CommentsTHE DOCTOR IS IN - The Great Resignation is real, and for those of you who don't know about it, then it's long overdue that you learn about it, and long overdue that it's occurring.
In particular, middle managers are behind this Great Resignation.
Resignations are highest in the tech and health care industries--due to the pandemic, increased workloads and burnout without any realistic increase in pay in benefits have caused too many to question whether or not to stay employed, so they just leave.
In short, many of the most talented and hard-working Americans are bailing out of their jobs, and exploding unemployment rates up to 10-11 million jobs up as a result (in addition to other factors, of course).
Employers like to "address" this problem by motivation talks and verbal/written empathy, but most of us with common sense know that that strategy is just not enough to REALLY get the job done to retain their worker bees.
It's not hard to figure out a better approach, such as realistic and effective advancement policies and to address the problems that most Americans face.
It's certainly not the employers who are the cause of exploding housing costs, exploding inflation, and exploding transportation and utility costs, but it is their problem without any doubt.
Democrats like to blame Republicans, because Republicans adhere to capitalist principles, and are against any rise in state and federal minimum wages. Further, large employers like the Christian-run, Walton-family-owned Walmart appear to be part of the problem; too many are forced to live on food stamps and rely on Medicaid/MediCal for their health insurance--yet these effect mainly lower-income individuals.
Republicans like to blame Democrats, with the increase in the minimum wage for lower level employees causing middle managers to question why it's worth it to earn more responsibilities without any significant higher wages. Furthermore, with "woke" employers such as Amazon and Silicon Valley also underpaying employees...
...and by a long-overdue termination of the COVID-19 guaranteed income from "stimulus programs" of "Build Back Better" making it difficult for many Americans to work everyday when they can just stay at home and live off government largesse.
And as costs rise for employers, welcome to both machination, automation, and artificial robotic replacement...to say nothing of the importation of foreign workers to replace American workers because they're just plain cheaper and will do anything to achieve relocation to the United States and better employment than they ever could in their countries of birth.
...and hence we have a former president who was hated by so many Americans, but yet elected and supported by many who saw him as a supporter of American over foreign employment, and who at least stated (regardless of his success, or lack thereof) that he wanted to bring employers back to the United States to favor American-born worker employment.
...and hence we also have a current president who openly and verbally claims he's pro-worker, but yet also hated by so many Americans because his policies are perceived to result in so many who are provided a disincentive to work, and who are suffering under a massive environment of inflation not seen since the Carter Administration.
Life priorities, quality of life, and a massive re-evaluation of Americans on the status quo by employers who didn't "get it", and arguably still don't "get it". Perhaps many employers can't afford to meet employees' needs, but as the rich-poor divide ever worsens this argument is falling flat in a huge way.
With the increasing desire of Americans to remotely work at their beloved and cherished homes, and the increasing desire of Americans to bail on high-tech and high-employment states (think New York, New Jersey, and California) to states of cheaper housing and cost of living (to say nothing of cheaper tax rates), many workers perceive the Great Resignation as a justification for their mass exodus.
And hence we have an ever-worsening Great Resignation, made so very much worse from and during the Great Pandemic we've face for the last two years.
Like it or not, increasing numbers of Americans are wondering if the previous president had a better policy with respect to controlling the number of Central American migrants from illegally entering our nation, and wonder what on earth is going on.
Like it or not, our current President and Vice-President have overwhelmingly destroyed the control and drain on American resources during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Hence we have roughly 20% who strongly approve of the job Joe Biden is doing, while 49% strongly disapprove.
Like it or not, that means that increasingly numbers of Democratic and independent voters are wondering if Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders won the presidency in 2020, and are wondering whose side Joe Biden is with respect to the interests and priority of the United States of America, and perhaps even wonder if Joe Biden favors partisan politics over the interests of nation.
Positive learning cultures, smarter managers, conditions for learning job skills and employees seeking and embracing those learning job skills, and better appreciation to those extending their necks and efforts have been suggested.
Yet employers grabbing homes and subsidizing them for their employees, greater 401(k) contributions from employers, subsidized child care, and being more realistic in how many workers to hire in order to not overwork those they do employ don't seem to be high on the list of ways to avoid the expansion of the Great Resignation.
...and hence the Great Resignation will remain high, and continue to get ever higher, in these troubled times.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 9 years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach, Planning, and Transportation/Infrastructure Committees for 10 years. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
