There have been a couple work "trends" in the media lately, with Quiet Quitting and now, Work Your Wage getting traction and - I think these are good things for society. Essentially, it indicates to me at least the people who I would never have to risk promoting, so as long as they do what they are paid to do, there is no issue. This way, they will easily be able to achieve all the work-life balance they desire, because their work will never have to challenge them and their life will be limited by their stagnating salary, so they will be able to stay at home to their heart's content.
Just imagine if professional athletes, musicians and actors had taken the same approach when they were starting out.
How do you like your eggs?
I was talking to my wife (who is in talent acquisition) about these various trends last night and how people are openly demanding various conditions, despite them not being in the position to do so., at least based on their experience. In what is a difficult hiring market, a lot of people know that they are able to demand higher salaries and better conditions, but there is also a little bit of an overinflated sense of business worth in the market too. A lot of people seem to think that regardless of their experience and a lack of proof of their skills, they can still be demanding, but as one of my colleagues put it in terms of their hiring process;
If it is not a Hell Yes! - It's a no.
The companies that understand the importance of hiring well for a position and not just filling a position understand that patience might be required, even if there is pain and loss in the short term. For those who are continuously lowering the bar just to fill positions, are setting themselves up for a culture of high staff turnover, no matter what remuneration they provide. It will be demand after demand and then loss anyway, even when the demands are met.
There should be a rule, if the trend comes with a catch phrase like "Quiet Quitting" or "Work your Wage" - don't follow it. It is very much like an IQ test where those who aren't going to amount to much anyway, are going to prove their destiny correct without even challenging it, as they do exactly what leads them down that path in a self-fulfilling prophecy kind of way. And then, because of the poor outcomes, they feel justified that they made the right call in not trying in the first place.
But really though, I do think there are some benefits to this for many people who try them, as they will get to experience what it means to not be fulfilled by work, but also not be fulfilled by life - more work-life balance perhaps - unfulfilling in both sides.
People often define themselves at least partially by the job that they do and when they care nothing for that job to the point they aren't willing to do anything extra for it beyond what they explicitly must or feel they should based on the salary, they will look to define themselves through other means. However, what will those other means be when they are severely hampered financially for prolonged periods of time?
Most likely, this is is part of the impotent social movements and "hoard cancellation" policies of social media, where like a religion that fills the gaps of having to think for oneself, the social movements fill the voids of meaning and purpose in their lives. After all, many of them are opting out of having families too, so it isn't like they are going to double-down on family life as a gateway to life purpose.
I think humans are designed to seek a sense of accomplishment with our activities and part of that is social recognition, like a pat on the head for doing a good job. But, what does that mean when there is no job done and no social activity performed? Probably, lots of selfies thrown out into the platforms wanting to be seen, but since the social connections are so weak, feedback from strangers is good enough.
Oh - this happens already.
The "quitting" has been happening for decades already and it hasn't been quiet at all though. Instead, it has been very dramatic and filled with digital outrage and anything and everything, regardless of whether it is cared about or not, important or not. People have been quitting the relationships that create a healthy society and as the fabric fails and gets increasingly volatile, they are saying "See, this is why I opted out", without acknowledging that they are one of the failing threads.
Self-fulfilling prophecy.
Feeling self-fulfilled?
Apparently not. People seem to have the lowest life satisfaction opinions ever, but the general consensus is that it is someone else's problem to change. Rather than actually doing something about the conditions, people are quitting their responsibility and waiting for others to do the work, which is obviously going to lead to even larger gaps in society, because only a minority of people ever actually do the majority of the work anyway. And then, when that minority make decisions and perform activities that will ultimately benefit themselves the most, people complain that they are not included, that it isn't fair.
Everyone deserves to be paid adequate value for the work they do, but at the end of the day, the way we behave especially whilst young, is like an investment made for our own future. If we aren't tightening our metaphorical belts and putting in the work to build a strong foundation, we are going to have to continually chase shelter forever, which means a lifetime of continual struggle until what we offer the market, is no longer valuable at all and without deep experience in anything, we have no value to society either.
More screaming into the void.
It is no wonder so many people are outraged on the internet, because it is their last opportunity to get any attention at all, the last bastion of their relevancy - but it will never actually last. Eventually, obscurity awaits us all and based on the way people behave today, that isn't going to be the fate of the elderly, it will be the lifestyle of the youth.
Prophecy filled.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
