You probably want to stay away from Reddit’s new subreddit, /r/antiwork – also known in everyday parlance as the “anti-work movement”. It’s just a bunch of people whining, right?
Well, yes, but if you manage people or work in HR, you need to be aware of what is happening. With 1.7 million members, it’s not a majority of people overall, but it is where people are talking. Here’s what they are talking about.
1. Employees have options
Take this story: CEO said, “If you want to work from home, go work somewhere else,” so most of my team and I did just that.
To keep reading, click here: 4 lessons for employers from Reddit’s Antiwork community
I have found that most people who have negative comments about their job effects on their personal lives—pay, hours, benefits—very rarely get the whole picture of the workplace of the job they have. They have a self-centralized view of life.
It does help tremendously if communication of why things are happening is made clearer and not presented as a best solution that doesn’t take into consideration that not all concepts work universally in all situations—especially if dealing with a job that interacts with customers outside the office.
I’m not really getting your point here. Why do you think a cashier should be prioritizing, say the risk adversness of the board room and the prioritization of shareholder value over their own pay? Especially when the factors impacting their pay aren’t even communicated to them like you said?
Did you know that rents on average rose 30% across the US in 2021? Did you also know that violent incidents against cashier’s are up, likely under reported as unions are the main trackers for this and few cashiers are currently unionized? Do you think these are factors you should understand before dismissing someone’s comments on antiwork for “not understanding the business they are a part of”.
Personally I find it natural and understandable that the pressing issue for anyone is paying their bills and being treated respectfully at work as opposed to hand wringing over how complaining about their artificially reduced compensation is hurting the potential for a few shareholders to profit off their passive investments.
I do think it is utter unreasonable to expect people to consider “business’ factors as more important than their own health and wellbeing.
We all have a “self centralized” view of life, really! And man the housing increases are ridiculous.
Employers are so used to having the upper hand in all situations, they’ve gotten the idea that they can treat employees however they want with no repercussions. But it’s time to realize that the labor market is no longer in their favor, and they need to start actually listening to employees. When you demand “my way or the highway,” don’t be shocked when your top performing employees (with lots of other options) choose the highway.