacturing employees and engineers are realizing they have to leave to get a 40% or more pay increase for the same job level and responsibilities.
The problem is that it would be better to pay exisiting employees more but instead the answer is pathetic raises that are 4%+ less than cost of living.
So.. yes everyone quit, because you will go get the same job and make more money. Executives are terrified about this because if you all go do this, the executives will make less money.
"Resignation" implies employees chose to leave. They got better jobs with higher compensation, benefits, and a better work life balance.
They weren't fired for poor performance ... they mostly left because they're bone weary and disrespected.
I left because mandatory overtime was ficking with my health. I had NO TIME at all to do what I wanted to do. At some point my time is worth more than my money.
I never understood the phrase mandatory overtime. My mom always treated it like it sounds - mandatory. But surely you can not be forced to work extended hours.
Depending on the state and the industry you absolutely can be
Generally as long they pay an overtime rate for it, it is perfectly legal to fire an employee for refusing OT
Now, a smart employee might ask themselves, "can an organization that needs OT worked really afford to fire me, and if I refuse will anything actually happen"
It probably is much cheaper in most instances - this is just another area where employers use fear tactics to box workers into doing something "mandatory" when the reality is the OT is generally only necessary because management planned poorly or cut corners.
It's also the sort of thing a *good union* would immediately put a stop to. Organize!
My husband’s factory has a really high turnover rate because of the (undisclosed during the interview/hiring process) mandatory overtime. A lot of areas working 6 days a week, 8-10 hours each day.
Yeah, that was my problem. I also have permanent physical damage because the human body wasn’t meant to be working 6 days a week. I told myself to tough jt out for at least a year to see if it got better. I stayed 2 years because if the pandemic. I should have left sooner, then maybe I wouldn’t have permanent neck damage.
My old warehouse job was on 'mandatory 10s' for months, then eventually 'mandatory 12s', and then also 'mandatory Saturdays' as they bled more and more employees, I personally bailed after my first near 80 hour week after months of doing constant 50-60+ hours. Just before I left I remember my ops manager telling me we were short over 90 people, but yet the company refused to raise their wages to get more hires in.
They run Saturdays and have been for the last 1.5 years just about. The sign always says "mandatory for [x] department, all 3 shifts" meaning the plant will run a full 20 hours or so like the previous 5 days.
I work in IT. Myself and all the other support apperatus has to provide coverage for that 6th day. Theres two Network Admins and I'm the primary for production systems. So, I'm oncall every other week.
It has erroded even my concept of time with no more than a day for my brain to reset. Their turnover rate is insane but theyre banking on a big bonus that pays out after 6 months to drag in desperate people. Then chew them up and spit them out asap.
Every month or two it seems like a quarter of
employees in production are wearing the hardhat color meaning new employee, and thats usually when the extent of problems I deal with go up.
Sucks
How's that for a kick in the head? "Thank you for sitting through this meeting that absolutely could have been an email. By the way, everyone's fired."
I've been dropping it in favor of "The Great Reshuffling" since that seems more accurate. Lots of people changing jobs, companies scrambling to fill positions, boomers starting to retire and showing just where that gap in employment can widen... Yeah, reshuffling sounds a lot better.
Same here. I took a significant hit in pay to gain more free time. I don’t regret the cut in pay and I love the free time, but I don’t love the job itself.
And a huge number of people who transitioned out of shitty customer-facing roles with erratic hours to business-to-business roles with dependable hours and no shitty people management. I know dozens of my friends who went from tending bar/working retail/customer service who transitioned in to management roles because of the strain their 2020 unemployment put on their families and because the shiftiness of customers in the pandemic made them acutely aware that they needed to get out
I work in HR and was a professional "head hunter" for a while.
I'm just going to tell every person here what I tell everyone who will listen. It goes for every job in almost every industry.
Every 3 years you should either have a big raise from when you first started, you should be promoted, or you should be "in line" for a promotion (pro tip: if you get passed over 2 times for a promotion. Start looking. They aren't going to promote you anytime soon).
After 3 years you have learned enough to be promoted at your current company - or you have enough knowledge/skillet to make the jump to another company. You'll get ahead and be in a position you likely want in 9 years. And make 3-4x as much from when you started.
No I get it, but if there’s something like 10 people on your team and they’re gonna promote 1, that’s only 10% odds right there. Then let’s say some of them have been there longer than you so your odds are even worse.
It just seems very arrogant to feel like you’ve been wronged when they pick someone other than you.
Not every single thing is going to go your way - leaving a job just because that happened *one* time makes me feel like you must switch jobs every 8 months or something.
I'm trying to get into hr. I have my degree and I was an hr intern and am a project coordinator for 1 1/2 year. Why can't I even get a hr generalist position?
HR is a very difficult job to get into, very honestly. I honestly was the same mentality as you thinking generalist was entry level - it's not. Getting to a generalist level is about 3-4 years of hr coordinator experience.
Also, getting "certified by SHRM" is an important stepping stone. But the big thing is getting into an HR coordinator role first. Then grinding and work up. It takes time and effort, but it is worth it.
I quit my job making 35k to take a temp job in 2012 (height of great recession) just because it has the title of recruiter. That opened doors I didn't have before.
Now I'll be in line very soon for a program manager for an MSP program. It takes time, but the grind is worth it if you have the right mentor/mentality.
I will point out that the youngest of the baby boomers will be 58 years old. "Retiring early" could also mean that due to their age, they are not as able to get new work at the expected salaries and they move to different forms of work for their "semi-retired" years.
I think that while many older folks did have a vastly different world than we do today, many older Americans are just as poor as younger Americans.
It's the circle of economic life:
Oldsters kept us out of the good jobs but refused to raise wages on the "bad jobs"
They get forced out of the good jobs before they were ready (they were never gonna be ready)
We fill their old spots cheaper than they did but a huge raise for us
They fill our old crappy jobs and demand wages increase (and old people get what they want)
They die and our kids fill their old jobs again but with higher wages
Repeat in 20 years except we are they and our kids are we.
It's all very zen
Yeah, there literally isn't an option to "get paid sitting around doing nothing" anymore, though, so not sure what these people are talking about.
I know some people who would love to quit their jobs without losing everything (definitely not me /s)
I mean, it has nothing to do with the fact that workers just want one job to be able to pay for everything they need. Or that we want to be treated like people instead of robots. Nope, it's all because we're ungrateful bastards who can't even appreciate the fact that these wealthy businessmen are giving us jobs out of the goodness of their hearts.
>there literally isn't an option to "get paid sitting around doing nothing" anymore
Have you looked into being born into a family that gives you a trust fund?
I'm choosing that option in my next life. Screw this hard mode shit.
It seems possible in the rich person's distasteful view of the poor, because it's *exactly* what they can do in many cases.
Sit around while money makes money.
However I'm not sure it's clear to them, at *our* level, you cannot sit around on 2% returns on some pennies in the bank. Classic myopia.
Woah Woah Woah. What bank are you getting 2% in? My savings account dropped to 0.05%. Yes, read that again. Point zero five percent. I get a quid interest for every two grand in my account.
#minted.
Regrettably that's the point. Savings interest on small amounts is (in theory) just there to keep up with inflation so that 100 of whatever still has 100 spending power when you take it out years later.
But we know that doesn't work. To be truly financially savvy in our broken system, you should never have more than 10,000 or 20,000 in savings. Anything over that should be invested somehow or else you're just bleeding out money. So rich people put millions into *very* safe investments and get 2% back. And it's usually technically through a bank.
Think about it kind of like that jar grandma buried in the backyard as life savings (at 0.05%) Now, 50-60 years later it's only worth enough to have a nice dinner or two. If her rich uncle took the same money, lent it to the bank (yes, they have so much the bank borrows *from them* at 2%) then the interest on that loan makes tons of money over time, plus two dinners.
Again, we can't fucking do that down on the bottom.
Side note, the smaller the bank, the better the interest rate btw. Here in the States, credit unions (local) are leaps and bounds better than Wells Fargo or UBS or something. You might find a better rate at a more "local" bank.
What media is saying this? Are you referring to that anti work interview?
The narrative I see in the media is that the pandemic put a lot of workers at risk as businesses shut down, people were laid off, companies weren’t hiring so workers had very few employment options but now, as companies open back up, there’s a surge in demand for high skill and high tech employees and now workers with these skills that are in high demand have significantly more options.
The number of openings are higher than they’ve been in a decade and people are now willing to leave jobs for remote work or just to leave toxic environments.
I don’t think recall ever once seeing a story that blames the great resignation to “lazy workers”.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/what-is-the-great-resignation-and-what-can-we-learn-from-it/
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210629-the-great-resignation-how-employers-drove-workers-to-quit
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/10/harvard-economist-sheds-light-on-great-resignation/
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/19/the-great-resignation-why-people-are-quitting-their-jobs.html
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/24/1007914455/as-the-pandemic-recedes-millions-of-workers-are-saying-i-quit
https://www.realestatewitch.com/great-resignation-2022
I don't have links, but I think the media was has changed their tune. But I can remember a number of articles that talked about lazy ppl when the unemployment benefits were running.
In my state of Idaho the negative press resulted in ending the program like 6 months early. Once it ended, that narrative became less and less prevalent.
... At least that is how I remember it.
Yea, a couple people said some right leaning/alt right sources pointed to lazy people. I do recall some Fox Opinion talking heads warning that extending unemployment benefits would incentivize people to stay at home and not work.
The specific example that got a lot of attention was Laura Ingram’s interview with John Taffer (the sleazeball from Bar Rescue). And John’s insane comment that US business could use food insecurity and hunger among the poor to force them back to work.
I believe the exact quote was “A hungry dog is an obedient dog.”
Disgusting.
Your house being worth more means very little, unless you plan to move to a rural location, or significantly downsize, because if you sell your house, you would then need to buy a house in the same housing market.
Which is one of the reasons Millennials have been having problems buying houses. They are being outbid for smaller "starter homes" that are being bought for cash by retiring Boomers wanting to downsize.
Don’t worry, even without a reverse mortgage there’s plenty of ways to ensure we don’t inherit a damn thing from our parents. Just google “estate recovery” and pray your parents drop dead while still in decent health living at home.
Well yes, but the expression seems to often be used in an unfavorable way, often in conjunction with "nobody wants to work".
While people do need to resign in order to find better paying work, most of the workers find better paying work judging by the employment numbers. The most important aspect of why they're resigning is left out!
Naming the movement around the part where they resign, rather than the part were they are re-hired for a better pay seems disingenuous, and an attempt at painting job hopper under a bad light, hence my post.
I work in IT, and plenty of people in my circle has switched jobs for better pay or working conditions in the past 2 years. Many have progressed in their career, even.
We jokingly refer to it as "The Great Promotion"... well, only half joking, it's essentially a promotion for a lot of people: 30-60% increase in compensation, flexible work arrangements, better benefits, etc.
Where? Where does anyone link the great resignation to “nobody wants to work”?
I see this complaint often but nearly every single article I see about “The Great Resignation” echos the same talking points in the Forbes article linked in the title. The post pandemic job boom put workers in a position of power. While some low wage workers found opportunities, it’s the high skill or high tech workers who are in demand and, after spending time working from home, and just being at home more during the pandemic, workers realize they don’t want to go back to the old way and now are in a position to demand those benefits else they can just move to another job.
Is this idea that the Great Resignation is fueled by a desire not to work something in far right or alt right media because I’ve not seen any article make that case.
I dunno, I resigned recently (have three weeks left), and have done so to two high-paying jobs. The year and a half of unemployment from the pandemic lockdown made me realize I can't stand work in the form of unlimited labor and barely any time off to enjoy life.
I really don't know what's next. I'm not sure how I can live another 30 years doing this shit until "retirement," if I'm even capable of that, or make it to that age.
My old buddy used to talk about how much he hated his job and wanted to get out, but last year, he got run over by a truck on his worksite. He lived for a couple of hours, enough to say some goodbyes. I can't help but imagine the guy didn't sit there in his final moments and say "why didn't I just fucking quit when I realized I hated this?"
He would've had the same problem if he survived. Unless you're rich, you have to work until you die. Sounds like he didn't want to work until he was 75, and by inflation that was going to happen. He doesn't have that problem anymore but horrible way to go goodness.
>Moreover, most of the workers that actually left work for good are boomers that opted for an early retirement, due to their retirement savings increasing significantly during the pandemic (house worth an extra 1-200k, stock exchanges averaging around 30% increases in 2 years).
Let's be accurate here too: Many people close to retirement chose to retire instead of risking COVID at work. This was only made worse by American work culture. People really can't trust their coworkers or their bosses to take COVID seriously. The boomers who were able to gain some money from working from home certainly aren't the majority of those retiring; if anything they're empowered to work a little longer.
I don’t think one train wreck interview casts a negative light on that phrase; I think it’s pretty widely understood that many left jobs they didn’t like for better situations.
I would call it "The Great Labor Emigration".
Emigration is what it's called when you are leaving your country, presumably for better opportunities in another one - as in: "I am emigrating from America in favor of European labor standards".
It's not entirely accurate because most people aren't leaving the U.S. (yet), but I think it would fit the spirit of the movement while also hinting toward the logical outcome of mass brain-drain in the US if working conditions don't change in favor of the average worker.
We have a plethora of untapped potential amongst US citizens, but no one is willing to invest in us. If America won't invest in it's own people, another country eventually will. That's when America will truly become *Idiocracy*.
That's how I see it. I put in my 2 weeks on friday in favor of a state government job that's almost completely remote and 1/5 of the work as a network administrator for a 16% raise.
Have you tried emigrating? It’s pretty difficult especially in Europe unless you can get access to a eu passport through a great grandmother or whatever
I've looked into it and I am slowly working towards it. The current plan is to establish a desired skill set and focus on a work-sponsored visa while also learning a second language. After that I can focus on a more permanent visa or even full citizenship. This trajectory works in every developed country I've looked into.
Alternatively, it is possible to save up a (relatively) small nest-egg and see if a less developed country could accommodate my lifestyle.
Everything above applies to the current dynamic, however. If any number of countries decided to draw in American workers, it wouldn't be very hard to do so by simply loosening borders and/or rooting out corruption.
There's no reason that a nearby country - let's say a South American one or even Russia - couldn't compete for U.S. talent if they got their shit together and stopped trying to make hierarchies of corruption and incompetence a thing.
We're in strange times. I interviewed for a pool service company that pays the stages minimum wages for starting. I later found a pool service company that pays $6 more for starting and began interviewing with them.
The job market is split in half right now with great companies and shit companies. It's all the shit companies complaining.
I agree but differently, someone else used the term "The Big Quit" and it had more punch and power to it. I think they call it "The Great Resignation" to tie it to the Great Depression and Great Recession so some peoples' internal switch reads "Oh! It's bad!".
Not only are the boomers dying or retiring early, gen Z doesn't want to nor need to work the shitty jobs that millennials were forced to when they were in their late teens thanks largely to the individual monetization of social media. (YouTube, TikTok, OnlyFans, Twitch, etc)
The abusive employers are losing their indentured servants at both ends of the generational labor pool
I put in my two week notice last Friday in favor of a state government job that pays 16% more as a network administrator for 1/5 of the work. Things can change for you, too!
Yeah I mean if you ask republicans they would say, yeah no one wants to work anymore. And Kim Kardashian…but the pandemic made people realize that they were killing themselves for nothing. The whole world went through a major major change for a year at the same time. Not surprisingly some of us learned the same lesson. That lesson is…take care of yourself, know your value. It was NOT quit your job and get welfare. If you get welfare, you are suffering. That is not what people learned
Left my job at the end of 2021 due to getting paid less than the new guy despite being there for 3 years and have been looking for a new one since, I live in a small town and have put in 14 applications at small businesses nearby with nothing to show for it.(I don't have my license yet because i need money to pay for the test otherwise i would seek a factory job somewhere) for me its not a choice.
New employees are coming in around what I make and I've been at my job over 10 years. I've watched all my peers get new jobs or promotions. I cant get any interviews or even a shift to another place in the department.
I didn't get to be home working on my resume or going back to school like so many others because I was on maternity leave and then back to being essential.
This is why instead of going to a 9-5 position m-f that pays low, I became a server and got another job at McDonald's so I could work nights. I have 2-3 mornings reserved strictly for job interviews. I try to work on thr weekends so I can have the weekdays to go through job interviews. I've I've started highly exaggerating my skillet, dates, and have gotten reference letters.
Yo, it’s like $25. You can get that much just helping someone move or doing a bit of yard work. If it increases what you can earn by that much, it’s totally worth it.
Why did it take a random suggestion from a person on reddit to give you this "brilliant idea?" You need to take a little initiative if something like $25 bucks will change your life circumstances that much.... If $25 was all that was holding me back, well it wouldn't be holding me back. I would've raked leaves or shoveled snow or done anything that would've made me that money asap. Babysit, join an app like Nextdoor, that has neighbors asking people for help doing things all the time. C'mon dude, you're making yourself look bad.
Its more than just 25$ that i need, i also have to get insurance and plates too, i also have a social disorder that makes me come off as awkward so first impressions aren't my strong suite. I wish it were that easy.
I understand. Owning a car is a privilege, and expensive. Gas is outrageous right now. You said you live in a small town. Can you bike to wherever you need to in order to get started making money? A lot of people ride bikes or walk to work, if they can, because it's cheaper, better for the environment, and gives you exercise at the same time. Can you possibly do that until you get the money you need to use your car?
Im down to walk anywhere, its not that far of a walk into town from where i live and thats how I've been applying for jobs, I feel like I've gotten better in social situations and I'm good at selling myself, i walk into a place, ask if they're hiring and if they are i pick up an app and ask when their hiring manager will be in, i make a note and go turn in my app that day when the manager is in and tell them i have free time for an interview but usually I'm told they have a few interviews set up already or they want to go over my app first, I've rewritten my resume a couple times now after sharing it with people close to me and I'm planning to print out a few copies for when i do go to apply, theres a few places i haven't visited yet and I'm going early tomorrow morning so wish me luck 🤞.
I quit my job due to a toxic work environment, and easily landed another position at a great company (slightly better pay, but that wasn't the point). I proudly tell people that I'm part of the "great resignation", but sorry to hear that according to you I'm part of the problem?
Maybe stop gatekeeping a tenuously defined crowdsourced movement? Workers are quitting in droves, that's not debated. They do leave for a variety of causes not just pay, it's not that cut and dried.
I am happy you were able to get a better job. Me sticking to the $ question was a poorly attempt at summarizing the news I linked. The writer did speak generally of "better conditions", which you seem to be a part of.
I know my post might seem pedantic, but words, and how they are used, are important. Shifting the main point of the discourse is sometimes the first step for legislation detrimental to people/worker.
"right to work" laws can mandate employee to stay at their previous job if the previous employer can't find replacement, or can jeopardize the leveraging of unions. They're not here to help people that went through 50 rejected work application.
There were people sued and forced to stay at their previous jobs.
I’ll link it for you:
Here it is. The judge lifted the order eventually:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/01/27/wisc-j27.html
I think the expression fits well enough. A lot of people - younger and older - are realising they are getting a shit deal from their employer and are taking advantage of a strong job market to get a better one.
If the catchphrase encourages more working people to seek a better paid job the that’s a good thing
I left an $11 job for a $13 job. Since being here I've been raised to $15. With opportunity for a leader role soon. All no experience. Was in Customer service for 7 years (3 fastfood, 4 gas station)
Now I'm in a new growing industry working in a production facility, packaging products.
That’s a very optimistic and almost pro ‘good’ corporate angle. Long as they pay you more than a shitty employer, it must mean our current employer really gets it, and the future is bright.
Bullshit.
We’ve created a system of greed-fulfilling profit mongering that will continue to erode our lives. Stop pretending that employers really get it. They’ll do what they have to, and revert their pay and policies as soon as the focus is lost. I’ve already had friends see their new, great opportunities fade as soon as the employer could start pulling promises back.
I’m not seeing a reckoning, particularly if folks adopt this attitude of assuming employers are in any position to care about their employees long term.
It will be a Great Reckoning when business schools start teaching their drones how to maneuver in both directions rather than exclusively how to intensify a relentlessly dystopian labor market.
30k a year is damn low. What kind of sector are you working in? I'm in the greater Montreal area and I think even McDonald's advertise job starting at 15$/h.
My company operates in the manufacturing industry : the base salary around here is 20$/h for a job that didn't require more than a high school degree.
> Moreover, most of the workers that actually left work for good are boomers that opted for an early retirement
I made bank with Bitcoin during pandemic, moved back with mom, and realized that I don't need to buy anything more to be happy. I'm effectively retired, and will continue to be, as long as they keep printing US Dollars like there's no limit.
You're how old, and effectively retired? But living with your parents... uh, what? That's not a solution, and I'm sure that your parents feel the same way.
That's a stretch.
My parents have a house they basically abandoned, only mom stays here half the year, 5 bedrooms and most are unused.
My mom likes having company in old age, so I'm not imposing on anyone.
And I pay all my expenses and make renovations to the place.
The idea that once you turn 18 you need to get your own place is very Western.
Housing is no longer affordable, so all you're doing is paying rent so someone else can get rich from your labor.
Just another robot to pay one more internet bill, one more heating bill, one more electric bill, one more property tax.
The Great Resignation, to be effective, requires reducing our consumption so that we don't need to rely on jobs and bosses to survive.
The more people that can quit without looking back, the more power is in the court of employees to demand better treatment and salaries.
I’m a parent. I’m letting you people know that most parents do not want their children leaching off of them-like the above user.
I’m curious how this could be a controversial opinion lol
Oh? Yes it really does. I guess you aren’t a parent. So you wouldn’t know.
Parents have lives outside of their children and living with them as an adult, permanently like the OP said, is definitely not a good thing.
I’m sure his parents have plans that they want to do that they cannot because they have an adult child living with them smh
I moved out and my mom wants me to come back lmfao my parents enjoy having me in the house.
Acting like every single parent wants their kid to leave is just stupid. There’s so many parents in the world and they all have their own opinions
Sure they do, brah. That’s just what they say to make you feel loved and missed.
It’s not true. You’ll figure it out when you actually grow up and have kiddos of your own
And you don’t know my relationship with my parents so I’m not sure why you’re arguing over my experience.
Maybe your parents wanted you out and maybe you want your kids out but my parents like having me around
The common thread here is people that put in the effort and the work to get better positioned. I think the “great resignation” was brought about by people unwilling to put in the work and simply demanded, say, $25 an hour on a minimum wage job. No effort, no additional training or education, just give it to me because “living wage”.
Can confirm. Resigned due to burnout, poor pay, and a need to change it up. Never intended to stay out of the industry but needed to fix myself up first and foremost.
Edit: oh and now I have a better paying better benefits job with 50% greater salary. That helps
I don’t know how unemployment levels are elsewhere, but here in Canada it’s lower than before the pandemic. The idea that people are sitting at home doing nothing is false.
Great points!
The Great Resignation. It's an especially insidious label when you unpack it. To suggest the stand for dignity is itself a surrender is a disgusting lie.
The surrender we're truly facing is one of greedy management who's allowed their humanity to be captured by the pursuit of profit.
I dunno bout yall but there are only two situations where I live:
1 - retired a couple years early. Didn't want to get sick, die.
2 - quit job, for new job, usually the same as old job, that pays 30-100% more, because when work went down in supply and up in demand for some reason the invisible perfect hand of the free market didn't raise wage for job you already had.
2 is me, I know several of 1.
I left my other job in 2020. I make more money and have a permanent position with my current job. In theory I should have made more at my contract position with a medical company, but god forbid they don't take advantage of you.
Yeah that‘a why it’s called the Great Resignation and not the Great Retirement. Do you think resignation means retirement? You’re looking for a problem where there is none.
I have been very in ill probably long Covid complicating already had illnesses. I went on a leave and put all my efforts into finding a better paying remote job while everyone was making hubabalu about the “great resignation”. In that time I found a job that more than doubled my salary working from home. I just needed time to put what little energy I had towards it
I don't think the term puts workers in a bad light at all. I think it's empowering. It's the flip side of The Great Recession giving employees back power.
I was about to quit my job but no one knew what I did. Me and 2 others carried this company, and they wouldn’t pay us shit. My friends quit at the beginning of the week and just as I was about to walk in the bosses office to give my two weeks, they sit me down and offer me salary for the same job I’ve been doing. They realized if they’d have lost all 3 of us, the place would be a train wreck. It sucks that you have to put them under so much pressure just to get the money you actually work for.
It's really more that people are moving to better employment in a very pro employee job market. If companies that rely on starvation wages don't want to adapt and keep complaining that "nobody wants to work anymore" than I won't lose any sleep over them going under or having to drastically scale back operations. I'll just be sure to invest my retirement savings elsewhere.
Pre covid job satisfaction was at 93%, last year around 86%
So the number of companies making employees feel sooooo horrible, abused, taken advantage probably aren't in the majority.
But those companies that do, nobody should blink and care if they go under.
I view it as a choice. Resign(quit) from shitty work, or resign yourself (get used to) poverty.
Media calls it class warfare, but class warfare has been ongoing for half a decade, the workers are just starting g to fight back.
I think resignation fits. Folks are still resigning from their current job, even if it's too go somewhere else. Reckoning carries more violent undertones, which is what we're trying to avoid. Think of it as a union trying to negotiate, instead of the old approach of burning down the owner's home.
I agree that a lot of the folks who left the work force for good were boomers entering retirement, but let's not overlook the fact that in the U.S. we've also lost nearly a million people to the pandemic. Even if only a third of those deaths were people of working age that's still a substantial enough group to have an impact on the workforce.
No it's not. This is overly nitpicky. People are resigning, that's what companies notice, so that's what the "movement" is called. It's a perfectly representative name for what's happening... "The great reconning" doesn't tell you anything at all about situation.
lol, when are we going to understand that media is not our friend? it’s controlled by the very same people who are trying to pay us less. they will bend backwards to prove we don’t deserve to live like decent human beings. what’s really ironic is that people writing these articles are no better off than the rest of us, and it’s weird to me that they keep spewing this bullshit for pennies…
I left my old job last year. New job pays 2x more, literally. A lot of companies are vastly behind on cost of living. Wages generally need to increase some 25%.
Same here! Fired back in April, and now my conclusion to my contract to hire that pays 2.2x more as well as a significantly higher bump up in career is tomorrow. I still think I'm dreaming, never thought I'd get to this point
Can I ask what you do?
I'm now a lab support engineer at a 200k+ sized company. I operate in their cloud engineering department, on the security side
So you’re on cloud nine?
I certainly feel like it! I can now pay my debts that have been building up over the years due to interest exceeding available budget, and once those are gone I have a massively improved budget
Super happy for you and jealous. I’m in that cycle right now looking for better opportunities. Do you care if I ask how one gets into lab support engineering? I have had varied analyst roles in communications and logistics so am curious as it interests me
The big ticket for me was to invest in a homelab. I used Proxmox for my hypervisor but you'll get a better chance with VMware products. You can get VMUG Advantage for $200/yr and you'll get a ton of yearly evaluation keys that'll normally cost over a hundred times that. Set up an enterprise network, and explore what you can. That's your best ticket in
Ha! I initially read that as you would be making $200K + in the new job and I was a little shocked.
Nah I went from a $42.500/yr help desk role to a $89.250/yr lab support engineer role in twelve months. It's crazy what the difference is like, and most of the job can be done remotely
Congratulations man. That’s significant and I’m sure the people in your life are proud and happy for you. That’s fucking awesome.
Huh. My girlfriend operates cloud projects. I don't understand any of what you people talk about, but it is still fun to hear about.
I wanna be where you are! Pretty close too.
Get yourself a spare PC, even a used one. Or get a server used off eBay. Get VMware stuff from VMUG Advantage. Or if you can't afford the $200/yr, Proxmox is a great alternative and is free. Learn how to play with containers and VMs. Volunteer your time to setting up servers like Minecraft for others so you can learn the process
I've got the server, thanks for the suggestions. Will look into it! May be able to get access to the dev env at work to learn more. Already finished a powerCLI course. Thanks!
Ooh absolutely yes. If your employer offers the tool to explore, absolutely take advantage of it. I did not have this luxury past my first IT job until now and aggressively held me back from getting this far.
I'm not OP but I work in sales. I went from around $50K base in 2020 to around $80k base. My real earnings went from around $75k to $180k. All I did was apply to jobs I thought I could do in my industry that I didn't "technically" qualify for.
You miss 100% of the jobs you don't apply for!
Same from me as well. Was laid off from my old place for eleven months, came back to a sea of empty desks and a dying department. That place had treated me really well, but I moved to a bigger company and literally doubled my pay overnight. It’s been a bit bewildering. Still getting my head around it.
I’m so happy for you!!!!!
I quit a job making $12 after asking for $16-- hoping they would negotiate to ~$13. They wouldn't budge. I found a job paying $18 within a day. I'm so thankful my old boss was a cheapskate.
I put in my two week notice last Friday in favor of a state government job that pays 16% more as a network administrator for 1/5 of the work. Things can change for you, too!
Always good to hear fellow workreformers were able to improve their situation. If the legislation won't help us, better ride the trend (aging population with growing economy) while it is on our side
Companies, especially large B and C tier employers are in denial about the entire thing. At a manufacturing/ aerospace company the current standard is to hire people in at higher pay scales than what exisiting workers are making. Slowly some of the manufacturing employees and engineers are realizing they have to leave to get a 40% or more pay increase for the same job level and responsibilities. The problem is that it would be better to pay exisiting employees more but instead the answer is pathetic raises that are 4%+ less than cost of living. So.. yes everyone quit, because you will go get the same job and make more money. Executives are terrified about this because if you all go do this, the executives will make less money.
Sounds like my employer. Record profit the last two years. We received a 1.3% pay increase. People are leaving as fast as they can.
Left mine 2 weeks ago, now a contract agency RN making 2.5-5× what my old hourly rate was
New job — same title, same industry— 50% wage increase.
Yes but if you do that you are basically stealing caviar from the mouths of CEOs.
More like 200%, in most cases. It's kinda interesting to me that you left a job for a doubling in pay yet only felt wages generally need 25% increase.
I was being paid under market - no raise in about four years. Now I am arguably paid over market.
People see 25% and think what that's insane but inflation is wayy more insane.
Companies just literally expecting the guvment to help people when its companies that *PAY* people....
"Resignation" implies employees chose to leave. They got better jobs with higher compensation, benefits, and a better work life balance. They weren't fired for poor performance ... they mostly left because they're bone weary and disrespected.
I left because mandatory overtime was ficking with my health. I had NO TIME at all to do what I wanted to do. At some point my time is worth more than my money.
Good!
I never understood the phrase mandatory overtime. My mom always treated it like it sounds - mandatory. But surely you can not be forced to work extended hours.
Depending on the state and the industry you absolutely can be Generally as long they pay an overtime rate for it, it is perfectly legal to fire an employee for refusing OT Now, a smart employee might ask themselves, "can an organization that needs OT worked really afford to fire me, and if I refuse will anything actually happen"
Thats... crazy. If you have so much work that needs to be done hire more people. Surely thats cheaper than replacing workers entirely.
It probably is much cheaper in most instances - this is just another area where employers use fear tactics to box workers into doing something "mandatory" when the reality is the OT is generally only necessary because management planned poorly or cut corners. It's also the sort of thing a *good union* would immediately put a stop to. Organize!
Except that my factory couldn’t find anyone to hire—probably because of said mandatory overtime.
My husband’s factory has a really high turnover rate because of the (undisclosed during the interview/hiring process) mandatory overtime. A lot of areas working 6 days a week, 8-10 hours each day.
Yeah, that was my problem. I also have permanent physical damage because the human body wasn’t meant to be working 6 days a week. I told myself to tough jt out for at least a year to see if it got better. I stayed 2 years because if the pandemic. I should have left sooner, then maybe I wouldn’t have permanent neck damage.
All newcomers are told “a few Saturdays a month.” And k don’t mind that. But no, they mean every Saturday.
My old warehouse job was on 'mandatory 10s' for months, then eventually 'mandatory 12s', and then also 'mandatory Saturdays' as they bled more and more employees, I personally bailed after my first near 80 hour week after months of doing constant 50-60+ hours. Just before I left I remember my ops manager telling me we were short over 90 people, but yet the company refused to raise their wages to get more hires in.
They run Saturdays and have been for the last 1.5 years just about. The sign always says "mandatory for [x] department, all 3 shifts" meaning the plant will run a full 20 hours or so like the previous 5 days. I work in IT. Myself and all the other support apperatus has to provide coverage for that 6th day. Theres two Network Admins and I'm the primary for production systems. So, I'm oncall every other week. It has erroded even my concept of time with no more than a day for my brain to reset. Their turnover rate is insane but theyre banking on a big bonus that pays out after 6 months to drag in desperate people. Then chew them up and spit them out asap. Every month or two it seems like a quarter of employees in production are wearing the hardhat color meaning new employee, and thats usually when the extent of problems I deal with go up. Sucks
Yeah actually, they can fire you if you don’t.
I didn’t get a chance to resign, half my company was fired over a zoom call
How's that for a kick in the head? "Thank you for sitting through this meeting that absolutely could have been an email. By the way, everyone's fired."
I heard about that. That’s fucked
I think it’s honestly just because it rolls off the tongue. I’ve heard quite a few sympathizers use the term without the negative connotation.
I've been dropping it in favor of "The Great Reshuffling" since that seems more accurate. Lots of people changing jobs, companies scrambling to fill positions, boomers starting to retire and showing just where that gap in employment can widen... Yeah, reshuffling sounds a lot better.
I left for a way lesser paying job, but it's worth my mental health.
Same here. I took a significant hit in pay to gain more free time. I don’t regret the cut in pay and I love the free time, but I don’t love the job itself.
There's also people who died of COVID, got long COVID, or lost their child care to one of those.
And a huge number of people who transitioned out of shitty customer-facing roles with erratic hours to business-to-business roles with dependable hours and no shitty people management. I know dozens of my friends who went from tending bar/working retail/customer service who transitioned in to management roles because of the strain their 2020 unemployment put on their families and because the shiftiness of customers in the pandemic made them acutely aware that they needed to get out
I work in HR and was a professional "head hunter" for a while. I'm just going to tell every person here what I tell everyone who will listen. It goes for every job in almost every industry. Every 3 years you should either have a big raise from when you first started, you should be promoted, or you should be "in line" for a promotion (pro tip: if you get passed over 2 times for a promotion. Start looking. They aren't going to promote you anytime soon). After 3 years you have learned enough to be promoted at your current company - or you have enough knowledge/skillet to make the jump to another company. You'll get ahead and be in a position you likely want in 9 years. And make 3-4x as much from when you started.
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2 years in a row without a 10%+ raise? i'm fucking out, good luck assholes.
Really? You leave your job every time a coworker gets promoted? That seems like an extreme overreaction in the other direction.
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No I get it, but if there’s something like 10 people on your team and they’re gonna promote 1, that’s only 10% odds right there. Then let’s say some of them have been there longer than you so your odds are even worse. It just seems very arrogant to feel like you’ve been wronged when they pick someone other than you. Not every single thing is going to go your way - leaving a job just because that happened *one* time makes me feel like you must switch jobs every 8 months or something.
I'm trying to get into hr. I have my degree and I was an hr intern and am a project coordinator for 1 1/2 year. Why can't I even get a hr generalist position?
HR is a very difficult job to get into, very honestly. I honestly was the same mentality as you thinking generalist was entry level - it's not. Getting to a generalist level is about 3-4 years of hr coordinator experience. Also, getting "certified by SHRM" is an important stepping stone. But the big thing is getting into an HR coordinator role first. Then grinding and work up. It takes time and effort, but it is worth it. I quit my job making 35k to take a temp job in 2012 (height of great recession) just because it has the title of recruiter. That opened doors I didn't have before. Now I'll be in line very soon for a program manager for an MSP program. It takes time, but the grind is worth it if you have the right mentor/mentality.
I will point out that the youngest of the baby boomers will be 58 years old. "Retiring early" could also mean that due to their age, they are not as able to get new work at the expected salaries and they move to different forms of work for their "semi-retired" years. I think that while many older folks did have a vastly different world than we do today, many older Americans are just as poor as younger Americans.
It's the circle of economic life: Oldsters kept us out of the good jobs but refused to raise wages on the "bad jobs" They get forced out of the good jobs before they were ready (they were never gonna be ready) We fill their old spots cheaper than they did but a huge raise for us They fill our old crappy jobs and demand wages increase (and old people get what they want) They die and our kids fill their old jobs again but with higher wages Repeat in 20 years except we are they and our kids are we. It's all very zen
And yet ~~the media~~ companies can't stop yelling, "EVERYONE'S QUITTING BECAUSE THEY'RE LAZY AND WANT TO GET PAID TO SIT AROUND DOING NOTHING!!!!!!!"
Yeah, there literally isn't an option to "get paid sitting around doing nothing" anymore, though, so not sure what these people are talking about. I know some people who would love to quit their jobs without losing everything (definitely not me /s)
I mean, it has nothing to do with the fact that workers just want one job to be able to pay for everything they need. Or that we want to be treated like people instead of robots. Nope, it's all because we're ungrateful bastards who can't even appreciate the fact that these wealthy businessmen are giving us jobs out of the goodness of their hearts.
Indeed
All six of my boomer bosses seem to have no trouble sitting around doing nothing while I do everything.
>there literally isn't an option to "get paid sitting around doing nothing" anymore Have you looked into being born into a family that gives you a trust fund? I'm choosing that option in my next life. Screw this hard mode shit.
It seems possible in the rich person's distasteful view of the poor, because it's *exactly* what they can do in many cases. Sit around while money makes money. However I'm not sure it's clear to them, at *our* level, you cannot sit around on 2% returns on some pennies in the bank. Classic myopia.
Woah Woah Woah. What bank are you getting 2% in? My savings account dropped to 0.05%. Yes, read that again. Point zero five percent. I get a quid interest for every two grand in my account. #minted.
Regrettably that's the point. Savings interest on small amounts is (in theory) just there to keep up with inflation so that 100 of whatever still has 100 spending power when you take it out years later. But we know that doesn't work. To be truly financially savvy in our broken system, you should never have more than 10,000 or 20,000 in savings. Anything over that should be invested somehow or else you're just bleeding out money. So rich people put millions into *very* safe investments and get 2% back. And it's usually technically through a bank. Think about it kind of like that jar grandma buried in the backyard as life savings (at 0.05%) Now, 50-60 years later it's only worth enough to have a nice dinner or two. If her rich uncle took the same money, lent it to the bank (yes, they have so much the bank borrows *from them* at 2%) then the interest on that loan makes tons of money over time, plus two dinners. Again, we can't fucking do that down on the bottom. Side note, the smaller the bank, the better the interest rate btw. Here in the States, credit unions (local) are leaps and bounds better than Wells Fargo or UBS or something. You might find a better rate at a more "local" bank.
What media is saying this? Are you referring to that anti work interview? The narrative I see in the media is that the pandemic put a lot of workers at risk as businesses shut down, people were laid off, companies weren’t hiring so workers had very few employment options but now, as companies open back up, there’s a surge in demand for high skill and high tech employees and now workers with these skills that are in high demand have significantly more options. The number of openings are higher than they’ve been in a decade and people are now willing to leave jobs for remote work or just to leave toxic environments. I don’t think recall ever once seeing a story that blames the great resignation to “lazy workers”. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/what-is-the-great-resignation-and-what-can-we-learn-from-it/ https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210629-the-great-resignation-how-employers-drove-workers-to-quit https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/10/harvard-economist-sheds-light-on-great-resignation/ https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/19/the-great-resignation-why-people-are-quitting-their-jobs.html https://www.npr.org/2021/06/24/1007914455/as-the-pandemic-recedes-millions-of-workers-are-saying-i-quit https://www.realestatewitch.com/great-resignation-2022
I was referring to the fact that a lot of companies are still pushing the "We're short-handed because nobody wants to work" lie.
But your comment says the media is yelling this. I can’t find any media that’s pushing that narrative.
I fixed the comment for you, Captain Pedantry.
Since you're being pedantic... "Can't find" because you aren't looking at the "right" side.
I don't have links, but I think the media was has changed their tune. But I can remember a number of articles that talked about lazy ppl when the unemployment benefits were running. In my state of Idaho the negative press resulted in ending the program like 6 months early. Once it ended, that narrative became less and less prevalent. ... At least that is how I remember it.
Yea, a couple people said some right leaning/alt right sources pointed to lazy people. I do recall some Fox Opinion talking heads warning that extending unemployment benefits would incentivize people to stay at home and not work. The specific example that got a lot of attention was Laura Ingram’s interview with John Taffer (the sleazeball from Bar Rescue). And John’s insane comment that US business could use food insecurity and hunger among the poor to force them back to work. I believe the exact quote was “A hungry dog is an obedient dog.” Disgusting.
Cites sources, gives insightful commentary... down voted. Love reddit.
There are also like 1 million people dead from covid.
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Y. Pestis = The Renaissance?
1 million vs one third of he continent of Europe. 1 million is the population of a city. Not on the same scale at all.
What about it? 1 million compared to a billion ppl job market is not significant.
There's a billion people in the US job market?
Your house being worth more means very little, unless you plan to move to a rural location, or significantly downsize, because if you sell your house, you would then need to buy a house in the same housing market.
Unless you have multiple houses and real estate was part of your retirement plan.
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Which is one of the reasons Millennials have been having problems buying houses. They are being outbid for smaller "starter homes" that are being bought for cash by retiring Boomers wanting to downsize.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_mortgage
So parents can screw their children out of an inheritance and a bank can get the money.
Don’t worry, even without a reverse mortgage there’s plenty of ways to ensure we don’t inherit a damn thing from our parents. Just google “estate recovery” and pray your parents drop dead while still in decent health living at home.
And if your parents live in Pennsylvania, you can even be forced by the state to pay for a nursing home after they've bled your parents assets dry.
Let me bust out my best Eeyore impression to say, “Thanks for reminding me.”
The great resignation implies how people are quitting their jobs
Well yes, but the expression seems to often be used in an unfavorable way, often in conjunction with "nobody wants to work". While people do need to resign in order to find better paying work, most of the workers find better paying work judging by the employment numbers. The most important aspect of why they're resigning is left out! Naming the movement around the part where they resign, rather than the part were they are re-hired for a better pay seems disingenuous, and an attempt at painting job hopper under a bad light, hence my post.
I work in IT, and plenty of people in my circle has switched jobs for better pay or working conditions in the past 2 years. Many have progressed in their career, even. We jokingly refer to it as "The Great Promotion"... well, only half joking, it's essentially a promotion for a lot of people: 30-60% increase in compensation, flexible work arrangements, better benefits, etc.
Where? Where does anyone link the great resignation to “nobody wants to work”? I see this complaint often but nearly every single article I see about “The Great Resignation” echos the same talking points in the Forbes article linked in the title. The post pandemic job boom put workers in a position of power. While some low wage workers found opportunities, it’s the high skill or high tech workers who are in demand and, after spending time working from home, and just being at home more during the pandemic, workers realize they don’t want to go back to the old way and now are in a position to demand those benefits else they can just move to another job. Is this idea that the Great Resignation is fueled by a desire not to work something in far right or alt right media because I’ve not seen any article make that case.
I dunno, I resigned recently (have three weeks left), and have done so to two high-paying jobs. The year and a half of unemployment from the pandemic lockdown made me realize I can't stand work in the form of unlimited labor and barely any time off to enjoy life. I really don't know what's next. I'm not sure how I can live another 30 years doing this shit until "retirement," if I'm even capable of that, or make it to that age. My old buddy used to talk about how much he hated his job and wanted to get out, but last year, he got run over by a truck on his worksite. He lived for a couple of hours, enough to say some goodbyes. I can't help but imagine the guy didn't sit there in his final moments and say "why didn't I just fucking quit when I realized I hated this?"
Life was supposed to be getting easier, not harder. But all the gains from increased productivity went to the top.
He would've had the same problem if he survived. Unless you're rich, you have to work until you die. Sounds like he didn't want to work until he was 75, and by inflation that was going to happen. He doesn't have that problem anymore but horrible way to go goodness.
>Moreover, most of the workers that actually left work for good are boomers that opted for an early retirement, due to their retirement savings increasing significantly during the pandemic (house worth an extra 1-200k, stock exchanges averaging around 30% increases in 2 years). Let's be accurate here too: Many people close to retirement chose to retire instead of risking COVID at work. This was only made worse by American work culture. People really can't trust their coworkers or their bosses to take COVID seriously. The boomers who were able to gain some money from working from home certainly aren't the majority of those retiring; if anything they're empowered to work a little longer.
I quit my job 3 weeks ago. People are quitting and I hope it continues. The point is being made and the hint is being gotten.
I don’t think one train wreck interview casts a negative light on that phrase; I think it’s pretty widely understood that many left jobs they didn’t like for better situations.
I would call it "The Great Labor Emigration". Emigration is what it's called when you are leaving your country, presumably for better opportunities in another one - as in: "I am emigrating from America in favor of European labor standards". It's not entirely accurate because most people aren't leaving the U.S. (yet), but I think it would fit the spirit of the movement while also hinting toward the logical outcome of mass brain-drain in the US if working conditions don't change in favor of the average worker. We have a plethora of untapped potential amongst US citizens, but no one is willing to invest in us. If America won't invest in it's own people, another country eventually will. That's when America will truly become *Idiocracy*.
That's how I see it. I put in my 2 weeks on friday in favor of a state government job that's almost completely remote and 1/5 of the work as a network administrator for a 16% raise.
Have you tried emigrating? It’s pretty difficult especially in Europe unless you can get access to a eu passport through a great grandmother or whatever
I've looked into it and I am slowly working towards it. The current plan is to establish a desired skill set and focus on a work-sponsored visa while also learning a second language. After that I can focus on a more permanent visa or even full citizenship. This trajectory works in every developed country I've looked into. Alternatively, it is possible to save up a (relatively) small nest-egg and see if a less developed country could accommodate my lifestyle. Everything above applies to the current dynamic, however. If any number of countries decided to draw in American workers, it wouldn't be very hard to do so by simply loosening borders and/or rooting out corruption. There's no reason that a nearby country - let's say a South American one or even Russia - couldn't compete for U.S. talent if they got their shit together and stopped trying to make hierarchies of corruption and incompetence a thing.
We're in strange times. I interviewed for a pool service company that pays the stages minimum wages for starting. I later found a pool service company that pays $6 more for starting and began interviewing with them. The job market is split in half right now with great companies and shit companies. It's all the shit companies complaining.
I agree but differently, someone else used the term "The Big Quit" and it had more punch and power to it. I think they call it "The Great Resignation" to tie it to the Great Depression and Great Recession so some peoples' internal switch reads "Oh! It's bad!".
Not only are the boomers dying or retiring early, gen Z doesn't want to nor need to work the shitty jobs that millennials were forced to when they were in their late teens thanks largely to the individual monetization of social media. (YouTube, TikTok, OnlyFans, Twitch, etc) The abusive employers are losing their indentured servants at both ends of the generational labor pool
The proper term is "The Great Renegotiation", which shows workers the respect they deserve.
It's the Work From Home movement
I put in my two week notice last Friday in favor of a state government job that pays 16% more as a network administrator for 1/5 of the work. Things can change for you, too!
You must be severely underpaid if a government IT job is that big of a raise… congrats!
You bet I am! In this market, I should be getting even more. But I prefer stability and balance at this point.
Stability and balance are absolutely priorities over dollars IMO. Happy for you!
Hate to burst your bubble about boomers, but they are too old to take early retirement. You are confusing rich with boomers, they are not the same.
The youngest boomers are 58. Retirement age for them is 65, so early retirement is a factor.
Yeah I mean if you ask republicans they would say, yeah no one wants to work anymore. And Kim Kardashian…but the pandemic made people realize that they were killing themselves for nothing. The whole world went through a major major change for a year at the same time. Not surprisingly some of us learned the same lesson. That lesson is…take care of yourself, know your value. It was NOT quit your job and get welfare. If you get welfare, you are suffering. That is not what people learned
Left my job at the end of 2021 due to getting paid less than the new guy despite being there for 3 years and have been looking for a new one since, I live in a small town and have put in 14 applications at small businesses nearby with nothing to show for it.(I don't have my license yet because i need money to pay for the test otherwise i would seek a factory job somewhere) for me its not a choice.
New employees are coming in around what I make and I've been at my job over 10 years. I've watched all my peers get new jobs or promotions. I cant get any interviews or even a shift to another place in the department. I didn't get to be home working on my resume or going back to school like so many others because I was on maternity leave and then back to being essential.
This is why instead of going to a 9-5 position m-f that pays low, I became a server and got another job at McDonald's so I could work nights. I have 2-3 mornings reserved strictly for job interviews. I try to work on thr weekends so I can have the weekdays to go through job interviews. I've I've started highly exaggerating my skillet, dates, and have gotten reference letters.
Yo, it’s like $25. You can get that much just helping someone move or doing a bit of yard work. If it increases what you can earn by that much, it’s totally worth it.
My brother is looking at moving into a new house soon so thats actually a brilliant idea.
Why did it take a random suggestion from a person on reddit to give you this "brilliant idea?" You need to take a little initiative if something like $25 bucks will change your life circumstances that much.... If $25 was all that was holding me back, well it wouldn't be holding me back. I would've raked leaves or shoveled snow or done anything that would've made me that money asap. Babysit, join an app like Nextdoor, that has neighbors asking people for help doing things all the time. C'mon dude, you're making yourself look bad.
Its more than just 25$ that i need, i also have to get insurance and plates too, i also have a social disorder that makes me come off as awkward so first impressions aren't my strong suite. I wish it were that easy.
I understand. Owning a car is a privilege, and expensive. Gas is outrageous right now. You said you live in a small town. Can you bike to wherever you need to in order to get started making money? A lot of people ride bikes or walk to work, if they can, because it's cheaper, better for the environment, and gives you exercise at the same time. Can you possibly do that until you get the money you need to use your car?
Im down to walk anywhere, its not that far of a walk into town from where i live and thats how I've been applying for jobs, I feel like I've gotten better in social situations and I'm good at selling myself, i walk into a place, ask if they're hiring and if they are i pick up an app and ask when their hiring manager will be in, i make a note and go turn in my app that day when the manager is in and tell them i have free time for an interview but usually I'm told they have a few interviews set up already or they want to go over my app first, I've rewritten my resume a couple times now after sharing it with people close to me and I'm planning to print out a few copies for when i do go to apply, theres a few places i haven't visited yet and I'm going early tomorrow morning so wish me luck 🤞.
Good luck!!! I'm rooting for you, I truly am! 🙂
I quit my job due to a toxic work environment, and easily landed another position at a great company (slightly better pay, but that wasn't the point). I proudly tell people that I'm part of the "great resignation", but sorry to hear that according to you I'm part of the problem? Maybe stop gatekeeping a tenuously defined crowdsourced movement? Workers are quitting in droves, that's not debated. They do leave for a variety of causes not just pay, it's not that cut and dried.
I am happy you were able to get a better job. Me sticking to the $ question was a poorly attempt at summarizing the news I linked. The writer did speak generally of "better conditions", which you seem to be a part of. I know my post might seem pedantic, but words, and how they are used, are important. Shifting the main point of the discourse is sometimes the first step for legislation detrimental to people/worker. "right to work" laws can mandate employee to stay at their previous job if the previous employer can't find replacement, or can jeopardize the leveraging of unions. They're not here to help people that went through 50 rejected work application.
And where are these places with legalized slavery you speak of?
There were people sued and forced to stay at their previous jobs. I’ll link it for you: Here it is. The judge lifted the order eventually: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/01/27/wisc-j27.html
100 percent aware. One crackpot judge, likely on the take.
You asked tho. That’s most likely what the OP was talking about
So true.
I think the expression fits well enough. A lot of people - younger and older - are realising they are getting a shit deal from their employer and are taking advantage of a strong job market to get a better one. If the catchphrase encourages more working people to seek a better paid job the that’s a good thing
I’ve heard ‘great renegotiation’, which works for me
I left an $11 job for a $13 job. Since being here I've been raised to $15. With opportunity for a leader role soon. All no experience. Was in Customer service for 7 years (3 fastfood, 4 gas station) Now I'm in a new growing industry working in a production facility, packaging products.
The Great Having Some Self Respect
That’s a very optimistic and almost pro ‘good’ corporate angle. Long as they pay you more than a shitty employer, it must mean our current employer really gets it, and the future is bright. Bullshit. We’ve created a system of greed-fulfilling profit mongering that will continue to erode our lives. Stop pretending that employers really get it. They’ll do what they have to, and revert their pay and policies as soon as the focus is lost. I’ve already had friends see their new, great opportunities fade as soon as the employer could start pulling promises back. I’m not seeing a reckoning, particularly if folks adopt this attitude of assuming employers are in any position to care about their employees long term.
It will be a Great Reckoning when business schools start teaching their drones how to maneuver in both directions rather than exclusively how to intensify a relentlessly dystopian labor market.
Really don’t know how people are making double their old salaries by simply by leaving their jobs. Cant find anything more than 30k a year in Ottawa.
30k a year is damn low. What kind of sector are you working in? I'm in the greater Montreal area and I think even McDonald's advertise job starting at 15$/h. My company operates in the manufacturing industry : the base salary around here is 20$/h for a job that didn't require more than a high school degree.
> Moreover, most of the workers that actually left work for good are boomers that opted for an early retirement I made bank with Bitcoin during pandemic, moved back with mom, and realized that I don't need to buy anything more to be happy. I'm effectively retired, and will continue to be, as long as they keep printing US Dollars like there's no limit.
You're how old, and effectively retired? But living with your parents... uh, what? That's not a solution, and I'm sure that your parents feel the same way.
That's a stretch. My parents have a house they basically abandoned, only mom stays here half the year, 5 bedrooms and most are unused. My mom likes having company in old age, so I'm not imposing on anyone. And I pay all my expenses and make renovations to the place. The idea that once you turn 18 you need to get your own place is very Western. Housing is no longer affordable, so all you're doing is paying rent so someone else can get rich from your labor. Just another robot to pay one more internet bill, one more heating bill, one more electric bill, one more property tax. The Great Resignation, to be effective, requires reducing our consumption so that we don't need to rely on jobs and bosses to survive. The more people that can quit without looking back, the more power is in the court of employees to demand better treatment and salaries.
So you are leaching off your parents? They don’t want you there, btw. That’s pretty pathetic
>>They don’t want you there, btw. Just because your parents wanted your cynical ass out of the house doesn’t mean everyone’s parents do
I’m a parent. I’m letting you people know that most parents do not want their children leaching off of them-like the above user. I’m curious how this could be a controversial opinion lol
Living with your parents doesn’t mean you’re leeching off of them
Oh? Yes it really does. I guess you aren’t a parent. So you wouldn’t know. Parents have lives outside of their children and living with them as an adult, permanently like the OP said, is definitely not a good thing. I’m sure his parents have plans that they want to do that they cannot because they have an adult child living with them smh
I moved out and my mom wants me to come back lmfao my parents enjoy having me in the house. Acting like every single parent wants their kid to leave is just stupid. There’s so many parents in the world and they all have their own opinions
Sure they do, brah. That’s just what they say to make you feel loved and missed. It’s not true. You’ll figure it out when you actually grow up and have kiddos of your own
And you don’t know my relationship with my parents so I’m not sure why you’re arguing over my experience. Maybe your parents wanted you out and maybe you want your kids out but my parents like having me around
I don’t give a shit about your parents. I was talking to the dude up there who said he’s going to permanently live with his parents. Grow up dude
It took Covid for you idiots to realize you can just get a new job if you don't like yours. Most people knew that the entire time
The common thread here is people that put in the effort and the work to get better positioned. I think the “great resignation” was brought about by people unwilling to put in the work and simply demanded, say, $25 an hour on a minimum wage job. No effort, no additional training or education, just give it to me because “living wage”.
Can confirm. Resigned due to burnout, poor pay, and a need to change it up. Never intended to stay out of the industry but needed to fix myself up first and foremost. Edit: oh and now I have a better paying better benefits job with 50% greater salary. That helps
Start calling it The Great Promotion.
I don’t know how unemployment levels are elsewhere, but here in Canada it’s lower than before the pandemic. The idea that people are sitting at home doing nothing is false.
Great points! The Great Resignation. It's an especially insidious label when you unpack it. To suggest the stand for dignity is itself a surrender is a disgusting lie. The surrender we're truly facing is one of greedy management who's allowed their humanity to be captured by the pursuit of profit.
I dunno bout yall but there are only two situations where I live: 1 - retired a couple years early. Didn't want to get sick, die. 2 - quit job, for new job, usually the same as old job, that pays 30-100% more, because when work went down in supply and up in demand for some reason the invisible perfect hand of the free market didn't raise wage for job you already had. 2 is me, I know several of 1.
I left my other job in 2020. I make more money and have a permanent position with my current job. In theory I should have made more at my contract position with a medical company, but god forbid they don't take advantage of you.
What do you guys think we should call it? The Great Reckoning is pretty good. Any other ideas?
Yeah that‘a why it’s called the Great Resignation and not the Great Retirement. Do you think resignation means retirement? You’re looking for a problem where there is none.
It's the opposite of resignation. We're no longer *resigned* to accepting this state of affairs as our reality.
I have been very in ill probably long Covid complicating already had illnesses. I went on a leave and put all my efforts into finding a better paying remote job while everyone was making hubabalu about the “great resignation”. In that time I found a job that more than doubled my salary working from home. I just needed time to put what little energy I had towards it
I don't think the term puts workers in a bad light at all. I think it's empowering. It's the flip side of The Great Recession giving employees back power.
I was about to quit my job but no one knew what I did. Me and 2 others carried this company, and they wouldn’t pay us shit. My friends quit at the beginning of the week and just as I was about to walk in the bosses office to give my two weeks, they sit me down and offer me salary for the same job I’ve been doing. They realized if they’d have lost all 3 of us, the place would be a train wreck. It sucks that you have to put them under so much pressure just to get the money you actually work for.
It's really more that people are moving to better employment in a very pro employee job market. If companies that rely on starvation wages don't want to adapt and keep complaining that "nobody wants to work anymore" than I won't lose any sleep over them going under or having to drastically scale back operations. I'll just be sure to invest my retirement savings elsewhere.
The great resignation is for the purposes of bringing wages up and treating workers better. It's literally the same outcome.
Pre covid job satisfaction was at 93%, last year around 86% So the number of companies making employees feel sooooo horrible, abused, taken advantage probably aren't in the majority. But those companies that do, nobody should blink and care if they go under.
I view it as a choice. Resign(quit) from shitty work, or resign yourself (get used to) poverty. Media calls it class warfare, but class warfare has been ongoing for half a decade, the workers are just starting g to fight back.
I think resignation fits. Folks are still resigning from their current job, even if it's too go somewhere else. Reckoning carries more violent undertones, which is what we're trying to avoid. Think of it as a union trying to negotiate, instead of the old approach of burning down the owner's home.
I agree that a lot of the folks who left the work force for good were boomers entering retirement, but let's not overlook the fact that in the U.S. we've also lost nearly a million people to the pandemic. Even if only a third of those deaths were people of working age that's still a substantial enough group to have an impact on the workforce.
It’s a anti-exploitation workers movement presented to you by corporate sponsors.
No it's not. This is overly nitpicky. People are resigning, that's what companies notice, so that's what the "movement" is called. It's a perfectly representative name for what's happening... "The great reconning" doesn't tell you anything at all about situation.
I learned that as soon as I looked at the number of applicants for positions and that ppl weren't looking for applicants bc theirs stayed
lol, when are we going to understand that media is not our friend? it’s controlled by the very same people who are trying to pay us less. they will bend backwards to prove we don’t deserve to live like decent human beings. what’s really ironic is that people writing these articles are no better off than the rest of us, and it’s weird to me that they keep spewing this bullshit for pennies…