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Just saw a Bankrate article about top 20 positions for remote work.
Unfortunately for me, I'm not in any of those fields. So I have to admit I've been wondering where and what are all these remote positions that people can just quit other jobs for.
When I think "work from home," I think IT and consumer service. I know there are other fields than that. But those are the first ones I think of.
A sampling from folk in my immediate circle:
1.) Graphic artist--my sister, who works for a sportswear company.
2.) Medical insurance enrollment--friend of mine who works for a major medical insurance company.
3.) Payroll claims--friend of mine who works for a temp agency (she's not a temp, the agency places temps at other companies.)
4.) Insurance claims processing--a friend of mine and her husband who work for an insurance company (different company from the friend in item #2.)
Of course, I've friends and colleagues who work in my industry (telecommunications) who work from home permanently, but since we'd probably be lumped under IT by a lot of folk.
Pre-COVID a company I worked for called all remote employees back into the office. All but one person in my team of ten quit. Of course, none of us actually lived in the city they wanted everyone to report to so it maybe a bit different than what some folks here are talking about. But in my particular line of work, remote jobs are ample and I'd rather take a hammer to my kneecap than to have to trudge into an office every day.
I had a company wide get together recently and it reinforced my desire NEVER EVER EVER again to have to physically go into an office. At one point the company reserved a room for my department to go into to work inbetween meetings so that we could all "collaborate." Well, I got down into that room and there were already about a dozen people in there and their heads were all buried in their laptops and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. After about 90 minutes of that awful silence I went back to my room to work.
If I was required to commute 5 days a week to my office I would be looking for another job pronto (and my employers knows this as well). I think for most jobs in my sector (IT), there's very little reason to be in an office throughout the week, unless it's for an in-person client meeting. At most two days in the office should be sufficient for most roles.
If so, doesn't it mean that employers have a "loophole" to get rid of someone without them collecting unemployment - just demand them to return to the office in full, 9-5, and let them quit and be denied unemployment?
Or are people actually getting other jobs lined up *just in case* the employer schedules an office return date?
Something about what is being said in the media seems really weird. What is really going on? Are employees willing to effectively cede their right to ever claim unemployment.....all because they don't want to go back to the office?
I expect a lot of retirement decisions were made based on not wanting to go back.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Here it's up to the department head, ours asked us to be in the office at least 50% of the time. I'm in 3 days a week, some of my people are doing 2 10s in the office, the other 20 hours at home. The only quitting was the anti-vaxers when we required vaccinations to continue employment, about 90 of 2,200 left.
If so, doesn't it mean that employers have a "loophole" to get rid of someone without them collecting unemployment - just demand them to return to the office in full, 9-5, and let them quit and be denied unemployment?
Or are people actually getting other jobs lined up *just in case* the employer schedules an office return date?
Something about what is being said in the media seems really weird. What is really going on? Are employees willing to effectively cede their right to ever claim unemployment.....all because they don't want to go back to the office?
I can only speak about the working environments I know.
For me, we went back to the office last March, in rotating shifts, and then eventually full time. Only 2 people left, but they retired early - both had plans to retire in the next year anyway. And then later my section (development team - about 30 of us) was made permanently remote (hurray!) due to office space needs for a relocation of other staff to our building. We were thrilled - had been working from home for a year and we all were quite happy with it, no issues at all. But we all would have been fine to stay working in the office if that was we had to do.
In my boyfriends case, his department went back to the office last year - not a single person left.
I don't know of anyone in fact, that left work to find another job because they were called back in to the office.
I think all this is greatly exaggerated by the media.
Absolutely people are leaving because of being called back to the office. Honestly, if my company decided to return to the office, I would start looking for another job. But they've decided to stay 100% remote forever for anyone who wants to.
Our recruiters actively monitor our competitors and major area employers for return to work announcements. They then proceed to reach out to their employees with WFH offers. We've hired some great engineers this way. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
If your employees have successfully been working from home for 2 years, there is absolutely, positively, no reason for them to return to the office. It saves employers money, it saves employees money (and time), and it makes for a happier and more productive workforce. The reason companies give are usually to foster "company culture." What culture is that? The one where everyone is miserable and doesn't want to be there? Why do you want to foster that?
Of the people I know who worked from home during the pandemic on a long-term basis (not just for the first few months while their employers figured stuff out), only three were actually called back to work. One went back and the other two worked out a hybrid option with their employers. I think compromising is probably a fairly common outcome. But most people I know who moved home during the pandemic are still home or are permanently home.
I think employers know that employees have had a collective mind shift. Not only do employees have more power now with the labor shortage, but they also now have enjoyed a better work/life balance, no commute, etc. I wouldn't hesitate to quit if my employer insisted I come in, and she knows it. I'm on a small team and one other person and I handle certain necessary tasks. The others on the team don't know how to our our specific tasks (and our tasks don't overlap 100%, it's more like 80%), and I'm not really proficient at the tasks that the others on the team do. The company really can't afford to lose any of us over something as trifling as whether we're sitting in home offices or the actual office, and they know it. I think that type of situation is pretty common among smaller companies. It's not a hill anyone wants to die on, necessarily, but I would if it came right down to it.
I have been back in the office since June 2020. The literal day NY allowed us to go back to the office our doors opened.
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