Covid May Have Changed Much of the Workplace Forever

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RSteve

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It was announced today that Thomson Reuters, formerly West Publishing, is selling its immense physical plant because of the success of employees working from home.
One of my younger daughter's friends (age 35) had her first child a couple of months ago. She works for a major health insurer. After a comparatively short maternity leave, she went back to work from her combination office and baby nursery in her home.
 
Both my adult kids used to work in an office. My daughter is an Underwriter for a major bank. My son is an IT Manager for a major health care system. Both of them now work 4 days from home and one on site. My wife is the Manager of a small Commercial Insurance Brokerage. More than half of their staff now work totally from home…(4 of their staff reported in with Omicron just this past week).

Stuff is changing all right. We’re saving gas.
 
Was working from home all the time prior to the pandemic with a day or two a fortnight in the office. The office visit was more of a social thing to catch up with people and I hardly got any work done on those days. Of course now it is 100% from home, working for my states worker safety agency means they don't want to force people back to the offfice and they then get sick, it would not be a good look for them.
 
I see the media has run wild with The Great Resignation stuff. Another misnomer that does no one any favors. Changing priorities and careers, not stopping working. I think it's great.
 
Changing priorities and careers, not stopping working. I think it's great.
My older daughter (43) taught elementary school physical education for 18 years. She has an M.A.+ in education. The combination of the pandemic, out of control school politics, and children who have no knowledge of appropriate behavior told her it was time to make a vocational change. Her husband does well financially and they have no children, by choice. She enrolled at a local vocational school to train in I.T. She's now three months into a paying 30 hour a week job "really learning I.T." on the job. By this time next year, she expects to be in a career position in I.T. with a local school system where a friend is the chief I.T. officer.

In all honesty, when she said was leaving education, I was vocally very critical of her decision. She's literally ABT for her Ed.D. With her years of experience and degrees, she was earning almost $90K annually for nine months in the classroom. "It's my life, Dad, and I simply cannot deal with the system and the misbehaving kids anymore." And she does seem much, much happier. She's a very fortunate woman. Her husband's income is enough to support them comfortably, and her father is there to cushion any bumps in the road.

LOL, When I was her age, I had daughters ages 9 and 1 and walking away from my primary source of income was not a luxury I would have ever considered. Times and circumstances change.
 
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Changing priorities and careers, not stopping working. I think it's great.
Headline in Mpls. Star-Tribune this morning:
"Top Minnesota chefs left restaurants to find 'a higher quality of life'. Glimpsing normal life during the pandemic, many chefs left their restaurant roles."
 
The only way I'd want to be a chef is a private chef. Restaurants, yachts, catering...they work insane hours and live an unhealthy lifestyle. A very cool profession...in theory.
 
The only way I'd want to be a chef is a private chef. Restaurants, yachts, catering...they work insane hours and live an unhealthy lifestyle. A very cool profession...in theory.
During my college years, I did plenty of restaurant work. I enjoyed it, worked hard, and learned a lot. The hours are absolute killers. When everyone is home relaxing or out and about having fun, you're busting your butt in the restaurant. Catering isn't nearly as bad as restaurant work. The gig is usually a hire for one meal, little variation per plate.

One of my closest friends' father was the concessionaire for one of Minneapolis' largest public venues. His firm handled all event concessions and catering. After I was done with my Army service, I often worked for the company. One dinner of note was a prime rib banquet for 2400. (not a misprint, 2400) The company owner held a meeting of all those working the event. "Ladies and gentlemen. This dinner is very important to the health of my company. All convention attendees must be served during a 30 minute span. We have adequate kitchen and server staff for this to be accomplished, so please do your best." The company paid hourly workers, most on-call, three to four times minimum wage. What he didn't mention was if the entire service was completed within 20 minutes, he got a performance increase of $1.00 per plate. Yup, $2400. We were set to break the world's land speed record! My job was to temperature check the resting prime rib roasts and call over a busser to move them to slicing stations.
When the event was completely over and we were having a beer and a sandwich in the kitchen, my friend's father came over, gave his thanks and shook my hand with a concealed $100 dollar bill.
 
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