Category: Antiwork

The so-called “worker shortage” has been a ticking time bomb for about twenty years. Around that time, many companies decided to save money by cutting leadership (and personal development) training. Bottom line results were impressive. But it was short-sighted. We do not have a worker shortage. We have a shortage of solid mid-level leaders. A lot of unqualified people have “manager” in their title. Where employees do not see themselves as valued team members and their unique gifts integrated into their jobs, cynicism sets in. Don't blame the entry level workers. Don't blame their immediate supervisors for the failure of senior leadership to give them the tools to do their job. The boardrooms and top executives need to move their focus beyond quarterly earnings. A healthy long-term healthy American economy demands it.

After struggling with my mental health for a number of years I admitted to my boss that I am struggling with my mental health. Top tip: Never a good idea to admit this to your boss. Her response was “You should be thankful for what you have, you could be struggling to make ends meet whilst living in an awful bedsit”. If it wasn't for my parents supporting me I would be living in a crappy bed sit struggling to pay for food with the wages they pay me.

I'm tired of receiving a 'thanks for doing your job so well' instead of getting compensated for doing a good job. In fact, the opposite is happening. I get thanked for doing my job but then any kind of company benefit is slowly being whittled away. Pay band compression, pension simplification that results in a lower pension overall, scrapping of company cars in the name of being a greener company. I can't feed my family on thanks. Any car i can realistically afford due to my pay would be far more polluting than any company car i could get. It's bullshit.

I just wrapped up my first week of training at my new job and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I've worked in the hospitality industry for over a decade either as night audit or front desk manager at a series of mid and budget properties. Every single one had some sort of major fault that made work miserable. Usually an absent uncaring manager, shit pay, a non existant budget, failing infrastructure, inconsistent rules/pricing, or total disregard for worker safety. There was always some big stupid problem I had to work around. I finally burned out back in December, ditched my job, and moved back in with my parents to recover. Earlier this month I started looking for new work armed with what I've been learning here and got hired on at mid level hotel for night audit. I got the pay rate and position I wanted so…

So I took a part time gig at a drive through coffee shop to earn a little extra money and to learn a new skill. I have been working there for a few weeks at this point. I arrived at work in the morning when it's still dark outside and am told by the manager that I'm going to be a “runner” today. The runner goes out with a tablet and takes order from cars that are in line at the drive thru. They do not have a speaker system. Did I mention it's about 6° outside and I don't have a jacket, hat or gloves! I tell the manager this and she dismissed it saying ” you won't be outside long”. I proceeded to go and take orders outside in little more than a T-shirt for 30min. My hands were numb and ears hurt and I could not stop…

Back in early January the company I work for did our annual reviews. After working many long days and rolling out 4 new systems for our network along with a core conversion I was expecting a decent raise. Well it was weak, $1800 for the year I was not happy, well nobody in my Dept was happy (boss even apologized saying I know it’s not much). I just sucked it up signed off on it, then went into my office and started submitting my résumé. I was very quickly taking phone interviews in the first week. After 2 weeks I was approaching offer territory so I went into my bosses office and told them “I’m looking for a new job” laid out why and how much my offers were (my boss and I are friends so I figured I’d be decent and not leave them high and dry). After our…