Quit Your Job and Go Back?

Odd Things People are Doing at Work These Days

May 16

Jen “Odd” Glantz here! It seems like a weird time to be an employee for a company right now. After so many people saw their gig change during the pandemic, from getting laid-off to getting furloughed to no longer having to go back into an office, people are approaching their careers differently.

Some are quitting their job in search of new careers and others are looking for gigs that give them what they want (better benefits, permanent WFH, a higher salary, and a bump in title - that would have taken them years to get at their last job).

But I keep reading these articles about semi-odd trends happening in the workplace today and that’s what I want to highlight in today’s newsletter.

Seeing some odd things in your company or industry?

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Odd Things People are Doing at Work These Days

Hire By Time Zone

Some people are eager to never go back into an office ever again and life fully remote for as long as possible. Salesforce CEO is one of the first to say “Hey! We don’t care where you live.” Instead of making people come into an office, Salesforce is listing jobs in time zones and asking people to apply to a time zone that they’d like to work in. Sounds pretty worker friendly, doesn’t it?

Running Back to Old Gigs

In March, a record 4.5 million people quit their jobs, according to the Labor Department. However, I read this article about how some people actually ended up going back to their old jobs after a few months or a year. Some left for better opportunities that seemed promising on paper but when they arrived, it was a toxic work environment and they missed what they left. SO they went back and sometimes, they were rewarded for coming back with higher salaries and better titles.

More about that here.

Training Your Boss to Care About - You?

Yep, that’s a thing! More than ever. It’s the latest workplace trend and empathy is one of the "most sought after management skills" as companies look for ways to help support workers who are drained or burnt-out from the pandemic or just life in general. Companies are creating courses and programs to literally teach bosses how to show vulnerability.

Quit? No. Job Switch

During the pandemic, the news around jobs flirted with an idea of the Great Resignation or Reshuffle, where people were leaving their jobs for something bigger, better, or just different. Recently, The New York Times said that people didn’t so much quit their jobs in record numbers last year, but instead swapped them for greater pay and flexibility.

Job switching in leisure and hospitality grew to 6% from 4% before the pandemic; and in retail, to 5% from 3.5%. Meanwhile, wages in both industries jumped.