How’d That Petition Work?
Crossover event — you can find this content on my podcast as well at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1125110/12508509
So . . . how’d that petition go? Last year, I had a mansplainer argue with me that there’s no such thing as a fake job. 😐 PPP Loans ended and he refused to believe that some of the places that put a Help Wanted sign in the window in order to get a PPP Loan weren’t actually hiring. Well who looks a fool now? I’ll be discussing “ghost jobs” on Thursday’s podcast episode but suffice it to say, as I always do: by the time you are officially told something, you’re waiting way too late, IMO.
Even though I’d rather not take victory lap and I would prefer to be wrong on this — I told you the truth.
When a boom cycle ends, it can be tough to accept reality. People want the band to play forever. Realtors who tried to convince us that home prices would only go up and we were not in a housing bubble are looking for work outside of the industry. Some of the people in HR trying to hype you up about the job market will find themselves in the same boat as we go further into this mess. You can try to fight The Fed and ignore the broader economy if you want to, but I sure wouldn’t recommend it. And on that note, apparently you are supposed to believe that a petition or an angry Slack channel will somehow be enough to stave off RTO forever. Sorry, I don’t buy it!
-”IMO, a petition will not stop what’s coming” https://causeyconsultingllc.com/2023/02/23/imo-a-petition-will-not-stop-whats-coming/ published on February 23, 2023.
- https://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-hr-boss-rejects-employee-remote-work-petition-2023-3
NO 💩!
Things the hot air & hopium crowd have tried to convince you of:
- WFH will last forever.
- Even if companies demand RTO by and large, we’ll sit it out!
- A petition / angry Slack channel will really show them.
- The labor market is still red hot.
- No financial collapse is coming.
- Inflation is transitory.
- The state / The Fed / Corpo America will solve our problems.
I’ve seen some Johnny Come Latelys — who really don’t seem to have any job market expertise per se — jumping on the bandwagon now to say, “Uh-oh. Oopsy. Umm, maybe RTO is happening after all, guys.” Meanwhile, I have warned you and warned you and warned you for months. I knew RTO was not going away. I knew these companies were not going to universally bulldoze their corporate real estate and that the hot air & hopium crowd were trying to sell you a big fat false bill of goods.
“Beth Galetti denied an internal petition asking Amazon to reverse its new return-to-office policy. She said that coming into the office will create ‘long-term benefits’ for Amazon and its employees. Roughly 30,000 Amazon employees signed the petition protesting the new RTO mandate. Amazon’s top HR executive formally rejected an internal petition signed by roughly 30,000 employees over the company’s new return-to-office policy . . . the company still intends to move forward with its RTO plan, which requires most corporate employees to come into the office three times a week starting in May.” -Business Insider, Ibid.
Who wins with 30,000 people versus the executive team? The executive team. They know what’s coming and I hope you’ve been with me long enough that you do, too. In a time of high unemployment, Corpo America holds the cards and they are very well-aware of that.
If you have not already roughed out both an RTO survival plan and a job loss survival plan, it might be too late.
Originally published at https://causeyconsultingllc.com on March 27, 2023.
