Whether you came across it here or elsewhere on the internet, you’ve no doubt heard a lot of talk about a labor shortage reported throughout the United States in the waning months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But while there are no shortage of strategies companies are trying in light of this development and certainly more than enough opinions on how it can be resolved , what we aren’t seeing as much is a concrete explanation for how it happened in the first place.
And while it’s important to remember that what we’re about to see is just one man’s take on the situation, his theory for how this all started does seem to provide a little insight that we weren’t seeing before.
Even if you feel some satisfaction when you see signs like this on drive-thru order boxes, it’s hard not to wonder what these employees had in mind for after their big exodus.
But as far as TikTok user @j.dkon sees it, many Americans found that answer long before these resignations started happening.
As he explained, “During the pandemic, people got laid off from their jobs and the government was not helping us monthly like the rest of the world had so they had to get creative to make ends meet.”
For instance, he saw some start small businesses on Etsy or consulting services, while others streamed on Twitch or started trying to sell their art.
As a result, he says, “People were doing things that they were passionate about and that they loved, and they were making money from it.”
And contrary to the popular belief that “people just don’t want to work anymore,” he suggests that the hard work that goes into these ventures didn’t stop them from wanting to keep them up.
To this, he attributes a realization among those who did this that their quality of life got better as a result of their independent endeavors.
In his words, “Even if they were scraping by and even if they were working 12 hours a day, they were doing it for themselves.”
Given that realization, @j.dkon said he could hardly blame them for not being ready to resume “droning away in a corporate office.”
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While his argument would be stronger if he had some data to back up the trend he’s apparently seeing, it’s still an interesting theory for the vacancies we’re seeing.
It would also explain why so many companies are struggling to sweeten the pot for enough potential employees. How does one draw someone away from the personal fulfillment and difference in quality of life they’re experiencing, right?
Of course, it helps to see what he’s suggesting for yourself before you draw any conclusions on it and you can do so right here.
