Antiwork

[MichVandal]

It's interesting to see news reports on trying to avoid work burnout. This for the office workers who spent most of the last year working from home.

Seems to back up the theory that people have learned how to live simpler and are avoiding doing jobs they hate. I'm amused that these same people will get a lot of blame for the economy not starting up like it was before. Most work sucks, and most work is also set to exploit people more than not (how else do the people who don't actually do real work get so much money???).

I wonder when it will be that Amazon has to raise prices to pay people real wages just so that they can fill a factory?

[jerphisch]

My office has been turned in to a makeshift lab, so no going back now I guess. Some day they say they will have hotel desks setup.

[The Sicatoka]

I wonder when it will be that Amazon has to raise prices to pay people real wages just so that they can fill a factory?

We'll find out soon.

Amazon is putting up monster facilities in Fargo and Sioux Falls. I'm guessing it's because $15-$18 per plus benefits goes much further in those communities (and they both have solid airports and each sits at the crossroads of two interstate highways).

https://www.google.com/search?q=amaz...hrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=amaz...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[Kepler]

I had a huge problem with motivation when I went back to the physical office. There is so much about the normal work environment that is simply depressing. After a few weeks I have fallen back into enough of the learned helplessness of being at work that I no longer want to cut my wrists.

It's too late for me but you youngins: save yourselves. Kill your masters.

[Scarlet]

Was planning to take this past Friday off. Saw the weather forecast (rain) and also assumed (correctly) that we would be given the chance to end our day at 2:00pm. Why waste a vacation day on a day like that. I swapped it for today. Wound up working till close to 6:00pm on Friday. Saw the forecast for today. Initially looked like a beach day and, while hot and muggy, we will be getting thunderstorms at some point. Couple that with some last minute work drama, and here I sit, at work. Though I have NO MOTIVATION to do any of the rush projects I need to complete.

[MichVandal]

We'll find out soon.

Amazon is putting up monster facilities in Fargo and Sioux Falls. I'm guessing it's because $15-$18 per plus benefits goes much further in those communities (and they both have solid airports and each sits at the crossroads of two interstate highways).

https://www.google.com/search?q=amaz...hrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=amaz...hrome&ie=UTF-8

There are those all over the country, some are bigger than others. When you go to work for that money, and come out in pain, I'm sure people double take. Then when you see that Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world off of your backs (former backs), others will question "is it really worth it" as it's REALLY obvious that Bezos has made far more money off of his workers than the brick and mortar stores they have replaced.

Seeing so many places struggle to fill work, it's becoming more and more obvious that people think that "working for the man" is not worth it for what they are getting. And it's not everyone, but it's enough to be a big issue.

[WeAreNDHockey]

Seeing so many places struggle to fill work, it's becoming more and more obvious that people think that "working for the man" is not worth it for what they are getting. And it's not everyone, but it's enough to be a big issue.

The unskilled and semi-skilled (and almost universally under-educated) factory workers I represented in MN, WI, IA and IL are getting harder and harder to replace. Those places can't find enough people to work with the current pay/benefit/environment that they offer.

Returning to OH the same is true of the skilled (and almost universally undergraduate and graduate level educated) workers I represent. They are equally as hard to replace even given the mean wage in excess of $50,000 for full time employees and decent sick leave, vacation and retirement benefits that almost all of my members share in regardless of the number of hours they work. My facilities here are woefully understaffed and if that doesn't change by the time business mostly returns to normal by the dawn of 2022 it will be a real hardship, for my members and the people they serve.

More and more people are realizing just how little reward (financially and mentally) there is in being employed at most workplaces and a lot of people have said "I'm out of here."

[MissThundercat]

The unskilled and semi-skilled (and almost universally under-educated) factory workers I represented in MN, WI, IA and IL are getting harder and harder to replace. Those places can't find enough people to work with the current pay/benefit/environment that they offer.

Returning to OH the same is true of the skilled (and almost universally undergraduate and graduate level educated) workers I represent. They are equally as hard to replace even given the mean wage in excess of $50,000 for full time employees and decent sick leave, vacation and retirement benefits that almost all of my members share in regardless of the number of hours they work. My facilities here are woefully understaffed and if that doesn't change by the time business mostly returns to normal by the dawn of 2022 it will be a real hardship, for my members and the people they serve.

More and more people are realizing just how little reward (financially and mentally) there is in being employed at most workplaces and a lot of people have said "I'm out of here."

See Meijer. My area has had a lot of people quit recently and there are plans to replace those people, but those people will be out of there in a few weeks. And when we talk about the pay, it's always sarcastically.

[MichVandal]

The unskilled and semi-skilled (and almost universally under-educated) factory workers I represented in MN, WI, IA and IL are getting harder and harder to replace. Those places can't find enough people to work with the current pay/benefit/environment that they offer.

Returning to OH the same is true of the skilled (and almost universally undergraduate and graduate level educated) workers I represent. They are equally as hard to replace even given the mean wage in excess of $50,000 for full time employees and decent sick leave, vacation and retirement benefits that almost all of my members share in regardless of the number of hours they work. My facilities here are woefully understaffed and if that doesn't change by the time business mostly returns to normal by the dawn of 2022 it will be a real hardship, for my members and the people they serve.

More and more people are realizing just how little reward (financially and mentally) there is in being employed at most workplaces and a lot of people have said "I'm out of here."

I'm done in just around 10 months, and don't see my job being replaced. Then again, the whole industry is changing, so it's not a great field to form your career around. This is office engineering work- not just labor.

Then again, seeing how much we rely on imported engineering skills, the trend in this country is pretty interesting.

[Swansong]

We are finalizing our WFH plans as we speak. It's a bit complicated because:

• We lose the lease on our building 9/1
• We have alternate office space we already lease but nowhere near enough for everyone, so...
  • We'll be hotel-cubing for a while and we only need to come in when it's required for meetings or whatnot
• Our parent company is taking a macro view for each hospital system's external office space needs and is looking to clump up and regionalize office space, as some of the other hospitals also have leases expiring. And after 17 months and counting of full remote work, they're realizing that maybe we don't need a cube for everyone...

So for me, I'm remote as much as I want at least into next year. And at this point, I absolutely have no interest in going in more than when I have to (90 minute commute each way...). If the day comes that I'm forced into I'll look for work closer to home.



edit: to touch on what people said about the work/life balance when working from home, in my old condo it was difficult. My "office" was my living room, so I'd spend ~17-18 hours per day in that one room. But now in my new house I have a separate office that I don't really ever go into other than work. Sure, I leave my laptop on until way late, but once I "leave" at 5:30 or so, typically I don't come back until later when I pop in to check late emails and turn it off.

[Scarlet]

We are finalizing our WFH plans as we speak. It's a bit complicated because:

• We lose the lease on our building 9/1
• We have alternate office space we already lease but nowhere near enough for everyone, so...
  • We'll be hotel-cubing for a while and we only need to come in when it's required for meetings or whatnot
• Our parent company is taking a macro view for each hospital system's external office space needs and is looking to clump up and regionalize office space, as some of the other hospitals also have leases expiring. And after 17 months and counting of full remote work, they're realizing that maybe we don't need a cube for everyone...

So for me, I'm remote as much as I want at least into next year. And at this point, I absolutely have no interest in going in more than when I have to (90 minute commute each way...). If the day comes that I'm forced into I'll look for work closer to home.



edit: to touch on what people said about the work/life balance when working from home, in my old condo it was difficult. My "office" was my living room, so I'd spend ~17-18 hours per day in that one room. But now in my new house I have a separate office that I don't really ever go into other than work. Sure, I leave my laptop on until way late, but once I "leave" at 5:30 or so, typically I don't come back until later when I pop in to check late emails and turn it off.

This has made SUCH a difference for me. I was working on my laptop through August last year. When I realized we wouldn't be going back to the office for a while, I cleaned out my second bedroom, ordered a monitor, keyboard, mouse and computer desk from my company's COVID work from home catalog and set up a home office. Like you, I keep everything on till about 7:00-ish, but I "leave" at 5:00, I start dinner and go back to check email, etc. a couple of times. Mentally, I feel like I am getting to and leaving the office each day.

I don't envision anyone on our team or department working in the office more than two or three days max a week. I know I will need to be in more than that on random occasions and I am OK with that. I told my team it's not the working in the office that I'm worried about. It's the getting to the office that worries me.

[Swansong]

The crazy thing is that I'm putting in a lot more hours working from home, but my work day feels substantially shorter and my days are more productive.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

There are those all over the country, some are bigger than others. When you go to work for that money, and come out in pain, I'm sure people double take. Then when you see that Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world off of your backs (former backs), others will question "is it really worth it" as it's REALLY obvious that Bezos has made far more money off of his workers than the brick and mortar stores they have replaced.

Seeing so many places struggle to fill work, it's becoming more and more obvious that people think that "working for the man" is not worth it for what they are getting. And it's not everyone, but it's enough to be a big issue.

And that's to say nothing of the reports of sweatshop-like working conditions in Amazon Fulfillment Centers, or the toxic performance review process/culture at the company as a whole.

[Swansong]

Speaking of Bezos:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeff-bezo...111400459.html

Jeff Bezos says work-life balance is a 'debilitating phrase.' He wants Amazon workers to view their career and lives as a 'circle.'

I mean, get the **** out of here with this.

[The Sicatoka]

The crazy thing is that I'm putting in a lot more hours working from home, but my work day feels substantially shorter and my days are more productive.

When you work from home you're always at work.