#EssentialWorkers #jobs #employment #employers #coronavirus #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve
In the last year or so, some workers have been labeled “essential.”
For this argument, we will not include health care workers, who, indeed, are the ultimate essentials.
We’ll focus on those workers who produce and sell food, utilities. fuel and other things everyone needs to survive.
Because of what they do or provide, they MUST go to work, regardless of conditions, and risk their safety, and that of those with whom they must interact.
While deemed “essential,” generally, they don’t get paid a lot.
How can someone be so ”essential, ” and make so little?
There are arguments one can pursue here related to education, skills etc. In fact, some of those who work in health care who do jobs that don’t require higher education would undoubtedly put themselves in this category.
The fact remains: if we all can’t live without these folks’ work, why are they so underappreciated, at least financially?
Posing this question brings us to today’s scenario. The COVID-19 crisis, though still a crisis in many places, is showing a few signs of abating in many locales. Businesses are gradually getting back to their operations prior to the pandemic.
However, these businesses are finding out something. The workers they employed, and suddenly may have had to put out of work for the better part of a year, are not necessarily in a rush to come back.
Perhaps they have found other work in the meantime. Perhaps the pandemic has created complications in their lives that work interferes with.
Many of these workers may not necessarily be deemed “essential” in general, but they apparently are essential to their employers.
One argument for this phenomenon goes like this: people are making so much with unemployment benefits that they would lose money by going back to work.
That devolves to arguments about laziness etc. Very likely, however, unemployment benefits do not cover all the “essentials” these folks, and their families, need to live. If those benefits don’t cover all the essentials, and work pays even less, why go to work? the argument goes.
This is less likely a question of ambition and more likely a question of economics. If you are a business that depends on workers, and you are having trouble finding, or persuading, those workers to work for you, just pay them more. If you pay them properly, they will come. If you pay them properly, they will work.
The good news here is if you are a worker who doesn’t want to go back to your old job, or your old job is not worth going back to, there are ways you can not only meet your required expenses, but you can potentially prosper beyond what you had ever thought you could.
There are many programs out there that will allow you to do that. Yes, they do require work, so those without ambition need not explore them. And, they don’t require specific education, experience or background. But, they DO require that you look at something you may have never thought you would do.
To check out one of the best such programs, message me.
The argument for higher pay to attract workers is old. Businesses generally fear that paying workers more would mean higher prices for their products or services, thereby a reduction in demand. Most companies who make good products would find their customers would pay $1 more, or some nominal amount more, for their products or services, knowing they are paying their workers properly.
To be “essential” and poor makes no sense. Workers may also be thinking that I may be “essential” today, and gone – again – tomorrow. Putting financial pressure on people with few means makes little sense, in the long run. So, it’s up to employers, not government or anyone else, to solve this. They don’t do so at their peril.
Peter
Monthly Archives: April 2021
BOSSES SEEM CLUELESS ABOUT EMPLOYEE HAPPINESS
#bosses #CluelessBosses #coronavirus #FlattenTheCurve #COVID19
The majority of workers feel they are struggling in pandemic working conditions. Many are thinking about leaving their employers this year.
Meanwhile, most business leaders believe they are “thriving.”
So says a Microsoft survey of global workers. Bloomberg News discussed the survey in an article also published March 23, 2021, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Employee burnout is widespread, the article quotes the survey. Some 54 percent of workers say they are overworked. Some 39 percent say they are exhausted, the article quotes the survey.
Many employees are working remotely, and being overlooked by their managers and company leaders, the article says.
Meanwhile their leaders say they are doing great, the article says.
Gen Z workers – those 18 to 25 years old – are faring worst, the article quotes the survey. Researchers believe those younger workers’ feeling of isolations are higher because they are more likely to be early in their careers and single, the article says.
Industry leaders are mostly men. But the survey found women, front-line workers and new employees reported challenges in the workplace, the article says.
“Leaders are out of touch,” the article quotes Microsoft Vice President Jared Spataro. “Sixty-one percent say they are thriving – that’s 23 percent higher than the average worker, so there is a disconnect there,” the article quotes Spataro.
So, are you thriving during this pandemic? If so, more power to you. If not, don’t fret. There may be solutions out there for you.
We can make comments about out-of-touch bosses, but the pandemic has likely made many of them more out of touch. They don’t see you. They don’t have face-to-face interactions with you. They may see you on a screen every so often, but that’s probably it. You, as the worker, have no idea what your boss is thinking about you.
That can undoubtedly produce paranoia: is he thinking that I’m at home collecting a paycheck and doing very little?
If you feel underappreciated, and don’t want to go back to your job even when it becomes safe to do so, there are solutions you can pursue.
There are many programs out there that allow a person to put in a few, part-time, off-work hours a week and not only augment his or her income, but potentially dwarf the income he or she earns at a job. They require a person to think outside their comfort zone, and look at perhaps doing something he or she may never thought he or she would do. And, you can do it remotely if conditions require.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Meanwhile, the pandemic has changed most of our lives. Some of those changes could become permanent. If you didn’t like your work situation before the pandemic, chances are the coronavirus outbreak made them worse.
Many talk about jobs coming back, but will the one you have be worth going back to?
Many new jobs will be created, experts say, and working conditions will change. You may not know until the changes come whether you will be better off.
It may be a good time to start creating a Plan B. Chances are, when changes are made because of a situation you, as an employee, cannot control, they will not be for the better, when it comes to you.
Wouldn’t it be better to walk out of an untenable situation with a smile?
Peter
INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN MAY FORCE JOB CHANGES
#infrastructure #industry #technology #TomBrady #ElectricVehicles
Imagine Tom Brady as a middle linebacker.
In the debate over the proposed federal infrastructure plan, a working person chimed in that there was little in the infrastructure plan that would help him or her, and the job he or she does.
He, or she, said something like: You can’t say Tom Brady, a Super Bowl- winning quarterback, can now be a middle linebacker because he’s a football player.
To translate, the infrastructure plan is attempting to look at industry in the future. That may mean that jobs some folks are doing now are going to change. Those who don’t change with them may be left behind.
No one wants to see anyone left behind, but technology is changing industry rapidly. Instead of making cars with internal combustion engines, automakers are, and must, move toward electric vehicles and other alternative-fuel transportation. So, the person who has been an engine maker, for example, may have to switch gears.
Certainly, it likely won’t be easy to do that, but there isn’t much choice. It’s not as if the government wants to intentionally leave people behind, but trying to protect outdated industry will leave the country at the mercy of other countries who have more robustly embraced the change.
Retraining workers for new industry certainly has its pitfalls. Once a person is retrained, there’s always the danger, even likelihood, that new technology could make his or her retraining obsolete quickly.
And, there is the issue of how, say, new vehicles are going to be recharged. Electric charging stations are still rare in this country, and an abundance of electric vehicles on the road, with stations that can charge a vehicle fairly quickly, will put a big demand on the country’s power supply. So that would be another problem to be addressed.
In short, existing infrastructure is crumbling. Much of it needs repair and/or replacement. Internet access needs to be expanded to areas where connectivity is difficult.
But, technology IS changing how we do many things. We have to be ready for these changes so that jobs can be tailored to them.
The infrastructure plan is likely to create more jobs than it eliminates. It would be up to individuals to roll with something new.
If you are the type who is looking for something different, perhaps because what you’re doing now is expected to go away before you want it to, there are many programs that allow a person with any education, background or experience to create an income stream that could, potentially and eventually, dwarf whatever income he or she may earn at his or her job.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Obviously, football will need quarterbacks and linebackers. A player who is good at one position may not be good at another.
Tom Brady will always be a quarterback, as long as he plays. He will never become a linebacker.
But as the economy shifts, workers, as well as companies, have to become more nimble and flexible to reflect rapid change.
Your parents’ generation likely never saw change that moved at this pace. We all have to accept reality and move with it.
Tom Brady doesn’t need to, but, perhaps, you do.
Peter
AMERICA’S GRAND REOPENING?
#ReopeningAmerica #COVID19 #coronavirus #FlattenTheCurve #BoomingEconomy
Wes Moss thinks America is headed for a great reopening of the economy.
Moss, who writes a “Money Matters “ column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and has a radio show by the same name on WSB in Atlanta, sees four things that prompt him to see the boom coming. His column on this subject appeared in the March 28, 2021, edition of the newspaper.
He likens what has been created to “the most powerful locomotive ever built.”
As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to ease – most public health experts, however, warn that it may be too soon yet to let our guard down, though there is a light at the end of the tunnel – here’s what Moss sees:
• Stimulus packages have been approved, putting money in many empty pockets.
• Pent-up demand for goods and services after most of us have been locked at home for a year.
• Record savings rates among Americans over the last year, because people haven’t gone many places or done many things to spend it.
• Herd immunity, prompted by the creation and inoculation of vaccines.
Not everyone would agree with Moss, though it would be grand if he were proved right.
You hear lots of talk about government trying to do too much. Remember, lots of folks lost jobs
during the pandemic. As a result, many are having trouble paying rent and mortgages, some are even having trouble feeding themselves and their families.
The stimulus will help with that temporarily, but now these folks have to go out to find work.
A hopeful sign is that as many restaurants and other establishments begin to reopen, they are, and will be, looking for help.
Regarding pent-up demand and record savings, we have to be careful here. If people have saved as they haven’t for some time, they should take care on how they spend their money. Certainly, going out to eat on occasion or going on a vacation will help cure cabin fever, but, as Moss would likely advise, don’t spend that money frivolously.
The vaccines will help ease the fear of going out and about, but we would still be advised to use caution. For example, perhaps you could dine in a restaurant at times when it will be the least crowded. Hopefully, the restaurant management will stagger seating so people are not crammed in.
When you are not sure you can keep your distance from people, wear a mask. Eventually, we’ll get an all-clear signal from health officials to put away our masks, but we are not there yet.
Perhaps you’ve lost a job and it has permanently disappeared. Or, the job you had was not worth going back to. If you are in that situation, you may not see Moss’ optimism.
If so, you should know there are many programs out there that allow you to spend a few part-time hours a week (you still may need to get a job, at least for a time) and earn an income that could potentially dwarf what you would earn in a W-2 job. These programs require people of any age, education, background or experience to look at something they may have never thought they would do. And, if they see the potential, allow themselves to be coached.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
If the economy takes off the way Moss sees it, in a few years the government will get back the money it’s investing now – and, perhaps, more.
It’s tempting for us to go hog wild as the restrictions ease, but it would be wiser for us to ease back to normal gradually. Those with pent-up demand should exercise discipline in unleashing it. Those who have saved more than they have been should continue to save while, at the same time, treating himself or herself once in a while.
Peter