Americans are quitting bad jobs in record numbers because they’re rethinking about what matters.
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| Photograph: Courtesy of Rachael Flores |
Over the years, though, I’ve learned when to quit tying myself into mental knots over sentence construction.
Instead, I step back and rethink where
my story is going.
This
process is essentially what millions of American working families are going
through this year as record numbers of them are shocking bosses, politicians,
and economists by stepping back and declaring: “We quit!”
Most
of the quits are tied to very real abuses that have become ingrained in our
workplaces over the past couple of decades — poverty paychecks, no health care,
unpredictable schedules, no child care, understaffing, forced overtime, unsafe
jobs, sexist and racist managers, aggressively rude customers, and so much
more.
Specific grievances abound, but at the core of each is a deep, inherently destructive executive-suite malignancy: disrespect.
The corporate system has cheapened employees from valuable human assets worthy of being nurtured and advanced to a bookkeeping expense that must be steadily eliminated.
It’s not just about paychecks. It’s about feeling valued — feeling
that the hierarchy gives a damn about the people doing the work.
Yet
corporate America is going out of its way to show that it doesn’t care — and,
of course, workers notice. So unionization is booming, millions who were laid
off by the pandemic are refusing to rush back to the same old grind, and now
millions who have jobs are quitting.
This
is much more than an unusual unemployment stat. It’s a sea change in people’s
attitude about work itself — and life.
People
are rethinking where their story is going and how they can take it in a better
direction. Yes, nearly everyone will eventually return to work, but workers
themselves have begun redefining the job and rebalancing it with life.
OtherWords
columnist Jim Hightower is a
radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. Distributed by OtherWords.org.