Job's - Current Situation

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Very similar here too, with lockdown closures many staff went off to earn slightly better £ for the benefit of doing more work. The industry shortage did however give me better leverage to push for a permanant contract and proper hol entitlement (which I gladly got and accepted)

Averaged 2 extra shifts per month last year, some months having worked 29 or 30 days. We're still short but picking up slowly

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good afternoon,

I started working from home in around 1996, as a freelance programmer and very quickly moved on to renting an office so that I could split home and work life, plus 10pc network took up a fair amount of space.

Since then I have seen a lot of the advantages of working from home, this is of course a generalisation but many individuals are often more productive but the business overall is less productive.

This is because one person's increased productivity comes at the expense of another person's reduced productivity, if I am working from home someone can't just walk across the office and say to me "something odd happened today ...." which I can then consider and build in a solution for the next release.

That something odd becomes more common and nothing gets done about it until it becomes a crisis because I don't know about it as I am working from home, and that person's manager also doesn't know about it because he is being productive working working from home and letting slip the smaller time consuming parts of his job.

Flexi working is similar, I worked somewhere where the effective Head of Department went home at 3pm, very often this meant that fairly highly paid staff had to stop what they were doing and move on to another project because they couldn't ask him a question. Sure he was efficient because he started his day when nobody else was around.

I have a suspicion that many organisation are going to start to realise this in a year or so and start to have staff pulled more and more into the office.

So I feel for those companies that are suffering because of local workers being offered London rates, but if I were young and needed to pay a mortgage and look after a family I would also be looking for job security. This may be a selling point for local employers.

Bye

Ian

 

[KnittyNorah]

Where I live the problem is lack of anywhere to stay. Several businesses are desperate to get staff but the holiday homes buy up everything at inflated prices. One guy posted on the local FB page that he lived in a garden shed for a year before anything turned up. One business with land is currently excavating for what looks like foundations. I do not check the planning applications but it is a fair bet it is workers housing.

This is a growing issue in many, many parts of the country. It is 'coming to a head' in a few places, and we will certainly see more of it in the next couple of years.

 

[nickyboy]

The lockdown was a massive social experiment and we are only now feeling the outcomes of it. One is that a lot of mature workers got to experience what retirement was like; no commuting, flexible scheduling etc. And they liked it. So they retired, appreciating that their income would take a hit but they rather liked this "not working" lark and certainly didn't want to get back to commuting, 9-5 etc

That's your "economically inactive" increase

 

[fossyant]

The lockdown was a massive social experiment and we are only now feeling the outcomes of it. One is that a lot of mature workers got to experience what retirement was like; no commuting, flexible scheduling etc. And they liked it. So they retired, appreciating that their income would take a hit but they rather liked this "not working" lark and certainly didn't want to get back to commuting, 9-5 etc

That's your "economically inactive" increase

We lost a few hundred older staff, who wouldn't when a year's salary is waved in your face ! Time to tend the allotment, ride the bike, bit of gardening, then maybe a few hours volunteering or a bit of work if they felt like it. Quids in.

 

[MontyVeda]

I wish i could afford to be economically inactive

 

[Ming the Merciless]

What about vicars?

They were the first to realise there is no god 😁

 

[fossyant]

I wish i could afford to be economically inactive

Snap....

 

[dan_bo]

I wish i could afford to be economically inactive

Kinell aye.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

We lost a few hundred older staff, who wouldn't when a year's salary is waved in your face ! Time to tend the allotment, ride the bike, bit of gardening, then maybe a few hours volunteering or a bit of work if they felt like it. Quids in.

What’s happened and I count myself amongst this lot.

A lot of older experienced and good at their job professionals, but not career focused in terms of let’s see how high up the ladder we can get, have been neglected for years. Taken for granted that they will be there when the ambitious have moved on. All the HR, performance and training focused on the young thrusters, but anathema to everyone else not into that kind of thing. Their priority has never been to move up the career ladder. They’ve followed roles that are interesting to do, often side ways movement, climbing the ladder slowly. They get high enough, but stop when the demands on them start to outweigh the benefits in their view. Come the pandemic there was an opportunity to further consider and realise their priorities. For some that means retiring, others part retire, and others go part time in a stress free job that has lower demands and hours compared to their skills and experience.

These people always worked to live, not the other way round. Now they are doing more of the living, and less of the work. The long hours culture of many places for decades didn’t help this situation. If someone works their contracted hours, and does it well, they shouldn’t be made to feel like they weren’t pulling their weight. The culture of being expected to work overtime every single week is a sickness many no longer want.

The decades of experience has walked out the door, and they will never get it back. Experience is the difference between information and knowledge. Far too many managers and directors realise that far too late.

 

[All uphill]

I wish i could afford to be economically inactive

Probably for another thread, but FIRE ( financial independence retire early) is an interesting idea that you may have heard of.

The basic idea is to strip all unnecessary spending out of the household budget and save effectively. Its not for everyone, but for those who value time and freedom above stuff it's an idea.

 

[DCLane]

I wish i could afford to be economically inactive

I'm about 5 years away from being able to do that, although I've a decent pension pot(s) built up. I could leave after son no. 2 finishes school this year and go part-time though.

SWMBO is getting busier and busier though, and having to turn down work. She's not yet at the point of needing someone to work alongside her, but it'll be soon. Given I'm not in her profession I'd end up doing her paperwork as an unpaid full-time job instead

These people always worked to live, not the other way round. Now they are doing more of the living, and less of the work. The long hours culture of many places for decades didn’t help this situation. If someone works their contracted hours, and does it well, the shouldn’t be made to feel like they weren’t pulling their weight. The culture of being expected to work overtime every single week is a sickness many no longer want.

That was my self re-assessment following my nasty crash in 2016. I decided, or rather my current physical limitations decided, that I wanted my life back. And I'm much happier as a result. And only a little poorer financially.

 

[fair weather cyclist]

I wish i could afford to be economically inactive

I can't afford that just yet, but I can afford to be economically less active.

I'm just getting settled and established in a new job, but cutting down from 5 to 4 days a week is already in my plans. Life's too short to be working 5 days.

 

[Brandane]

I heard a piece recently on Radio 4 saying another factor is an increasing number of people who have chosen to be economically inactive - not on benefits, not working and not retired or retired early. The suggestion was that a quiet life on a low income is proving more attractive than regular employment.

I completely get that, and the solution has to be to find ways of making employment more pleasant/enjoyable/flexible or better paid

I might qualify for that. Being on a pension at age 59 which provides enough income to get by....
Mortgage paid, so all I need is enough to pay the bills.

I have a valid class 1 HGV licence and could possibly go and drive an artic tomorrow if I wanted (but don't get taken in by the BS figures regarding wages on offer - it has improved but not THAT much!). However, it is still an industry which expects drivers to routinely work 60/70 hours per week, unsociable hours, and nights sleeping in a bunk behind the driver's seat in some not very nice parts of the country. The haulage industry for decades now has had an over supply of drivers, and it took full advantage of that, with low wages being just one factor. "Don't like it here driver? Well F*** off then, because there are plenty like you who will drive for us!" Now the boot is somewhat on the other foot, and those same dinosaur managers don't like it.

I have chosen not to go back to HGV driving. Instead I am doing 16 hours per week as a handyman in a day care centre. Four short mornings per week. Gives me some pocket money for life's little extras, without knocking myself out. I see no point in over earning just now anyway, when putting money into savings is only watching it lose value in real terms. Interest rates low, inflation climbing. It makes no sense to me. Perhaps a lot of other potential workers are thinking the same way?

 

[FishFright]

Not sure if this has been covered, but the current job's situation is a bit of a nightmare for employers ! We just can't get people.

Even at a University, just my Faculty is over £1m underspent on staffing as we just can't recruit, and that's in just 6 months - it's equivalent to 30 Senior Lecturing staff.

Many places you speak to, from hospitality to professional jobs are short of workers at all levels. Have we lost that many European people at all levels - not just talking the seasonal agriculture workers ?

My son's been wanting to get into the motor trade, so has plans for a part time course in September whilst working. He was working at an alloy wheels company until last week when he walked out - reason, not enough staff, everyone under pressure and back biting, management not doing anything - just not a nice place to work (that and 6 days a week left him no spare time). That said, he started another job today, just like that !

If employers aren't doing much to retain staff, given the market, folk will just walk. We have staff shortages throughout our business, admin, accountancy, cleaning, lecturers, estates, you name it.

Has 'the blip' taken that many people (Marvel reference).

Could be the effects of a 'brain drain' as often mentioned in anti brexit discussions? excuse the politics