A record number of people in developed countries are quitting their jobs. There seem to be several factors/reasons. Currently there are better jobs for some workers. Secondly, some workers like working at their homes, and they do not want to go back to their workplaces. Thirdly, in this tumultuous time, many people have realized that how awful their work environments are.
I am thinking about quitting job myself.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/07/top-reasons-great-resignation-workers-quitting/
I've been reading a good bit about this myself and I can certainly sympathize with a lot of people who are quitting their jobs. Up until 2020, people have slogged away at the time clocks only to realize that ultimately they're incredibly unhappy with their jobs as they feel they're just slaving away with no real purpose. Since I've gone back to work in December of last year, I have cut back on my hours considerably. I only work four days a week and I work an easy 1pm to 10pm schedule. The only way I'd go back to 40 hrs. again is if I had no choice.
I love working from home and it has honestly saved me, without a word of exaggeration.
I will fight tooth and nail to continue working from home, since I can do my job 100% without any hitch. We are having a "plan to return to office" meeting. If I cannot continue to work from home in my current job, I will simply find another job that will allow me to do so 100%.
I think a lot of that is happening in the service industry. They took the time to train to find a better job during covid times and they're not coming back. It is rightfully forcing employers to offer a living wage and benefits for a change. But once that starts all of a sudden people in all sorts of professions start re-evaluating their career goals.
As for me, I like my job and I'm staying put.
I worked from home for a while after covid hit and have now retired without regret, but I do miss my coworkers and the social and collegial atmosphere of the workplace. The world is becoming an ever increasing place of personal isolation. You can't beat the commute of woking at home, but human interacation can't be overrated.
I can't say that I miss the socializing aspect of the workplace at all. I'm an extremely introverted person whose energy levels get sapped being in an office environment with any kind of noise level and being amongst many people. Then add to that the stress of commuting, another energy sapper, essentially I don't have anything left in the tank as far as energy levels and being present with my partner when I get home. That is just not a life worth living for me, at the end of the day.
Working from home, for an introvert like me, has been a life saver, literally speaking.
We are all built differently, but the traditional office environment and the big rat race daily grind was made for social butterflies and extroverts.
We all have different needs and I think it is important for each and every one of us to recognize what are personal needs are and what mechanisms work best for us as individuals.
I won't miss my workplace. I can occasionally meet some of my coworkers at a restaurant or cafe.
I'm about to turn 64, and expect to totally retire shortly after reaching 66 (about to sign on for a final 2-year term). I work from home as much as possible.
I envy the younger people who can work from home. When I was in 20s through 40s, being in the office and interacting with others was essential to promotion and advancing one's career. I'm amazed that remote work can offer the same career advancement, but more power to those who can do it.
When I read the title I thought it would be about the Austrian chancellor Kurz stepping down after a financial scandal but I apparently overestimated the importance of Austria in world politics. ;)
I work in the medical field so I never got to experience the "work from home" thing. Covid did not change my work life terribly much beyond the increased sanitation measures in the workplace. It is interesting seeing people leaving their jobs, especially in the service sector. There's a labor shortage across the board. Can't think of another time in my short life that this has happened before.
In the UK there's a really big drive right now from the Government to stop people working from home, I think because it has serious negative consequences for the value of commercial property -- property developers fund the political parties. The press are beating the drum in support of this: I posted in the COVID thread this extraordinary headline from a popular paper today
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBUvlokXIAQ_OqT?format=jpg&name=900x900)
What's ironic is that younger people want to work from home, but older people, boomers, are driving them back to the workplace.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBGwjy8VUAMtEU1?format=jpg&name=large)
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1446131978772770820
Quote from: Szykneij on October 10, 2021, 09:12:38 AM
I worked from home for a while after covid hit and have now retired without regret, but I do miss my coworkers and the social and collegial atmosphere of the workplace. The world is becoming an ever increasing place of personal isolation. You can't beat the commute of working at home, but human interaction can't be overrated.
Humans are social animals. We like to watch other people, we like to compare. We like to talk and joke.
If you only have your spouse (or whatever he or she is called) to talk to, there's a risk you become a burden to each other.
I say this as a person who has never worked in an office, always at home, 35 years now.
You have to be that kind of person, and still, the isolation of the pandemic has been hard.
Quote from: Herman on October 11, 2021, 12:53:52 AM
You have to be that kind of person, and still, the isolation of the pandemic has been hard.
Yes unlike Ray quarantine work was very hard on me. Getting back into the classroom and seeing my colleagues in real life was very necessary.
I don't usually contribute to threads outside the music discussion here, as some of the content of the political threads particularly leave me astounded and dismayed (or they would if I drilled into them beyond what I occasionally see through gateway links), and others don't often interest me.
However. Speaking as a civil servant (one of those that the Daily Mail - usually a UK news outlet I am happy to read - characterises as overpaid and a drain on all that is good in society, despite working in an essential area that ensures that the poorest and least privileged in society have their most basic of needs met, and aside from some annual leave, having never missed a single day at work through the whole pandemic), I have been significantly more productive and more able to manage a better work-life balance since the world changed.
I appreciate that some can't WFH. You can't interview every single person that needs a face to face interview, via MS Teams or Skype. You can't serve people coffee or food via a digital connection in all circumstances. You can't drive your bus or your train from your home office. You can't do factory line work from your home. You can't excise tumours from your bedroom via reactive AI, at least not yet.
However, some people can work predominantly or entirely from home. Smarter working and a greater emphasis on flexible working was already coming, and supports inclusion and more effective working patterns in ways that the traditional trudge to the train never did. Technology is coming into its own. Travel that seemed essential, simply isn't. Paying taxpayers' money to send countless commuters to London at inflated rail prices and hotel costs, has proved less essential than previously thought. Meetings that were routinely centralised and attended by large groups of tired and harassed workers hundreds of miles from home, no longer take place as a default. The loss of a personal four hour commuter round trip every day means longer sleep, better focus, greater trust and autonomy, and actually, longer hours of productivity. Do I need to attend the office sometimes? Of course. Do I miss the water cooler conversations and office banter? Sometimes. Is it harder to support and train new colleagues? Yes, sometimes. Does it mean that the economy will have to change and some sectors will bite the dust? No doubt. Just like they did during the industrial and digital revolutions. It doesn't mean that doing things in the same old way for the sake of doing them in the same old way, is the only recourse.
My current role means that my teams of direct reports are scattered from Scotland, Northern Ireland, the South East, and Wales.
There is absolutely no way I am routinely dragging my butt to one of the major cities just to sit in an office where none of my teams work, and where my functional day would be identical in tasks, scope and productivity to working from my home office, while adding to my costs, time and loss of goodwill and engagement, just because of a wider political agenda that fails to account for modern working practices.
They can bite me.
As for the USA, a majority of workers think that they will look for a new job this and next year.
The pandemic made us reassess our relationship with work.
This is a good thing.
https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/job-seekers-survey-august-2021/
My day job is becoming increasingly stupid, stressful, and demeaning. 4 of 6 people in my group have joined the "Great Resignation" so far, along with probably 25% of the people in the rest of our department. I definitely would love to find another job and rub it in all their faces, it's just very time-consuming to search, and I don't have a ton of free time. We'll see!
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 12, 2021, 06:17:58 AM
As for the USA, a majority of workers think that they will look for a new job this and next year.
The pandemic made us reassess our relationship with work.
This is a good thing.
https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/job-seekers-survey-august-2021/
There is a big gulf between saying you want to find a new job and actually doing it.
My job involves bringing my technical expertise to a new field, and it would be a great help to be able to interact with my more experienced colleagues in person, to brainstorm, have an informal chat at the whiteboard, just see what they are doing. Dominantly remote work has been a big minus in that respect. Beyond that, my home "office" is not at all conducive to concentrated work, which leads me to working late at night or in the very early morning, which is a miserable experience. I would love to be able to work in an office.
Reading all the posts above makes me realise just how fortunate I am. Don't want to sound smug, and I have worked hard earlier in life to get to the position I am in, but I really enjoy my work and definitely won't be joining the Big Quit. (I work, part-time, as a librarian in my local public library, with special responsibility for performing arts.) Back in the first lockdown, my colleagues and I were reassigned to other duties that involved working from home - I hated it and couldn't wait to be back serving "my public" in person. Commuting involves a 15-minute drive, or 50-minute cycle, down deserted country lanes towards the splendid sight of the Abergavenny hills. So... I'm aware that this post reads a bit like those where someone asks for recommendations for a Brahms symphony cycle, and someone else comes along and says "I can't stand Brahms and never listen to him". But there we go.
Quote from: Brian on October 12, 2021, 06:52:09 AM
My day job is becoming increasingly stupid, stressful, and demeaning. 4 of 6 people in my group have joined the "Great Resignation" so far, along with probably 25% of the people in the rest of our department. I definitely would love to find another job and rub it in all their faces, it's just very time-consuming to search, and I don't have a ton of free time. We'll see!
I thought you were a food critic for a major newspaper? ???
Quote from: DaveF on October 12, 2021, 07:57:47 AM
Reading all the posts above makes me realise just how fortunate I am.
I also really enjoy my work. I teach highly motivated and talented students at a specialized STEM school. So the work is rewarding. I don't get paid big bucks, but enough to live comfortably and have spending money.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 12, 2021, 06:17:58 AM
As for the USA, a majority of workers think that they will look for a new job this and next year.
The pandemic made us reassess our relationship with work.
This is a good thing.
https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/job-seekers-survey-august-2021/ (https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/job-seekers-survey-august-2021/)
High time ...
Both work and living have become more and more pointless and empty. There is no lack of meaningful things that cry out to be done but our working days are used up in what lacks meaning, making useless or harmful products, or servicing the bureaucratic structures. For most Americans, work is mindless, exhausting, boring, servile and hateful: something to be endured, while life is confined to time off. Beginning with school (if not before) an individual is systematically stripped of his imagination, his creativity, his heritage, his dreams and his personal uniqueness in order to fit him to be a productive unit in a mass technological society. Instinct, feeling and spontaneity are suppressed by overwhelming forces. As the individual is drawn into the meritocracy his working life is split from his home life, and both suffer from a lack of wholeness. In the end, people virtually become their occupations and their other roles and are strangers to themselves. The American crisis then seems clearly to be related to an inability to act, but what is the cause of this paralysis? Why, in the face of every warning, have we been unable to act? Why have we not used our resources more wisely and justly? We tell ourselves that social failure gets down to individual moral failure: We must have the will to act, we must first find concern and compassion in our hearts. But this diagnosis is not good enough. It is contradicted by the experience of powerlessness that is encountered by so many people. Today a majority of the people as moral individuals certainly want peace, but they cannot turn their individual wills into action by society. It is not that we do not will action, but that we are unable to act, unable to put existing knowledge to use. The machinery of our society apparently no longer works, or we no longer know how to make it work. The corporate state in which we live is an immensely powerful machine, ordered, legalistic, rational, yet utterly out of human control and indifferent to human values. It is hard to say exactly when our society assumed this shape. The major symptoms of change started appearing after the Second World War and especially in the 1950s. The expenditure of a trillion dollars for defense, the destruction of the environment, the production of unneeded goods. These were not merely extension of the familiar blunders and corruption of America's past, they were of a different order of magnitude. And although they were all an integral part of a legal, and seemingly rational system, they were surrounded by a growing atmosphere of unreality. The stupidities and thefts of the Grant era were not insane, they were human departures from a reasonably human standard. In the 1950s the norm itself, the system itself became deranged.
From "The Greening of America" by Chas A. Reich in
The New Yorker. 26 Sep 1970
WFH since March or April-ish last year, one of the very best things that ever happened to me.
Hopefully I can end up WFH the rest of my life, even in new positions. Coming to office for IT work is totally unnecessary for most. Being in office sucks, the restlessness of being stuck in the same spot all day is almost unbearable sometimes. The only disadvantage is not seeing coworkers, but overall the positive greatly outweigh the negatives.
As for the service industry, hopefully it would lead to employees being treated better. What a miserable industry to work in.
I have mixed feelings about WFH in my pre-stroke era. On one hand it was very nice to get up a little later and not deal with the commute, very nice to enjoy lunch at home with my family. On t'other, the 8-hour workday was overall more stressful than if I had been in the office. I felt more like The Man owned my time, than if I had been in the office. I remember an article in the Globe to the effect of: The Laptop Has Destroyed Work-Life Balance, and I had a good glimpse of that when working from home.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 13, 2021, 06:36:58 AM
I have mixed feelings about WFH in my pre-stroke era. On one hand it was very nice to get up a little later and not deal with the commute, very nice to enjoy lunch at home with my family. On t'other, the 8-hour workday was overall more stressful than if I had been in the office. I felt more like The Man owned my time, than if I had been in the office. I remember an article in the Globe to the effect of: The Laptop Has Destroyed Work-Life Balance, and I had a good glimpse of that when working from home.
This can be a problem for sure, it kinda just depends on your specific job and how much people respect your time outside of working hours. In my previous position, despite working in office 8+ hours a day, I was contacted to where I did probably 2 hours average extra time per week logging in and taking care of stuff at home. Nowadays, almost nothing outside of work hours- much less demanding position.
Also it could be partially depending upon marital status.
Opinion: Workers are feeling a bit more empowered, and Republicans can't stand it
Opinion by Paul Waldman
Today at 2:44 p.m. EDT
A record 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs in August, a phenomenon most observers regard as complicated, intriguing and revealing — both about the state of the economy and how people are thinking about the nature of work nearly two years into the coronavirus pandemic.
This is an extraordinary opportunity to look at the economic life of the country in a slightly different way, an opportunity millions of people are already taking. But it may not last. We could look back at this period in our history as a watershed in our approach to work, but the forces of backlash are never far behind any hint of progress.
You can see it at the elite level, with those whose message to the public is Get back to work, you bums. And stop complaining. Like this Republican congressman, expressing a common sentiment in his party:
4.3 million workers quit their jobs. We need to quit paying folks not to work.
The congressman seems unaware that if you just up and quit your job because you'd rather not work, you aren't eligible to receive unemployment insurance. But perhaps it's too much to expect that an elected policymaker would have even the most basic understanding of government policy.
What is now being called the "Great Resignation" has many causes. Many of those quitting are doing so because they think they can get a better job elsewhere. Some are starting their own businesses. Some have decided to retire early, even on a smaller income, because they've realized they value time more than money.
The quitting is happening at the highest rates in low-wage industries such as restaurants, hospitality and retail. Many have gotten fed up with low pay, difficult working conditions and abusive customers. And many who are still in their old jobs are thinking about moving on.
This isn't happening by accident. From the beginning, the pandemic was a public health and an economic crisis, and the nature of employment was at the center. When we put the economy into an induced coma in early 2020, we began talking about "essential workers" who put themselves at risk for the rest of us. But what did they get from all those expressions of thanks? Not much.
From the earliest moments of the pandemic, Republicans worried that workers might start getting dangerous ideas about their self-worth. In April 2020, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring meatpacking plants to be "critical infrastructure," forcing the largely immigrant workforce to stay in already dangerous jobs; thousands went on to contract covid-19. But as a White House economist said a month later, "Our human capital stock is ready to get back to work."
As Democrats forced enhanced unemployment benefits into relief bills, Republicans loudly objected that they would make Americans lazy and unwilling to work. GOP-controlled states moved to cut off those benefits, claiming that doing so would produce an explosion in job growth as layabouts would be forced to get jobs. They were wrong; states that cut off enhanced benefits early did no better than states that didn't.
Today, as Democrats argue about whether to extend the enhanced child tax credit and improve our health-care and child-care systems, the same arguments can be heard, sometimes from conservative Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.): If we make people's lives too secure, they'll reveal themselves as the moochers they are, so let's make benefits as stingy as possible and force people to run a bureaucratic obstacle course to get them.
This is an ongoing struggle playing out in Congress and workplaces throughout the country. For this brief moment, the balance of power has shifted a bit in workers' direction, because labor shortages are allowing them to demand better pay and working conditions.
A more robust system of social supports would shift that balance further: If your health insurance weren't dependent on the whims of your boss and you had affordable child care, you wouldn't always live in terror of losing your job. The fact that you could quit without fear to find something better would give you more power.
But we shouldn't forget that, for most Americans, this isn't remotely the situation they are living with. We're seeing a wave of strikes — not only because workers feel they have a chance to succeed, but because their pay and working conditions have become intolerable. In one recent poll, nearly 40 percent of Americans said they had faced serious financial difficulty in recent months.
We have long told ourselves a story about America as a land of limitless opportunity, despite the fact that we know it isn't true. We tell and retell stories of the extraordinary people who pulled themselves up from dire circumstances to achieve wealth and success, never acknowledging that it's precisely the exceptional nature of those stories that is the problem. In a just society, you shouldn't have to be a one-in-a-million genius or a maniacal workaholic to haul yourself to a life free of deprivation.
We could go either way as we emerge from the pandemic: toward an economy that provides people a baseline level of security that allows them to live meaningful lives free of fear of economic misery, or toward one that tells people they should be happy to have any job at all and don't deserve much more.
Our history does not suggest that things will work out well for ordinary people. But at least we have a chance to create something different.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 15, 2021, 01:24:26 PM
Opinion: Workers are feeling a bit more empowered, and Republicans can't stand it
We're seeing a wave of strikes — not only because workers feel they have a chance to succeed, but because their pay and working conditions have become intolerable.
I have a similar view. Somehow, the Big Quit movement reminds me of the description of, and advocacy for, the labor-capital relationship by Marx.
A largest number of workers in the USA quit the job in September. The worker shortage continues. The labor market is now a sellers' market. Karl Marx would be happy to see the condition today. The situation may farther raise the price level, I think.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/12/economy/job-openings-quits-september/index.html
I retired almost 6 years ago at age 59. Pension money was good and after 37 years I felt washed out. If I had not, working from home would have ensured I'd be begging to quit. I just can't stand it.
I did enjoy the free time but last year I began fretting and enlisted in a seniors' home care for a few weeks. I was laid off when Covid-sick workers returned. Then I started fretting again this year once summer was over. I checked ads and promptly signed as an orderly in a residence for mentally handicapped adults. Some have Downs syndrome, others suffer from serious mental retardation. The job is very menial but I have meaningful interactions with real people. No paperwork, no reporting, no computer. I'm happy.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on November 12, 2021, 08:03:31 AM
A largest number of workers in the USA quit the job in September. The worker shortage continues. The labor market is now a sellers' market. Karl Marx would be happy to see the condition today. The situation may farther raise the price level, I think.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/12/economy/job-openings-quits-september/index.html
Interesting, so far continued, trend - thank you.
Quote from: André on November 12, 2021, 11:29:11 AM
I retired almost 6 years ago at age 59. Pension money was good and after 37 years I felt washed out. If I had not, working from home would have ensured I'd be begging to quit. I just can't stand it.
I did enjoy the free time but last year I began fretting and enlisted in a seniors' home care for a few weeks. I was laid off when Covid-sick workers returned. Then I started fretting again this year once summer was over. I checked ads and promptly signed as an orderly in a residence for mentally handicapped adults. Some have Downs syndrome, others suffer from serious mental retardation. The job is very menial but I have meaningful interactions with real people. No paperwork, no reporting, no computer. I'm happy.
I'd call that a result.
Quote from: André on November 12, 2021, 11:29:11 AM
I retired almost 6 years ago at age 59. Pension money was good and after 37 years I felt washed out. If I had not, working from home would have ensured I'd be begging to quit. I just can't stand it.
I did enjoy the free time but last year I began fretting and enlisted in a seniors' home care for a few weeks. I was laid off when Covid-sick workers returned. Then I started fretting again this year once summer was over. I checked ads and promptly signed as an orderly in a residence for mentally handicapped adults. Some have Downs syndrome, others suffer from serious mental retardation. The job is very menial but I have meaningful interactions with real people. No paperwork, no reporting, no computer. I'm happy.
Nice!
Quote from: André on November 12, 2021, 11:29:11 AM
I retired almost 6 years ago at age 59. Pension money was good and after 37 years I felt washed out. If I had not, working from home would have ensured I'd be begging to quit. I just can't stand it.
I did enjoy the free time but last year I began fretting and enlisted in a seniors' home care for a few weeks. I was laid off when Covid-sick workers returned. Then I started fretting again this year once summer was over. I checked ads and promptly signed as an orderly in a residence for mentally handicapped adults. Some have Downs syndrome, others suffer from serious mental retardation. The job is very menial but I have meaningful interactions with real people. No paperwork, no reporting, no computer. I'm happy.
I would like to retire around 59-60 y/o, or even earlier, though it would reduce the amount of pension I would receive. I saw my colleagues mentally and physically distressed when they retired at 65-7 y/o.
A few social scientists asked some self-employed people who used to be office workers if they would like to resume working at office 8-5 for two times of their income. A less than 10 percent responded yes.
You sound like you just had these works for fun. One modern philosopher said that the conditions for "good work" include that 1) you can exercise your ability, 2) the job makes contributions to the society, and 3) what you do is respected by others. All the three apply to the works you had.
The below is a significantly different interpretation of Big Quit by Vox News article. It postulates that this is a social movement rather than an micro economic adjustment.
https://www.vox.com/recode/22776112/quit-jobs-great-resignation-workers-union
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on November 12, 2021, 02:14:20 PM
I would like to retire around 59-60 y/o, or even earlier, though it would reduce the amount of pension I would receive. I saw my colleagues mentally and physically distressed when they retired at 65-7 y/o.
A few social scientists asked some self-employed people who used to be office workers if they would like to resume working at office 8-5 for two times of their income. A less than 10 percent responded yes.
You sound like you just had these works for fun. One modern philosopher said that the conditions for "good work" include that 1) you can exercise your ability, 2) the job makes contributions to the society, and 3) what you do is respected by others. All the three apply to the works you had.
https://www.vox.com/recode/22776112/quit-jobs-great-resignation-workers-union
I didn't know that but it does apply very exactly to what I feel about that work.
I would add to that:
4) I only work part-time (20hours/week) and I'm quite free to block a day here and there. :)
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on November 12, 2021, 08:03:31 AM
A largest number of workers in the USA quit the job in September. The worker shortage continues. The labor market is now a sellers' market. Karl Marx would be happy to see the condition today. The situation may farther raise the price level, I think.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/12/economy/job-openings-quits-september/index.html
I don't know if this is an unambiguous indication of worker power. Many have dropped out of the labor force, so a lot of the people quitting are not getting new jobs. They may be quitting because childcare is unavailable or unaffordable, kids are not in school, family caregivers are unavailable due to pandemic condition, they have ill family members to care for since home care is unavailable or unaffordable. They are finding that the cost of holding the job exceeds their meagre wages. Employers are locked into a business model that is based on poverty wages for rank and file workers.
I have seen too many fine educators leave the teaching field to go work in the private sector this year, many more than I have seen in the past. Although, where I live, there are a great many young people wanting to step into these positions, so my area is not feeling the effect of these resignations yet.
VS
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on November 12, 2021, 02:14:20 PM
I would like to retire around 59-60 y/o, or even earlier, though it would reduce the amount of pension I would receive. I saw my colleagues mentally and physically distressed when they retired at 65-7 y/o.
A few social scientists asked some self-employed people who used to be office workers if they would like to resume working at office 8-5 for two times of their income. A less than 10 percent responded yes.
You sound like you just had these works for fun. One modern philosopher said that the conditions for "good work" include that 1) you can exercise your ability, 2) the job makes contributions to the society, and 3) what you do is respected by others. All the three apply to the works you had.
The below is a significantly different interpretation of Big Quit by Vox News article. It postulates that this is a social movement rather than an micro economic adjustment.
https://www.vox.com/recode/22776112/quit-jobs-great-resignation-workers-union
I hope never to retire.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on November 12, 2021, 03:34:32 PM
I hope never to retire.
While at the moment, I experience no motivation to compose, I don't feel that will remain permanent. If/when I get writing again, I may not voluntarily retire from that activity.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 12, 2021, 05:26:36 PM
While at the moment, I experience no motivation to compose [...]
Any idea why?
I find myself in a state where I feel the world now is so ugly and steeped in falsehoods and us vs them that I need to get the motivation to write entirely out of myself. This is not a world I can contribute to. I should add though that this is how it usually works for me.
Quote from: Herman on November 13, 2021, 11:17:55 PM
Any idea why?
I find myself in a state where I feel the world now is so ugly and steeped in falsehoods and us vs them that I need to get the motivation to write entirely out of myself. This is not a world I can contribute to. I should add though that this is how it usually works for me.
The feeling of powerless to do anything to change the general craziness in the country has intensified a feeling of powerless to do anything which would give me a profile as a composer. I hope that does not come across as self-pity, which I do not believe to be one of my faults.
Yes I understand.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 04:05:31 AM
The feeling of powerless to do anything to change the general craziness in the country has intensified a feeling of powerless to do anything which would give me a profile as a composer. I hope that does not come across as self-pity, which I do not believe to be one of my faults.
Interesting. I was assuming that aesthetic realization, more than social impact, was your motivation/purpose in your profession.
Btw, I listened to the Beatles' Revolution (the single version, B-side of Hey Jude) a few days ago. It is a nice song!
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on November 14, 2021, 01:10:03 PM
Interesting. I was assuming that aesthetic realization, more than social impact, was your motivation/purpose in your profession.
Btw, I listened to the Beatles' Revolution (the single version, B-side of Hey Jude) a few days ago. It is a nice song!
Music is a social endeavor. Unless you're a solo pianist or organist, one makes music together with others. And not for the composer alone, but for the performers, making music is missing something without an audience. Put another way, the word for making music without an audience is
rehearsal. Aesthetic realization is certainly an important part of why I have persevered in composing heretofore. (Is it a profession, if I pursue it solely in my own studio?) The question I am facing is,
if the only ears in the world which require me to do fresh work are my own, why am I composing?
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 01:44:09 PM
Music is a social endeavor. Unless you're a solo pianist or organist, one makes music together with others. And not for the composer alone, but for the performers, making music is missing something without an audience. Put another way, the word for making music without an audience is rehearsal. Aesthetic realization is certainly an important part of why I have persevered in composing heretofore. (Is it a profession, if I pursue it solely in my own studio?) The question I am facing is, if the only ears in the world which require me to do fresh work are my own, why am I composing?
Makes sense. A work becomes musical entity at receivers. Before that it is an ideational entity.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 01:44:09 PM
Music is a social endeavor. Unless you're a solo pianist or organist, one makes music together with others. And not for the composer alone, but for the performers, making music is missing something without an audience. Put another way, the word for making music without an audience is rehearsal. Aesthetic realization is certainly an important part of why I have persevered in composing heretofore. (Is it a profession, if I pursue it solely in my own studio?) The question I am facing is, if the only ears in the world which require me to do fresh work are my own, why am I composing?
Sometimes those ears on their own are enough to justify the fresh work.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 04:05:31 AM
The feeling of powerless to do anything to change the general craziness in the country has intensified a feeling of powerless to do anything which would give me a profile as a composer. I hope that does not come across as self-pity, which I do not believe to be one of my faults.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 01:44:09 PM
Music is a social endeavor. Unless you're a solo pianist or organist, one makes music together with others. And not for the composer alone, but for the performers, making music is missing something without an audience. Put another way, the word for making music without an audience is rehearsal. Aesthetic realization is certainly an important part of why I have persevered in composing heretofore. (Is it a profession, if I pursue it solely in my own studio?) The question I am facing is, if the only ears in the world which require me to do fresh work are my own, why am I composing?
I understand your sentiments. Given the pandemic and the social/political disfunction in the U.S., I do not remember ever being so pessimistic about the future.
I agree that an audience is critical to the production of art. I feel that a desire to communicate at some level should be at the base of it, and feedback from an audience should be part of refining ones craft. But perhaps, making music without an audience at least involves the musicians performing for each other. Writing music which is not performed, even without an audience, seems like study, rather than composition.
I can recall expressing skepticism about Havergal Brian, who wrote 32 unperformed symphonies, many requiring colossal forces, although Brian found little or no motivation to write works on a scale such that he could reasonably hope for a performance. Of course, my reservations were met with contempt by the Brianophiles on the board.
In any case, I hope you will find the motivation to compose again, whoever the audience might be.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 12, 2021, 05:26:36 PM
While at the moment, I experience no motivation to compose, I don't feel that will remain permanent. If/when I get writing again, I may not voluntarily retire from that activity.
Yeah, that's fine for now, don't worry about it. Giving yourself a rest from it can make you feel refreshed and extra focused and full of ideas when you get back into it.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on November 14, 2021, 09:13:13 PM
Writing music which is not performed, even without an audience, seems like study, rather than composition.
Interesting, to me it isn't that way at all. I do it entirely for my own entertainment, I want to unlock the secret possibilities that music has to offer, feel new vibes and explore, as if exploring a new country or planet.
The sharing (social aspect of it) is entirely secondary, but what I find important about sharing is imagining a world where my favorite music wasn't shared by the creator, and I never knew of it. Don't wanna do that. So it's really a net benefit for potential fans.
Quote from: JBS on November 14, 2021, 08:04:35 PM
Sometimes those ears on their own are enough to justify the fresh work.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on November 14, 2021, 09:13:13 PM
I understand your sentiments. Given the pandemic and the social/political disfunction in the U.S., I do not remember ever being so pessimistic about the future.
I agree that an audience is critical to the production of art. I feel that a desire to communicate at some level should be at the base of it, and feedback from an audience should be part of refining ones craft. But perhaps, making music without an audience at least involves the musicians performing for each other. Writing music which is not performed, even without an audience, seems like study, rather than composition.
I can recall expressing skepticism about Havergal Brian, who wrote 32 unperformed symphonies, many requiring colossal forces, although Brian found little or no motivation to write works on a scale such that he could reasonably hope for a performance. Of course, my reservations were met with contempt by the Brianophiles on the board.
In any case, I hope you will find the motivation to compose again, whoever the audience might be.
Thanks, gents.
Quote from: greg on November 14, 2021, 09:34:43 PM
Yeah, that's fine for now, don't worry about it. Giving yourself a rest from it can make you feel refreshed and extra focused and full of ideas when you get back into it.
Interesting, to me it isn't that way at all. I do it entirely for my own entertainment, I want to unlock the secret possibilities that music has to offer, feel new vibes and explore, as if exploring a new country or planet.
The sharing (social aspect of it) is entirely secondary, but what I find important about sharing is imagining a world where my favorite music wasn't shared by the creator, and I never knew of it. Don't wanna do that. So it's really a net benefit for potential fans.
Interesting.
Quote from: greg on November 14, 2021, 09:34:43 PM
Interesting, to me it isn't that way at all. I do it entirely for my own entertainment, I want to unlock the secret possibilities that music has to offer, feel new vibes and explore, as if exploring a new country or planet.
The sharing (social aspect of it) is entirely secondary, but what I find important about sharing is imagining a world where my favorite music wasn't shared by the creator, and I never knew of it. Don't wanna do that. So it's really a net benefit for potential fans.
My own experience is that I never approached creating music as a serious vocation, did a lot of playing for myself, doing bounce back recordings, or with a four-track in the basement, but always with the idea of working my way towards something I'd want to present in public, or at least to friends. Eventually I did do some performances by myself or in small groups, at college student venues, etc. But when I got a real job and those possibilities drifted away my interest in creating music also drifted away.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on November 15, 2021, 05:52:31 AM
My own experience is that I never approached creating music as a serious vocation, did a lot of playing for myself, doing bounce back recordings, or with a four-track in the basement, but always with the idea of working my way towards something I'd want to present in public, or at least to friends. Eventually I did do some performances by myself or in small groups, at college student venues, etc. But when I got a real job and those possibilities drifted away my interest in creating music also drifted away.
Another factor for me now, as I think
What is different? is my forced separation from the clarinet. Normally (if I can use that adverb) I was able to play my music for even a small audience. Part of my brain is wondering if I need to move from
I don't know when I'll play clarinet again to
the clarinet is a thing of the past. I'm resisting any push that way. It would be an enormous disappointment.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 15, 2021, 06:47:09 AM
Another factor for me now, as I think What is different? is my forced separation from the clarinet. Normally (if I can use that adverb) I was able to play my music for even a small audience. Part of my brain is wondering if I need to move from I don't know when I'll play clarinet again to the clarinet is a thing of the past. I'm resisting any push that way. It would be an enormous disappointment.
You have my deepest sympathy on that subject, and I hesitate to give advice on a subject so individual and of such importance. It is hard to stop myself from making the obvious comment that in an ideal world the focus on restoring your ability to perform wouldn't prevent you from exploring what can be done until the ability is reacquired. But it is absurd to think a person can be instructed on where they should find inspiration.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 15, 2021, 06:47:09 AM
Another factor for me now, as I think What is different? is my forced separation from the clarinet. Normally (if I can use that adverb) I was able to play my music for even a small audience. Part of my brain is wondering if I need to move from I don't know when I'll play clarinet again to the clarinet is a thing of the past. I'm resisting any push that way. It would be an enormous disappointment.
I'd hate to see you stop playing the clarinet in which I know you love to do, but you, being a composer, I would think takes precedent over being a clarinetist or would this be too presumptuous on my part?
Two contrasting news.
Now, higher-paid, professional and middle-aged workers are quitting job. "At the midpoint of life, we become aware of our own mortality, and it allows us to reflect on what really matters to us," one guy says.
https://www.vox.com/recode/23042785/the-great-resignation-older-tenured-higher-paid
Airbnb says staffers can work remotely forever, if they want.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/tech/airbnb-return-to-office-update/index.html
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on May 02, 2022, 02:29:32 PM
Two contrasting news.
Now, higher-paid, professional and middle-aged workers are quitting job. "At the midpoint of life, we become aware of our own mortality, and it allows us to reflect on what really matters to us," one guy says.
https://www.vox.com/recode/23042785/the-great-resignation-older-tenured-higher-paid
Airbnb says staffers can work remotely forever, if they want.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/tech/airbnb-return-to-office-update/index.html
If more businesses are offering work-from-home for their employees then what we're really seeing is a disillusionment with going into the workplace. There are still jobs that take place in a cubicle, but these jobs are absolutely turning a company's workforce into mindless zombies. The whole work/life balance is completely out-of-whack and it seems this is why so many people are leaving their jobs in their late 30s/40s. People are not machines and this is what these US corporations are starting to realize and if they don't, then the CEOs are in big trouble.
My job is no big deal. I work retail, but have opted to only work four days a week with three off in a row. This is better
for me and it allows me to actually enjoy the life I have. The drudgery of 8 to 5 never appealed to me and I'm thankful that I'm in a situation where work doesn't dominate my existence.
B-buutttttt...... you are supposed to work 60 hours a week and die from a heart attack caused by stress and bad diet from having to work so much before you even retire, what's wrong with you people wanting to live your life? Working all day so you can make the CEO richer is supposed to be your soul's only true desire, if not then BAAAAAAAAAADDDDD ROBOT! BAD! >:(
Quote from: Brian on October 12, 2021, 06:52:09 AM
My day job is becoming increasingly stupid, stressful, and demeaning. 4 of 6 people in my group have joined the "Great Resignation" so far, along with probably 25% of the people in the rest of our department. I definitely would love to find another job and rub it in all their faces, it's just very time-consuming to search, and I don't have a ton of free time. We'll see!
Quote from: DavidW on October 12, 2021, 02:26:25 PM
I thought you were a food critic for a major newspaper? ???
Since that conversation (sorry I never replied to you, David, now I will!), I have successfully quit my terrible job and started a better, higher paying new one. I'll fill in the backstory here first, and then a few lessons I have learned from the quitting experience.
Backstory:
Yes, I was the food critic for a major newspaper, but unfortunately that paper had already downsized to the point where the job was a freelance/part time role. My full time job was with a community college, doing marketing department things, writing stories to help convince kids to go to college, get degrees, etc. Food writing was lucrative as a hobby ($20k or so), but it occupied me for 12-15 hours a week on top of my 40 hour day job.
The college went through a corporate style restructuring, everyone was made to reapply for their own jobs
at the 2020 peak of the pandemic, and the resulting layoffs caused obvious understaffing and overworking. However, the restructure was seen as a huge success by executive leadership, who then created a layer of middle management to cater to their every desire. Suddenly we were supposed to market deans and chancellors as celebrities, for example, instead of focusing on stuff that matters.
This is all of course a metaphor for America's economy at large, in which the people at the top have deliberately created a system which, to the rest of us, seems broken, but which is in fact functioning exactly as intended.
End backstory
I'm now the
full time restaurant critic at a glossy local magazine. It came with a raise that almost gets me to the pay of my two old jobs combined.
Lessons I've learned:
1. Working from the office/cubicle is much more tolerable if your work is good!! I used to be so resentful that the college required us to go to the office when we were required, once there, to have all our meetings online in Teams. We were driving to a place, then hiding from people, then driving home. I spent probably 3 hours of 8 goofing off on the internet. I genuinely was running out of websites to read every day!
Now I work a fully flex schedule, about half and half. And I actually like going to work?? And I like talking to the people there?? And today for example I didn't spend any time at all going around reading all the usual websites?? It's crazy. It helps that it's a 21st floor office with a spectacular view.
But it really helps to like the job.
2. Same for commuting. I went from 22 minutes driving daily to 37, but I don't mind because I like going there.
3. Exhaustion and emotional fatigue set in very slowly and therefore are hard to diagnose. I was sick and tired of all those people and their drama and their idiotic "strategies." But I tolerated it day by day, assumed it was normal, and thought all jobs were like that. Moving to a new office was revelatory.
4. You have a little bit of paranoia when you leave a terrible situation. I keep popping out to lunch, which is literally my job, and expecting to get a call from my boss demanding to know why I'm not at my desk. Hasn't happened. Turns out, that was only my old boss! But I'm still scared of it.
5. Re: the comments about doing what's important to you. Previously I had a job doing what was important to me, and another job which paid the bills, provided stability, and didn't interfere with my other goals. That was a good deal for a while. It was nice to support my passion with an easy, pleasant everyday work.
But as that day job grew more stressful and more irritating, the calculus changed. One of my colleagues quit to become a pizza delivery driver. Another quit to make large scale woven tapestries. Another quit to raise her twins. Another quit to travel the world on his life savings at the age of 28.
The pursue your passion vs. have a stable job decision is not a decision you make one time, forever. You have to keep making it as your passion intensifies and your stable life becomes less stable.
6. I'm very very lucky!
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on May 02, 2022, 02:29:32 PM
Now, higher-paid, professional and middle-aged workers are quitting job. "At the midpoint of life, we become aware of our own mortality, and it allows us to reflect on what really matters to us," one guy says.
That was me in 2020. When I started in IT it was exciting to learn on the job, come up with ideas, use my initiative and have a go even if things sometimes went wrong, there were also constantly changing systems to learn. It was really a great career for the talented amateur. Eventually though it all became so restrictive I was completely fed up with it and drained but was fortunately able to retire early at 58.
Thanks for the detailed response Brian. You've certainly had a stressful past two years. Good to see you've come through it and found a good job again.
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 02, 2022, 03:23:30 PM
If more businesses are offering work-from-home for their employees then what we're really seeing is a disillusionment with going into the workplace. There are still jobs that take place in a cubicle, but these jobs are absolutely turning a company's workforce into mindless zombies. The whole work/life balance is completely out-of-whack and it seems this is why so many people are leaving their jobs in their late 30s/40s. People are not machines and this is what these US corporations are starting to realize and if they don't, then the CEOs are in big trouble.
My job is no big deal. I work retail, but have opted to only work four days a week with three off in a row. This is better for me and it allows me to actually enjoy the life I have. The drudgery of 8 to 5 never appealed to me and I'm thankful that I'm in a situation where work doesn't dominate my existence.
John, 4 days a week is a good deal. You want to work more only when you find a job very valuable to you.
Quote from: steve ridgway on May 02, 2022, 10:14:01 PM
That was me in 2020. When I started in IT it was exciting to learn on the job, come up with ideas, use my initiative and have a go even if things sometimes went wrong, there were also constantly changing systems to learn. It was really a great career for the talented amateur. Eventually though it all became so restrictive I was completely fed up with it and drained but was fortunately able to retire early at 58.
I understand what you're talking about. I want to retire before getting 6o y/o too.
Quote from: Brian on May 02, 2022, 07:33:55 PM
Since that conversation (sorry I never replied to you, David, now I will!), I have successfully quit my terrible job and started a better, higher paying new one. I'll fill in the backstory here first, and then a few lessons I have learned from the quitting experience.
Backstory:
Yes, I was the food critic for a major newspaper, but unfortunately that paper had already downsized to the point where the job was a freelance/part time role. My full time job was with a community college, doing marketing department things, writing stories to help convince kids to go to college, get degrees, etc. Food writing was lucrative as a hobby ($20k or so), but it occupied me for 12-15 hours a week on top of my 40 hour day job.
The college went through a corporate style restructuring, everyone was made to reapply for their own jobs at the 2020 peak of the pandemic, and the resulting layoffs caused obvious understaffing and overworking. However, the restructure was seen as a huge success by executive leadership, who then created a layer of middle management to cater to their every desire. Suddenly we were supposed to market deans and chancellors as celebrities, for example, instead of focusing on stuff that matters.
This is all of course a metaphor for America's economy at large, in which the people at the top have deliberately created a system which, to the rest of us, seems broken, but which is in fact functioning exactly as intended.
End backstory
I'm now the full time restaurant critic at a glossy local magazine. It came with a raise that almost gets me to the pay of my two old jobs combined.
Lessons I've learned:
1. Working from the office/cubicle is much more tolerable if your work is good!! I used to be so resentful that the college required us to go to the office when we were required, once there, to have all our meetings online in Teams. We were driving to a place, then hiding from people, then driving home. I spent probably 3 hours of 8 goofing off on the internet. I genuinely was running out of websites to read every day!
Now I work a fully flex schedule, about half and half. And I actually like going to work?? And I like talking to the people there?? And today for example I didn't spend any time at all going around reading all the usual websites?? It's crazy. It helps that it's a 21st floor office with a spectacular view.
But it really helps to like the job.
2. Same for commuting. I went from 22 minutes driving daily to 37, but I don't mind because I like going there.
3. Exhaustion and emotional fatigue set in very slowly and therefore are hard to diagnose. I was sick and tired of all those people and their drama and their idiotic "strategies." But I tolerated it day by day, assumed it was normal, and thought all jobs were like that. Moving to a new office was revelatory.
4. You have a little bit of paranoia when you leave a terrible situation. I keep popping out to lunch, which is literally my job, and expecting to get a call from my boss demanding to know why I'm not at my desk. Hasn't happened. Turns out, that was only my old boss! But I'm still scared of it.
5. Re: the comments about doing what's important to you. Previously I had a job doing what was important to me, and another job which paid the bills, provided stability, and didn't interfere with my other goals. That was a good deal for a while. It was nice to support my passion with an easy, pleasant everyday work.
But as that day job grew more stressful and more irritating, the calculus changed. One of my colleagues quit to become a pizza delivery driver. Another quit to make large scale woven tapestries. Another quit to raise her twins. Another quit to travel the world on his life savings at the age of 28.
The pursue your passion vs. have a stable job decision is not a decision you make one time, forever. You have to keep making it as your passion intensifies and your stable life becomes less stable.
6. I'm very very lucky!
Most interesting. Yes liking the job, and having decent people to work with, makes all the difference.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on May 03, 2022, 06:41:06 AM
John, 4 days a week is a good deal. You want to work more only when you find a job very valuable to you.
This is true. I mean I don't hate my job, but I imagine I could find something even better that pays even more, but my dream is to do something with music. But I'm still unsure at what capacity I'd work in this field. My parents have encouraged me to pursue a music education degree since I could talk about music all day and night, but I'm still thinking about it.
A music education degree sounds good. At what level would you have to work with it to earn what you do now, and how many of those positions are available?
I retired from full-time teaching aged 60 in 2015. That is the youngest age that you can collect 100% of the Teacher's Pension in the UK. Nearly all of my older colleagues retired at about 55-57 and took a reduced pension. When I mentioned my imminent retirement to a colleague from a nearby school at a Teacher's conference, she asked me if I'd like to apply for a job-share with her - which I did and was successful. I have always enjoyed the teaching but the increasing amount of time that I spent doing totally pointless admin tasks and dealing with increasingly coercive management (it became like working for a ruthless multi-national company rather than a school) was dispiriting. Many other people were treated worse than I was, but we all had to reapply for our jobs etc, causing great stress. I used to escape into the classroom to get away from other aspects of the job. Teaching part time (c.3 days a week) and no longer being a Head of Dept. is much nicer. I am lucky to have a very supportive boss. When I was 50 I decided to train as a counsellor (as in therapy) and did this for 3 years in London (attending after school) and qualified about 3 years later. Now I work as a part-time teacher, school counsellor and have a small private counselling practice (dealing with addictive CD collecting issues - only joking!) I also see clients for CRUSE which is a bereavement charity.
Quote from: steve ridgway on May 03, 2022, 09:18:30 PM
A music education degree sounds good. At what level would you have to work with it to earn what you do now, and how many of those positions are available?
Honestly, I haven't done any kind of extensive research. Even if I could land a job as an assistant music professor at a university, this would be great, because I would be surrounded by the love of my life: music (well it's music right now until I meet the woman of my dreams, then it'll be her ;)).
Quote from: vandermolen on May 04, 2022, 12:04:36 PM
I retired from full-time teaching aged 60 in 2015. That is the youngest age that you can collect 100% of the Teacher's Pension in the UK. Nearly all of my older colleagues retired at about 55-57 and took a reduced pension. When I mentioned my imminent retirement to a colleague from a nearby school at a Teacher's conference, she asked me if I'd like to apply for a job-share with her - which I did and was successful. I have always enjoyed the teaching but the increasing amount of time that I spent doing totally pointless admin tasks and dealing with increasingly coercive management (it became like working for a ruthless multi-national company rather than a school) was dispiriting. Many other people were treated worse than me but we all had to reapply for our jobs etc, causing great stress. I used to escape into the classroom to get away from other aspects of the job. Teaching part time (c.3 days a week) and no longer being a Head of Dept. is much nicer. I am lucky to have a very supportive boss. When I was 50 I decided to train as a counsellor (as in therapy) and did this for 3 years in London (attending after school) and qualified about 3 years later. Now I work as a part-time teacher, school counsellor and have a small private counselling practice (dealing with addictive CD collecting issues - only joking!) I also see clients for CRUSE which is a bereavement charity.
Again, congratulations on your retirement, Jeffrey! You're someone on this forum I truly look up to and admire (there are several others here of course).
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 04, 2022, 12:14:22 PM
Again, congratulations on your retirement, Jeffrey! You're someone on this forum I truly look up to and admire (there are several others here of course).
How very kind of you to say that John! Thank you.
Quote from: vandermolen on May 04, 2022, 12:44:50 PM
How very kind of you to say that John! Thank you.
My pleasure. All my best.
John is right, Jeffrey: you're up there with the very best ! And modest. And great at self-derision, too !
:-*
Quote from: André on May 04, 2022, 01:00:05 PM
John is right, Jeffrey: you're up there with the very best ! And modest. And great at self-derision, too !
:-*
You are very kind too André! :)
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 03, 2022, 07:13:04 PM
[...] but my dream is to do something with music. But I'm still unsure at what capacity I'd work in this field. My parents have encouraged me to pursue a music education degree since I could talk about music all day and night, but I'm still thinking about it.
Bless anyone wanting to explore the education field, nonetheless music.
I unfortunately have had too many friends leave the profession of music education in recent years. Often it is not a lack of their love of music, but how little their jobs are actually dedicated to that which they love, similar to what vandermolen alludes to.
Just this year, one friend is now a financial officer at a car dealership, another is in HR for a major company, and another became a counselor/therapist privately. All were superb musicians and it is unfortunate they are no longer contributing.
I don't think I could ever leave the field, nor would I want to, so if there is an inkling of interest, I would encourage it. Of course, I love the sound of your current work schedule! :D
VS
Quote from: VonStupp on May 04, 2022, 03:30:31 PM
Bless anyone wanting to explore the education field, nonetheless music.
I unfortunately have had too many friends leave the profession of music education in recent years. Often it is not a lack of their love of music, but how little their jobs are actually dedicated to that which they love, similar to what vandermolen alludes to.
Just this year, one friend is now a financial officer at a car dealership, another is in HR for a major company, and another became a counselor/therapist privately. All were superb musicians and it is unfortunate they are no longer contributing.
I don't think I could ever leave the field, nor would I want to, so if there is an inkling of interest, I would encourage it. Of course, I love the sound of your current work schedule! :D
VS
Interesting. Food for thought. Thanks for your post, VS.
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 04, 2022, 07:28:52 PM
Interesting. Food for thought. Thanks for your post, VS.
+1
Elon Musk tells employees to return to office or 'pretend to work' elsewhere. About 30% of US office workers are still working from home.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jun/01/elon-musk-return-to-office-pretend-to-work-somewhere-else
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on June 01, 2022, 08:21:58 AM
Elon Musk tells employees to return to office or 'pretend to work' elsewhere. About 30% of US office workers are still working from home.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jun/01/elon-musk-return-to-office-pretend-to-work-somewhere-else
If I hadn't already had him pegged as a chump ....
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 01, 2022, 08:57:09 AM
If I hadn't already had him pegged as a chump ....
Chump is not the right word. Ford Produces about 10 times as many vehicles per year compared with Tesla. Tesla market capitalization is almost 20 times higher than Ford. The person of founded and owns a controlling interest in that company is not a chump. He is a wizard. Maybe a sociopathic wizard.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 01, 2022, 08:57:09 AM
If I hadn't already had him pegged as a chump ....
He's a chump with 218.1 billion dollars --- hardly a chump. You don't make this kind of money for being foolish. Anyway, good for him for making people return to the office.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on June 01, 2022, 09:55:35 AM
Chump is not the right word. Ford Produces about 10 times as many vehicles per year compared with Tesla. Tesla market capitalization is almost 20 times higher than Ford. The person of founded and owns a controlling interest in that company is not a chump. He is a wizard. Maybe a sociopathic wizard.
Noted.
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 01, 2022, 11:07:35 AM
He's a chump with 218.1 billion dollars --- hardly a chump. You don't make this kind of money for being foolish. Anyway, good for him for making people return to the office.
Obviously, people on the assembly line cannot work from home.
The rise of working from home (https://www.economist.com/special-report/2021/04/08/the-rise-of-working-from-home)
A popular cliché of 2020 was that covid-19 accelerated pre-existing trends. Yet that is a poor description of the massive rupture to office work. Before the pandemic Americans spent 5% of their working time at home. By spring 2020 the figure was 60%. The shift has gone better than expected. People are working longer hours, but they report higher levels of happiness and productivity. As lockdowns lift, working from home is likely to stay.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 01, 2022, 11:23:47 AM
The rise of working from home (https://www.economist.com/special-report/2021/04/08/the-rise-of-working-from-home)
A popular cliché of 2020 was that covid-19 accelerated pre-existing trends. Yet that is a poor description of the massive rupture to office work. Before the pandemic Americans spent 5% of their working time at home. By spring 2020 the figure was 60%. The shift has gone better than expected. People are working longer hours, but they report higher levels of happiness and productivity. As lockdowns lift, working from home is likely to stay.
A similar projection by Forbes: Remote work is here to stay. According to their projections, 25% of all professional jobs in North America will be remote by the end of 2022, and remote opportunities will continue to increase through 2023.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2022/02/01/remote-work-is-here-to-stay-and-will-increase-into-2023-experts-say/?sh=55b77cb020a6
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on June 01, 2022, 01:54:37 PM
A similar projection by Forbes: Remote work is here to stay. According to their projections, 25% of all professional jobs in North America will be remote by the end of 2022, and remote opportunities will continue to increase through 2023.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2022/02/01/remote-work-is-here-to-stay-and-will-increase-into-2023-experts-say/?sh=55b77cb020a6
Indeed. Whatever bee is in Musk's bonnet, working from home isn't "pretending to work." In that, he was being no more than an asshole. I withdraw the word "chump."
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 01, 2022, 02:03:26 PM
Indeed. Whatever bee is in Musk's bonnet, working from home isn't "pretending to work." In that, he was being no more than an asshole. I withdraw the word "chump."
Still doesn't change the fact that he has $218.1 billion. Calling someone else an asshole doesn't make you look any better, Karl. We're all assholes in some way or another.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 01, 2022, 02:03:26 PM
Indeed. Whatever bee is in Musk's bonnet, working from home isn't "pretending to work." In that, he was being no more than an asshole. I withdraw the word "chump."
I'm among the many thousands of people who have found themselves much more productive at home than in an office. But as I mentioned on a previous page, having a job you don't find immensely boring can be even more important!
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 01, 2022, 02:03:26 PM
Indeed. Whatever bee is in Musk's bonnet, working from home isn't "pretending to work." In that, he was being no more than an asshole. I withdraw the word "chump."
"There's this clinging narrative of a 'return to normalcy' that many employers are holding onto, when in fact, the world of work will never truly return to the way it was before," Ragu said. "The pandemic revolutionized the workplace and expedited an already growing need for remote workers. The pandemic served as a massive wake-up call, teaching us not only that work was more than capable of being completed from home, but showing the need for flexibility for employees to take control of their own schedules—a necessity for those with long commutes, pricey childcare arrangements and those who simply wanted to spend more time with their families."
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 01, 2022, 02:07:47 PM
We're all assholes in some way or another.
;D ;D ;D
Quote from: Brian on June 01, 2022, 02:18:22 PM
I'm among the many thousands of people who have found themselves much more productive at home than in an office. But as I mentioned on a previous page, having a job you don't find immensely boring can be even more important!
True. Working from home is great, but loving what you do is even better.
--Bruce
P.S. I agree that Elon is not a chump but a monster. He isn't making a miscalculation because being a villain is his strategy.
Quote from: Brian on June 01, 2022, 02:23:29 PM
P.S. I agree that Elon is not a chump but a monster. He isn't making a miscalculation because being a villain is his strategy.
Fair enough.
I leave the ruling to others, but at a guess, my character will not take any great hit from going on the record as regarding Musk an asshole. Flaunting his net worth at me is low-hanging fruit.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 01, 2022, 02:32:36 PM
I leave the ruling to others, but at a guess, my character will not take any great hit from going on the record as regarding Musk an asshole. Flaunting his net worth at me is low-hanging fruit.
Agreed entirely with this sentiment. Nobody is perfect, but to call a spade a spade is not a flaw.
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 01, 2022, 11:07:35 AM
Anyway, good for him for making people return to the office.
Not for IT people.
Pay for gas at this cost + extra hours each week spent driving/dealing with clothes/packing food, or paying for expensive office food.
Not worth it, we are literally paying to work in office.
Productivity increase? Zero.
The only gain is making people at the top feel powerful, or feeding whatever delusions they have about team spirit or whatever bullshit. ::)
Quote from: Spotted Horses on June 01, 2022, 09:55:35 AM
The person of founded
Elon Musk did not found Tesla, he bought it.
Quote from: greg on June 01, 2022, 03:14:48 PM
Not for IT people.
Pay for gas at this cost + extra hours each week spent driving/dealing with clothes/packing food, or paying for expensive office food.
::)
Yep, same, I was being paid to drive to an office and type things in Microsoft Word. They even gave me a laptop to type in Microsoft Word at home, but then made me go to the office four days a week to type there instead. Completely pointless. It's all about making workers feel controlled.
Quote from: Brian on June 01, 2022, 04:19:00 PM
Yep, same, I was being paid to drive to an office and type things in Microsoft Word. They even gave me a laptop to type in Microsoft Word at home, but then made me go to the office four days a week to type there instead. Completely pointless. It's all about making workers feel controlled.
It depends on the job I guess. My previous work was in scientific research and there constant collaboration is a huge benefit. Currently I work as a technology developer in a startup company and I wish I didn't have to work from home. Being in constant contact with the people who will be selling or running the tools in the field can be invaluable to keeping things on track, even though most of the time I'm doing my own thing. But I certainly can imagine jobs in which working remotely is the most efficient option.
Maybe some employees of Tesla could be more productive working in an office setting. The question is why Elon Musk thinks it is to his advantage to publicly shame and insult his workforce, as opposed to HR sending a low-key notice that the work from home option is being phased out. Does he think that will improve their loyalty and/or productivity?
The market value of Tesla is a small fraction of what it would be, based on revenue. Most of the value of Tesla is in the Elon Musk cult of personality. So maybe the nasty tweet is actually more valuable than the actual productivity of his workforce.
Quote from: Brian on June 01, 2022, 04:19:00 PM
Yep, same, I was being paid to drive to an office and type things in Microsoft Word.
Ugh. Yep, we all know Microsoft Word at home is inferior, when you bring it to office it starts sniffing its secret cocaine pile and becomes 100x more productive. Too bad.
I'm actually logged in less in office than at home. In office, I go on a lunch break, take frequent walks (since I always feel so restless sitting at my desk all day), talk to coworkers, and logout earlier to go home. At home I stayed logged in during lunch, the whole day basically, and logged out later.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on June 01, 2022, 07:49:08 PM
It depends on the job I guess. My previous work was in scientific research and there constant collaboration is a huge benefit. Currently I work as a technology developer in a startup company and I wish I didn't have to work from home. Being in constant contact with the people who will be selling or running the tools in the field can be invaluable to keeping things on track, even though most of the time I'm doing my own thing. But I certainly can imagine jobs in which working remotely is the most efficient option.
It definitely depends on the job. Now, at a more creative office, it helps to get all the creative people together in a room and imagine things up. If you're just completing assigned tasks, that is definitely different.
It also depends on your coworkers to some degree. I work with a lot of people who treat instant message type apps (Teams, Slack) just as they would a real office - willing to banter, brainstorm, spitball, shoot the breeze, etc. But I also work with some people who don't do well in that dynamic and who are definitely better at communicating in person.
By the way, this morning at the office I heard someone ask, "are you going to work remostly?" ;D
Quote from: Spotted Horses on June 01, 2022, 07:49:08 PM
Maybe some employees of Tesla could be more productive working in an office setting. The question is why Elon Musk thinks it is to his advantage to publicly shame and insult his workforce, as opposed to HR sending a low-key notice that the work from home option is being phased out. Does he think that will improve their loyalty and/or productivity?
The market value of Tesla is a small fraction of what it would be, based on revenue. Most of the value of Tesla is in the Elon Musk cult of personality. So maybe the nasty tweet is actually more valuable than the actual productivity of his workforce.
Unfoertunately, I think you may have something there.
This is all just political theater.
Nature: Has the 'great resignation' hit academia?
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01512-6
Entrepreneur: The Great Resignation will continue. Employers must take an employee-centric approach that includes strengthening the relationship of managers with their direct reports, embracing flexibility, expanding company wellness policies and offering professional growth opportunities.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/426353
https://www.youtube.com/v/GVB6wN04VVQ
You know what's funny is the dynamic of global elites blaming the average person for contributing to climate change, yet we are being forced to go into office against our will, polluting the environment in the process by driving every day instead of staying at home. Any spokesperson out there being against back in office for this reason? I bet not. Also the irony of Elon making environmental-friendly cars while requiring people that don't need to be in office, to contribute pollution every day to go into office lol.
Remember, everything is the fault of the lower and middle class, everything. Rich people have zero accountability or responsibility for anything.
Quote from: greg on June 06, 2022, 10:39:50 AM
You know what's funny is the dynamic of global elites blaming the average person for contributing to climate change, yet we are being forced to go into office against our will, polluting the environment in the process by driving every day instead of staying at home. Any spokesperson out there being against back in office for this reason? I bet not. Also the irony of Elon making environmental-friendly cars while requiring people that don't need to be in office, to contribute pollution every day to go into office lol.
Good points!
Well, more musk:
Elon Musk is about to collect a $23 BILLION bonus as Tesla cuts 10% of its staff.
He's taking home more than 340,000x the median U.S. household income as a BONUS, while putting hundreds of workers out of a job.
It's official: Fridays in the office are over
Employers are still divided on how to deal with this new reality, where just 30 percent of office workers swipe in on the last day of the workweek
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 15, 2022, 06:09:28 AM
It's official: Fridays in the office are over
Employers are still divided on how to deal with this new reality, where just 30 percent of office workers swipe in on the last day of the workweek
Link for those interested (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/15/its-official-fridays-office-are-over/)
I can't read it because it is behind a paywall. Is this about the three day weekend or is this about working remotely on Fridays?
Working remotely - it's about how, when given the option, nobody goes to the office on Fridays. I am embodying that right this minute, actually, having done a bunch of work on my couch this morning* and now waiting at a bar to interview the owner for an article.
*Listening log: Glazunov 8 (Serebrier, first time hearing the piece) and Prokofiev Nevsky (Previn/LSO)
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 15, 2022, 06:09:28 AM
It's official: Fridays in the office are over
Employers are still divided on how to deal with this new reality, where just 30 percent of office workers swipe in on the last day of the workweek
Good development. We work in order to live, not the other way around.
Philosopher, Bertrand Russell famously advocated working 3 days a week.
https://philosophynow.org/issues/29/More_Praise_for_Idleness
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on July 16, 2022, 10:17:33 AM
Good development. We work in order to live, not the other way around.
Philosopher, Bertrand Russell famously advocated working 3 days a week.
https://philosophynow.org/issues/29/More_Praise_for_Idleness
Indeed.
Everyone's circumstances are different. A five day workweek is bad. A four day workweek is worse. I can't even contemplate a three day work week. My ideal would be a seven day work week.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on July 16, 2022, 10:43:21 AM
Everyone's circumstances are different. A five day workweek is bad. A four day workweek is worse. I can't even contemplate a three day work week. My ideal would be a seven day work week.
Very true. At the job I've retired from, a four-day workweek always meant five days' worth of work, and only four days to get it done.
When I supplemented my full-time job with part-time work at the Museum gift store, I worked seven-day weeks oftener than I liked) and I found them hellish.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 15, 2022, 06:09:28 AM
It's official: Fridays in the office are over
Employers are still divided on how to deal with this new reality, where just 30 percent of office workers swipe in on the last day of the workweek
Hmm wondering why Fridays have been so empty at my office... if this becomes a big trend and expected (that people WFH on Friday), then that'd be great.
Tbh have thought about it more, probably the ideal would be like 2-3 days in office a week (rather than 0)- although more expensive, the change of scenery, easy access to different food, and ability to talk with coworkers in person, is quite nice.
(but still, between all-WFH vs. all-in office, all-WFH is the best option)
How a four-day workweek could be better for the climate (https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/08/08/4-day-workweek-environment/)
Reducing the workweek to four days could have a climate benefit, advocates say. In addition to improving the well-being of workers, they say slashing working hours may reduce carbon emissions.
It's what you might call a "potential triple-dividend policy, so something that can benefit the economy, society and also the environment," said Joe O'Connor, chief executive of the nonprofit group 4 Day Week Global. "There are not many policy interventions that are available to us that could potentially have the kind of transformative impact that reduced work time could have."
I imagine the idea for that came from the pandemic's positive effect on climate when people stopped driving to work, concerts, events, etc.
Fortune: Great Resignation shows no signs of slowing down: 40% of U.S. workers are considering quitting their jobs.
https://fortune.com/2022/07/21/great-resignation-40-percent-want-to-quit-where-are-they-going/
How Quitting a Job Changed My Work-Life Balance. NY Times asked people who quit their jobs during the "Great Resignation" how it changed how they approach work.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/style/quitting-work-life-balance-career.html
BBC: Why workers just won't stop quitting.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220817-why-workers-just-wont-stop-quitting
I've been fortunate enough to be able to cut back to 3 or sometimes 4 days a week. My field saw some Medicare cutbacks a couple of years ago and it just becomes even less worth it to live to work. Many others from my generation are starting to see this as well. Aside from an increasing number of practices no longer accepting Medicare or Medicaid. My prediction is in another 10-15 years it will start to look like Canada with some of the waits for non emergencies.
It's been a long time coming, ironically mental well being might have been something we preached for others but not seen fit to take care of ourselves.
I had a wide eyed moment as an MS3 on a CCU rotation, one of the nicest trainees I'd ever rotated with (interventional cardiology fellow) was getting excited about being able to leave the hospital at 6 pm due to the number of simultaneous discharges we'd had and catch the second half of something from one of his young kids (play I am guessing?) as he usually missed them.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on August 21, 2022, 07:18:22 AM
BBC: Why workers just won't stop quitting.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220817-why-workers-just-wont-stop-quitting (https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220817-why-workers-just-wont-stop-quitting)
A good read.
Quote from: hvbias on August 21, 2022, 11:33:35 AM
I've been fortunate enough to be able to cut back to 3 or sometimes 4 days a week. My field saw some Medicare cutbacks a couple of years ago and it just becomes even less worth it to live to work. Many others from my generation are starting to see this as well. Aside from an increasing number of practices no longer accepting Medicare or Medicaid. My prediction is in another 10-15 years it will start to look like Canada with some of the waits for non emergencies.
It's been a long time coming, ironically mental well being might have been something we preached for others but not seen fit to take care of ourselves.
I had a wide eyed moment as an MS3 on a CCU rotation, one of the nicest trainees I'd ever rotated with (interventional cardiology fellow) was getting excited about being able to leave the hospital at 6 pm due to the number of simultaneous discharges we'd had and catch the second half of something from one of his young kids (play I am guessing?) as he usually missed them.
I'm curious as to what your seeing/hearing re not enough general practitioners. From what I've heard, there are not enough people following that route these days; also, general shortages in terms of nurses and other medical workers.
PD
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on August 23, 2022, 10:07:51 AM
I'm curious as to what your seeing/hearing re not enough general practitioners. From what I've heard, there are not enough people following that route these days; also, general shortages in terms of nurses and other medical workers.
PD
I believe the number of seniors entering family medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry, and pediatrics is still roughly the same as it always has been, about 40-50% of a class. The main issue is the number of residency seats for family medicine and internal medicine has not been increasing proportionally to the aging population, which are also now living longer due to advances in medicine. Number of residency seats is a complex issue, as it's fully government funded and the voices of hospital administrators/physicians in primary care would very much like to have more seats but it's usually a small percentage that are added every few years, some high fives from within the government, then forgotten about.
Nursing is an interesting one that seems to go through rather extreme cycles. It used to be that there was an over supply and now there is a shortage, the shortages happen when people see how difficult it is to get a job which naturally causes fewer people to enter the field. This is currently happening with nurse practitioners where online diploma mills started popping up, one or two years worth of classes and you're straight into a very respectable paying job with none of the stress/long training of a physician. But it's now pretty much every open job for an NP sees 50 applicants.
'Quiet quitting' is a serious threat to our way of life. Just ask Arianna Huffington. (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/31/business/quiet-quitting-is-serious-threat-our-way-life-just-ask-arianna-huffington/?p1=HP_Feed_ContentQuery&p1=HP_Feed_ContentQuery)
First you cut back from 60 hours a week to 50 hours, maybe even 40, if you're really hell-bent on checking out completely. Then you start waiting until the morning to respond to your boss's late-night e-mails. You use your vacation time.
Before you know it, we've got a whole generation living in their parents' garages and volunteering to help Bernie Sanders turn the USA into a Socialist/Communist dictatorship.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 01, 2022, 06:56:07 AM
'Quiet quitting' is a serious threat to our way of life. Just ask Arianna Huffington. (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/31/business/quiet-quitting-is-serious-threat-our-way-life-just-ask-arianna-huffington/?p1=HP_Feed_ContentQuery&p1=HP_Feed_ContentQuery)
First you cut back from 60 hours a week to 50 hours, maybe even 40, if you're really hell-bent on checking out completely. Then you start waiting until the morning to respond to your boss's late-night e-mails. You use your vacation time.
Before you know it, we've got a whole generation living in their parents' garages and volunteering to help Bernie Sanders turn the USA into a Socialist/Communist dictatorship.
:laugh:
Quote from: hvbias on August 25, 2022, 06:02:18 PM
I believe the number of seniors entering family medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry, and pediatrics is still roughly the same as it always has been, about 40-50% of a class. The main issue is the number of residency seats for family medicine and internal medicine has not been increasing proportionally to the aging population, which are also now living longer due to advances in medicine. Number of residency seats is a complex issue, as it's fully government funded and the voices of hospital administrators/physicians in primary care would very much like to have more seats but it's usually a small percentage that are added every few years, some high fives from within the government, then forgotten about.
Nursing is an interesting one that seems to go through rather extreme cycles. It used to be that there was an over supply and now there is a shortage, the shortages happen when people see how difficult it is to get a job which naturally causes fewer people to enter the field. This is currently happening with nurse practitioners where online diploma mills started popping up, one or two years worth of classes and you're straight into a very respectable paying job with none of the stress/long training of a physician. But it's now pretty much every open job for an NP sees 50 applicants.
Sorry for the late response; I've just now read your posting. :-[
I hadn't realized that residency seats were funded by the government! You would think that if this were the case, that they would find (somehow or another) more funding? And good points regarding an aging population and longer lifespan.
Often I've ended up seeing and/or making appointments with PAs rather than with MDs. Some years ago, the PA who I saw regularly at my dermatologist's office left the practice along with another PA, "hired" a dermatologist and they set up their own practice. As their new place was a lot closer and easier for me to get to and I also liked and felt comfortable and respected her opinions and judgements, I followed her to their new practice.
Regarding nurses: Probably like a lot of folks, I kept hearing stories--particularly during the height of covid--about nurses quitting, so your comments surprised me. I wonder whether there might be disparities in terms of where this is happening (maybe mostly hospitals and/or really big medical practices?)? Or the media getting things wrong (but this
never happens)?
PD
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on September 03, 2022, 04:57:39 AM
Sorry for the late response; I've just now read your posting. :-[
I hadn't realized that residency seats were funded by the government! You would think that if this were the case, that they would find (somehow or another) more funding? And good points regarding an aging population and longer lifespan.
Often I've ended up seeing and/or making appointments with PAs rather than with MDs. Some years ago, the PA who I saw regularly at my dermatologist's office left the practice along with another PA, "hired" a dermatologist and they set up their own practice. As their new place was a lot closer and easier for me to get to and I also liked and felt comfortable and respected her opinions and judgements, I followed her to their new practice.
Regarding nurses: Probably like a lot of folks, I kept hearing stories--particularly during the height of covid--about nurses quitting, so your comments surprised me. I wonder whether there might be disparities in terms of where this is happening (maybe mostly hospitals and/or really big medical practices?)? Or the media getting things wrong (but this never happens)?
PD
The media is correct, there was a real nursing shortage during the height of Covid, I'm unsure if that is still the case. Nurse practitioners are more like PAs, their roles and level of involvement would vary based on the field. As you say with dermatology the derm MDs may give them a decent amount of autonomy if it's something that is stable and just being followed up, whereas in something like ophthalmology they would just do a brief vision check with a Snellen chart, quick history to rule out emergencies then would always be seen by a real ophthalmologist.
During the pandemic, a lot of millennials and Gen Zers moved back to their parents' houses. Now, they don't want to leave.
The cost of living is a major factor. But also because some of them quit job?
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/06/many-pandemic-boomerang-kids-still-live-with-mom-and-dad.html
Quote from: hvbias on September 08, 2022, 04:19:48 PM
The media is correct, there was a real nursing shortage during the height of Covid, I'm unsure if that is still the case. Nurse practitioners are more like PAs, their roles and level of involvement would vary based on the field. As you say with dermatology the derm MDs may give them a decent amount of autonomy if it's something that is stable and just being followed up, whereas in something like ophthalmology they would just do a brief vision check with a Snellen chart, quick history to rule out emergencies then would always be seen by a real ophthalmologist.
I was in hospital overnight Thursday (experienced mild chest pain Thursday morning—it passed, and everything has since checked out fine) nursing staff by the numbers appears normal, although some are on the inexperienced side. Morale seemed good. Tangentially, I did reflect on how (very unlike the peaks of the pandemic) easy it was for them to find a bed for me.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on September 10, 2022, 09:26:47 AM
During the pandemic, a lot of millennials and Gen Zers moved back to their parents' houses. Now, they don't want to leave.
The cost of living is a major factor. But also because some of them quit job?
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/06/many-pandemic-boomerang-kids-still-live-with-mom-and-dad.html
Not sure if it was mentioned in this thread yet, but one major issue is hedge funds buying up houses and appartments to either flip or add as rental properties, some of them are forming newer REITs for subsectors.
I have no mail sent to our lake house, nor is it used as an address on any document other than banks and government and I get at least a half dozen letters a month offering to buy the house. Sometimes mass printed off fliers intended to look like they were handwritten by your good friend the local real estate broker looking to do you a favor by selling them the house.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 10, 2022, 09:34:26 AM
I was in hospital overnight Thursday (experienced mild chest pain Thursday morning—it passed, and everything has since checked out fine) nursing staff by the numbers appears normal, although some are on the inexperienced side. Morale seemed good. Tangentially, I did reflect on how (very unlike the peaks of the pandemic) easy it was for them to find a bed for me.
I'm happy to hear it was nothing serious Karl.
Quote from: hvbias on September 11, 2022, 04:48:22 AM
Not sure if it was mentioned in this thread yet, but one major issue is hedge funds buying up houses and appartments to either flip or add as rental properties, some of them are forming newer REITs for subsectors.
I have no mail sent to our lake house, nor is it used as an address on any document other than banks and government and I get at least a half dozen letters a month offering to buy the house. Sometimes mass printed off fliers intended to look like they were handwritten by your good friend the local real estate broker looking to do you a favor by selling them the house.
I'm happy to hear it was nothing serious Karl.
Thanks!
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 10, 2022, 09:34:26 AM
I was in hospital overnight Thursday (experienced mild chest pain Thursday morning—it passed, and everything has since checked out fine) nursing staff by the numbers appears normal, although some are on the inexperienced side. Morale seemed good. Tangentially, I did reflect on how (very unlike the peaks of the pandemic) easy it was for them to find a bed for me.
Alarmed to read this, but hoping that everything continues to check out fine.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on September 11, 2022, 05:46:11 PM
Alarmed to read this, but hoping that everything continues to check out fine.
Thanks!
The phrase you used in your post, "checked out fine" reminded me of a favorite scene in the film Desperado. Two drug customers come into a bar which is a front for drug transactions. They report to the bartender (Cheech Marin) who demands their credentials, and the bartender then starts making phone calls. After the first drug customer (a cameo by Quentin Tarantino) tells a joke, the results of the background checks some back. The bartender pulls a huge gun from behind the bar and shoots the second drug customer in the head, and he falls down on the floor dead. Then he trains the gun on the first customer (Tarantino). The bartender says to the terrified Tarantino, "He didn't check out ... but you checked out just fine." The bartender puts the gun away and Tarantino sheepishly makes his way to the back to complete his transaction.
(* chortle *)
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 12, 2022, 10:33:22 AM
(* chortle *)
Turns out my memory was reliable this time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCO7yHCJ-ss
NY Times: 4-Day Workweek Brings No Loss of Productivity, Companies in Experiment Say.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/business/four-day-work-week-uk.html
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on September 22, 2022, 06:20:42 PM
NY Times: 4-Day Workweek Brings No Loss of Productivity, Companies in Experiment Say.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/business/four-day-work-week-uk.html
Surprise, surprise... ;)
The same is true for more vacation days and, as experiences during the pandemic showed, for working from home.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on September 22, 2022, 06:20:42 PM
NY Times: 4-Day Workweek Brings No Loss of Productivity, Companies in Experiment Say.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/business/four-day-work-week-uk.html
There is not enough information to figure out what they are talking about. Productivity is defined as valued created per hour worked. If productivity remains the same a 4 day work week will produce 80% of the work of a 5 day work week, unless the hours are kept constant (working 10 hours per day instead of 8). Then production will be the same, but how has the employee benefitted, working longer hours for fewer days?
Quote from: Spotted Horses on September 23, 2022, 07:34:50 AM
Then production will be the same, but how has the employee benefitted, working longer hours for fewer days?
Less money spent on gas, less time wasted commuting, and full days are better for scheduling anything (better than smashing necessary things to do in a small space of time).
Tbh I kinda like the idea...
How the pandemic ended America's bad romance with work (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/14/covid-pandemic-work-resignation-quitting-unionization/)
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2022, 12:04:18 PM
How the pandemic ended America's bad romance with work (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/14/covid-pandemic-work-resignation-quitting-unionization/)
Fast-forward to fall 2022. The number of people quitting, while down from the peak, remains at the highest level since the 1970s. White-collar workers don't want to give up working remotely. Low-paying sectors such as the hospitality industry can't find enough people willing to work for the wages on offer. Union organizing and strikes have been on an upswing.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2022, 12:07:13 PM
Fast-forward to fall 2022. The number of people quitting, while down from the peak, remains at the highest level since the 1970s. White-collar workers don't want to give up working remotely. Low-paying sectors such as the hospitality industry can't find enough people willing to work for the wages on offer. Union organizing and strikes have been on an upswing.
Yes it seems to me that it's sellers' market in labor market now. Totally understandable that employees don't want to give up working remotely. I don't either. I suspect remote/flexible work rather enhances productivity and efficiency.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on November 15, 2022, 01:44:32 PM
I suspect remote/flexible work rather enhances productivity and efficiency.
Yep, this is one thing that is true that I don't see mentioned enough. I still choose to WFH 1 or 2 days a week, sometimes more because one advantage is that if there is some task that is really huge and requires many different meetings and a lot of effort, it's much better if you can max out your availability. Sitting in traffic for nearly an hour during the day and getting lunch from the cafeteria are all time sinks.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on November 15, 2022, 01:44:32 PM
Yes it seems to me that it's sellers' market in labor market now. Totally understandable that employees don't want to give up working remotely. I don't either. I suspect remote/flexible work rather enhances productivity and efficiency.
It depends on the nature of the work. If you work in a factory you won't be productive sitting in your house. If you work does not involve interacting with other people, whether you are more productive at home depends on your personality - can you focus and stay on track in a house full of distractions rather than a cubicle. If you work in a highly collaborative field such as scientific research, engineering product development, other collaborative activities, in-person interaction is
much more productive than zoom meetings.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on November 16, 2022, 03:34:34 AM
If you work does not involve interacting with other people, whether you are more productive at home depends on your personality - can you focus and stay on track in a house full of distractions rather than a cubicle.
Yeah, levels of distraction also depends on many things. I actually find working in office more distracting. I have people nearby talking loudly on calls and also someone I can talk to about any subject of interest when I feel like it. Also get the urge to just randomly walk around, and do that quite a bit each day.
At home, there might be a million things to do, but I have no people distracting me, and no desire to walk far away from my computer. So less distracting overall.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/20/the-guardian-view-on-britains-missing-workers-they-may-never-come-back
Half a million workers have vanished. Policymakers don't seem to understand why
There's an article in The New Yorker:
The Year in Quiet Quitting
Amazon employees push CEO Andy Jassy to drop return-to-office mandate.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/21/amazon-employees-push-ceo-andy-jassy-to-drop-return-to-office-mandate.html
As remote work takes hold, Boston's office market starts to wobble
Vacancy rates are at near-two-decade highs, and there are growing concerns that defaults and devaluations could ripple through the economy
Quote from: Karl Henning on April 15, 2023, 12:58:02 PMAs remote work takes hold, Boston's office market starts to wobble
Vacancy rates are at near-two-decade highs, and there are growing concerns that defaults and devaluations could ripple through the economy
Turn them into apartments I say. Two birds. One stone.
CNN: The Great Resignation is over.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/06/13/economy/great-resignation-job-quitting-over/index.html
Quote from: DavidW on April 15, 2023, 01:37:02 PMTurn them into apartments I say. Two birds. One stone.
Not economical in most cases
https://www.cbre.com/insights/viewpoints/the-rise-and-fall-of-office-to-multifamily-conversions-a-real-estate-investigation
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on June 13, 2023, 01:33:17 PMThe Great Resignation is over.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/06/13/economy/great-resignation-job-quitting-over/index.html
QuoteThe Great Resignation had clear benefits for workers, since wages went up and benefits improved across many industries, said Nick Bunker, the director of economic research at job listings site Indeed.
In 2021, 47.7 million people voluntarily left their jobs, according to the BLS. That was the largest number since it began compiling annual statistics in 2001. By the end of 2022, an additional 50.5 million workers had quit.
Wage growth shot up in 2021, peaking in August 2022. However, according to the most recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, wage growth remains elevated: wages grew 6% on an annualized basis in May 2023, compared to May 2022.
BBC: The Great Resignation is over.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230731-the-great-resignation-is-over-what-does-that-mean
Before 2021, I had noted to several colleagues there was very little turn over in our complex, minus an occasional retirement or relocation circumstance.
This year has been the biggest loss of employees I can ever remember, mostly young people with not many years under their belt. Last year, positions weren't even able to be filled, something we have never dealt with before.
Education and academia are still struggling after shutdowns, is my guess, and in the middle of the US, these effects sometimes reach us later than the big ports of call.
VS
Quote from: VonStupp on August 02, 2023, 03:11:31 PMBefore 2021, I had noted to several colleagues there was very little turn over in our complex, minus an occasional retirement or relocation circumstance.
This year has been the biggest loss of employees I can ever remember, mostly young people with not many years under their belt. Last year, positions weren't even able to be filled, something we have never dealt with before.
Education and academia are still struggling after shutdowns, is my guess, and in the middle of the US, these effects sometimes reach us later than the big ports of call.
VS
Imagine how bad the higher-ed/academics is in the deep South!