The Changing Workforce
March of 2020 seems like it was decades to seconds ago. In some ways, we have gone leaps and bounds away from the pandemic and returned to normalcy. In other ways, when the world changed that March, it changed for good. When the workforce went online, it was supposed to be a short-term idea to stop the spread. Now, work-from-home culture seems like it is here to stay. The rapid changes in the workforce would fail to stop there. The Great Resignation came in like a flood, shocking several who thought workers were ready for the old normal to return. Massive changes in the workforce have occurred in a few short years, and it begs the question, will things ever be the same?
Some changes include "Quiet Quitting", which is when you do not quit your job but quit doing more than what your job requires. Quiet quitting can mean no longer working overtime or no longer taking on roles that are not within your job duties. From this trend derived another trend which is "Bare Minimum Monday". Those who partake in this do only the bare minimum of their workload on Mondays. This trend is to help them avoid burnout and work as little as possible on Monday. Not everyone is convinced.
Another trend that has started is having multiple part-time jobs or only working part-time. Some keep their regular 9-5 and then work Uber or DoorDash after their day job. For some, extra income is their greatest desire, and for others, more time for themselves is what they desire. Flexibility is the true force of change in the workforce. Whether it is work from home, flextime, taking on extra jobs, or decreasing the work they do at their job, workers want lasting change. The change they seek is control over their time. Scott Adams says, “A person with a flexible schedule and average resources will be happier than a rich person who has everything except a flexible schedule,”. The lockdown changed how we viewed work, but many predict hard times are coming for the job market. We will see how long these worker-driven changes last. Some companies continue to utilize this increasingly rough labor market to force workers back into the office. How long will these changes last, and what long-term impacts will this make? As for now, it looks like the workers are winning the fight for a work-life balance.