Covid on employment
I still vaguely remember the morning when our teacher told us not to go to school and switch to online classes. Instead of sitting in the classroom engaging with other students, I was sitting in front of the screen, experiencing the unique experience of online learning for the first time. The same kind of story happened to many people worldwide after a few months. Many workers in many companies were asked not to go to the corporations and engage in work through the internet. With the enhancement of virtual meeting and cooperation programs, many employees found that the covid pandemic offered a brand-new working experience. Some workers begin to reevaluate whether their jobs are worth the risk of going to the company and getting infected; others decide to disdain their hazardous working environment and find other jobs. This great peak in unemployment during covid-19 is called “the great resignation.” Experiencing such a drastic change in the workforce,
some might say that the increased workforce scarcity and the increase of remote work caused by the pandemic enabled the employees to seek a less coercive working environment, which would have a fundamental impact on the relations between employers and employees. However, I argue that this is unlikely due to the uneven balance between employers and employees. I would further illustrate this by showing the office culture, the current job market that is unfriendly to employees, and the continuation of automation that worsens the balance between employers and employees.
Many workers during the pandemic found their working conditions hazardous and decided to quit their jobs, looking for new occupations. Many workers also decided to engage their work online after the pandemic. An article from TIME magazine illustrated this idea of seeking new ways of work after the pandemic. In the article, many people who decided to resign from their jobs were being interviewed. Many people in the article decided to quit their jobs due to the harmful office environment. According to the author, “The modern office was created after World War II, on a military model — strict hierarchies, created by men for men, with an assumption that there is a wife to handle duties at home. But after years of gradual change in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, there’s a growing realization that the model is broken. Millions of people have spent the past year reevaluating their priorities.” In the article, the author introduced that the office culture was influencing the modern office after WW2, which consists of great social hierarchies. With the impact of the epidemic, many people who are switched online could reconsider what kind of office environment they would want.
It seems that the epidemic would cause a prolonged effect in encouraging virtual working space and fundamentally enhance the working environment. However, many articles expressed concerns about the influence of the epidemic on working status. According to The Harvard Gazette, “The survey, conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s SHINE program, examined workplace well-being among 1,271 participants in 17 industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, construction, finance, arts, and health care. It found that the physical impacts of COVID-19 have been widespread, with 35 percent saying they or someone in their immediate family or social network had the virus. In addition, 32 percent said job security decreased, 44 percent said household income decreased, 40 percent said workload increased, and 52 percent said time spent on a computer screen increased.” The switch to virtual working doesn’t have a positive impact. In fact, virtual work puts more burden on the workforce. It would be hard for people working virtually to become more relaxed and enjoy a good working environment in such a condition.
Many people also argue that the great resignation would create a shortage in population, increasing the employees’ payment. Admittedly, the workforce shortage has troubled many employers, and they are considering better treatment for their staff. However, bigger trouble exists that would worsen the economic treatment of the workforce — automation. With the development of technology, many occupations are being replaced by machines. In fact, according to CQ researcher, many people argue that automation and the development of technology was also the main reason behind this “great resignation,” meaning the covid pandemic is not the only reason. With the development of automation, it is hard to say whether the covid pandemic’s positive impact on the workforce would be fundamental.
According to Joanne Lipman’s article on people’s perception of the epidemic, “Millions of people have spent the past year reevaluating their priorities. How much time do they want to spend in an office? Where do they want to live if they can work remotely? Do they want to switch careers? For many, this has become a moment to literally redefine what work.” , which means that the pandemic caused many people to consider their jobs and try to explore new ways of work is. Kari, an interviewee, decided to open a landscape business with his husband after covid 19 took place. She expressed that the pandemic helped her to do some soul searching and clarified what kind of job she wanted. With the continuation of the pandemic, more people would join the trend in exploring new jobs and better working conditions. However, according to Forbes,” My advice is please don’t quit your job unless you have something else already lined up. It’s too risky. Without a job, you have less negotiating power. For example, without a current job, you can’t leverage the possibility of a counteroffer to gain a higher salary.” When the employees decided to quit their jobs, the employer would use the employee’s unemployed condition to force a more harmful contract. In this kind of condition, the interviewees that decided to change their jobs in the interview would find it difficult to make the final decision. Therefore, the reevaluation of jobs would be unlikely to take place largely.
Though many people have great envisioned toward this epidemic, the reality is not necessarily so. Many problems exist with great resignation taking place. Therefore, it would be better if people who want to join the tide of the great resignation carefully examine their conditions before they decide to make an important decision on their jobs.
