Marketplace (not to be confused with Market Watch) had a piece on yesterday that indicated that the Great Resignation might just be normal, during a swift recovery. We just haven’t had a swift recovery in several decades, and at the time, we didn’t measure it the same way.
Amy Scott: So we’ve been hearing for months now that this so-called Great Resignation is unlike anything we’ve seen before. But looking back, you found it’s not actually that unprecedented. What’d you find?
Bart Hobijn: I found that in previous fast recoveries of the labor market, there are also large numbers of people that quit. So that a Great Resignation, as we’re seeing now, is actually historically more common than we think it is. And the reason that we haven’t looked at that in detail is because the data on the quits rate that we’re looking at started to be published in 2000. But before that, there were other surveys done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the manufacturing sector that showed that similarly to now, in fast recoveries after recessions, quits rates were very elevated in the manufacturing sector.
I legitimately am looking forward to the 3/2 hybrid start. I love my kids, but need a break honestly. Going to the office a few times a week wiill be good for me.
I am a horrible WFH employee, so getting pulled back into the office will increase my job performance substantially, but I am going to hate being able to take naps mid-day (which, of course, is one of the major issues with my WFH efficacy, hah). I like people a lot, so it’s exciting to see them again. My office chair sucks, though, and I have to do some kinda university-mandated ergonomics study for them to pay for a new one, ugh. . .
I’ve been back to the office since I was fully vaccinated in April 2021, barring a month during the Omicron surge in late-December to mid-January.
Thing is, I have a very short easy commute, so it’s no big deal. Most people like at least 45 minutes away, and many are well over an hour. That’s brutal, two ways, 5 days a week. You lose so much of your life sitting in a car or on a train.
Yeah, I have a six minute drive to work, five if I speed. I was going home for lunch even pre-pandemic just to get away from the shit chair and have a nice cooked meal. Arika had a 45 minute commute through hellish Triangle stop and go traffic. She will quit if they ever ask her to come to the office again. She hasn’t been since before Xmas 2019 due to taking some medical leave at the end of that year + start of 2020 that was gonna end right around when the pandemic sent everyone home in the first place.
Ugh, yes. Losing multiple hours a day in commute time plus getting all gussied up to sit at a worse equipped workstation has absolutely killed my productivity on in-office days - both personally and professionally.
Yup, that’s a huge drawback for me. Pre-pandemic I walked ~ 35 minutes to the subway instead of taking the bus, so I could count that as exercise and listen to a podcast, so it wasn’t completely “wasted” time, but it still sucks. To be fair, though, I was only going into the office 1-2 days a week before the pandemic and mostly working from home, so the pandemic change for me wasn’t very big.
I go to far more interesting meetings / scientific talks now that everything is available on-line, so I’m missing out on less than I was in 2019. Now I can watch science and machine learning talks almost all day most days of the week if I want between the Harvard, MIT, and Broad resources I have access to, so I have to really focus on skipping talks. I never could have even physically traveled to all those talks, as they are sometimes back to back in different parts of the city.
The one thing I do miss is the “hallway talks” where I would run into people and get into some great conversations that would kick off new projects or refine analysis for both people. Slack just doesn’t cut it for that, so at some point I want to start going back in one day a week to get those conversations in.
Yeah we’ve been hybrid for longer than most and I absolutely hate the commute to the office. Not having to do it for an extended period of time really just drove home (haha) how much commuting sucks. I’ve noticed the people at the office less bothered about going back or encouraging it all live like 10 minutes away.
Also I’m just more productive at home where I don’t have to listen to my co-workers on the phone all day, it’s work related for them too even, it’s not like they are goofing off but it has no bearing on what I’m doing so it’s just distraction.
My commute is 15-20 minutes or so, depending on how the subway decides to run that day, but I’m fairly unusual in that most people in NYC my age are married with kids and living in the suburbs.
I think I mentioned it before but I really really miss going into an office. It was my main avenue for face to face social interaction, and it’s hard to find a lot of opportunities for that outside of work (especially now that I have a kid and need to relieve my wife after work).
That being said, my teams are remote first (even the ones who live in the area of the office). I’d have to move, pay up the ass for a new house, and deal with bad traffic, so I’m not going to make the change specifically to be back in the office.
In a way, I have almost the best of all worlds, if I didn’t work with a raging bigot who I have to see three times a week for five minutes a day. SHort commute to work, and set work hours that never expand.
That and I could wear costumes to work if I wanted, as long as I had shoes on.
I’d prefer a hybrid approach, working at home 2-3 days a week and in the office 2-3 days a week. Alas, we are back in the office full-time now.
One of the things office work gives is separation between work and home. Some people really need that. Others don’t seem to or can dedicate a room to an office and shut the door and walk away from it at the end of the work day.
Anyway, my career is nearly over so I’ll stick with my job until they dump me or I retire. If I do any work after I retire it will be WFH most likely.
I’ve been there myself, and yeah that makes a huge difference.
I’m 15 minutes away. By bike. Hell I’ve run to work before (working for a sporting goods companies with on premise showers, lockers, and athletic facilities has perks!). So vastly different situation than some I’ve seen.
I somehow found a job during the pandemic, in July, 2020. They talked about maybe driving down to the office twice a month but it’s never come up since and I hope it never does. I love, love, love WFH and if I have my way I will never work in an office ever again.
