The Great Resignation: Remote workplaces and the future of work

You sound like my gf. Shes ready to quit $100k program manager position for a struggling retailer because she has nothing to do. I personally would let it ride and watch netflix all day

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I commend the CBC for at least putting workers and employers together in this piece and not just being a mouthpiece for employers.

The economist person is right about the boomer retirement tsunami that was ignored and now it’s too late. Immigration fixes this but it’s easy for conservatives for whip up sentiment against them.

Better than most pieces but still a bunch there I didn’t like.

The worst was the restaurant owner saying “I don’t think it’s about the money” with absolutely no pushback from anyone.

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I agree with you, I thin some of that may have been the editing. It looks like they’ve cut down at least an hour of back and forth into a 10 minute segment.

That restaurant where the interview is happening (and that is owned by the “it’s not about the money” guy) is in my old city neighborhood. It’s actually a really fun place.

Ive been thinking about the boomer retirement tsunami, and Im wondering just how many of the jobs simply wont be coming back at all. Middle management is becoming increasingly unnecessary, automation is improving daily, so it wouldnt surprise me to see people retiring and jobs just not being filled at all. It could be setting us up for pretty unprecedented unemployment.

That’s a fair point, but on the other hand just look around the world and there are innumerable significant problems to be solved. There should be no lack of worthwhile things for people to work on, the risk isn’t a lack of good jobs it’s going to be a wildly inefficient labor market that seeks to cling to the past instead of training for the present and future.

Theoretically automation would make everyone’s life awesome if the gains are distributed evenly.

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The gains don’t even have to be distributed evenly, they just have to be distributed broadly. America seems determined to implement K shaped policies only for the foreseeable future, so that will be a problem.

One big barrier to even realizing the potential for automation is that the people in charge of everything will just be too stupid. Mediocre rich kids are getting handed the keys to all of America’s institutions and that’s Not Great, Bob.

Evenly.

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Can confirm. Currently in early 50s at an IT job that’s OK, not amazing, not great, often easy. Never something I was passionate about but I did put in my time keeping up with certifications and skills, but last few years I have most definitely transitioned to “run out the clock” mode. I’d be more than happy to just stay at my current place for another decade and ride off into the sunset. My attitude is that the less I have to do the better; I get my life satisfaction outside work (although sure, the days where I fix a few things and complete some minor projects before going home does give me that monkey-brain satisfaction that makes me like 10% happier, I wish that weren’t a thing but it’s the way the mind works).

I feel like I have pretty good job security outside of the small chance the place just folds or they sell it out from under us. Not looking forward to job hunting in that case, I feel like I’d do OK but could easily have to work harder for less $$.

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I think this is the scariest part of the workforce for those in it. Regardless of how much time you have put into expanding your skills and making yourself more attractive, when a 52 year old asking for 150K and a 27 year old asking for 85K come into the same interview room, skills, resumes and the like will often mean next to nothing.

I legit haven’t had more than 10-15 hour of work a week for the last year and a half.

I’m 48 an I think I can keep coasting until retirement but it does take it’s toll on your mental health accomplishing very little at work every week. Thankfully I have a lot of job security unless things go really sideways in USA#1.

I do some outside consulting a few hours a week that keeps me semi-satisfied.

For me, I think a solid 20-25 hours of work a week accomplishing stuff would be ideal.

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My fist job out of school I was basically not using my education at all and that kinda put me on serious life tilt for a while until I switched to a job that does. Feel like if I was close to retirement I wouldn’t mind nearly as much.

Skooma it up living in a brave new world.

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For a lot of people working in an office (or WFH at that same type of job, whatever), I think 10-15 hours of “actual” work per week is often pretty standard.

Whether that’s a good thing or potentially mind-numblingly boring comes down to the distinction d10 talked about–are you required to be there for 40 hours in case some shit goes down (this is me, unfortunately), or is it more the kind of thing where nobody knows/cares where you are or what you’re doing after you’ve gotten those TPS reports in for the day/week/whatever.

10-15 hours of wfh sounds right, every time I work hybrid i’m absolutely shocked at the amount of time in meetings, someone coming up to you for something pointless, getting trapped in convos with the boss for 45 mins because you think it’s probably good face time, etc.

The worker revolt right now is management has realized this and is trying to squeeze 3x the productivity out of people than before and people are like hell naw.

Appropriate for this thread too:

https://twitter.com/LHSummers/status/1582019890474459137

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I’d like to tell Larry what I tell trucking companies bitching about the cost of gas going up… Remind me again when was the last time trucking rates fell because gas got cheaper?

They didn’t. Productivity is probably down because everyone is quitting their crappy old job and the loss of institutional knowledge is really harming companies ability to get shit done. Pay better or it’ll keep happening you stupid fucking nerd.

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https://twitter.com/VinceMancini/status/1582043771155251206

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Did Larry ever complain about this?

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