Poll: Are J*bs Getting Worse?

[Mdlerth]

In a few more weeks I will have abdicated the steady paycheck forever. That means I'll be depending on a portfolio invested in businesses administered by the good people who still go to w*rk every day.

However, many of the fine folks here post that their w*rkplaces had become intolerable, and that's what finally sparked their retirements.

New organizations (IOW, the latest crop of transient MBAs), new operating models (i.e., repackaged buzzword programs) and new business goals (aka, yet another round of cost-cutting everywhere except on executive compensation) apparently are the catalysts for many of us deciding to pack it in and head for the door.

I've read similar stories countless times:

• 
  "Megacorp (or Govt-agency) X used to be a great place to w*rk, but it's not that way today. The Big Bosses must read Dilbert and think it's a guideline to follow instead of to avoid."

• "We used to have pensions and health insurance. Now we don't even keep up with inflation."

• "Our division director doesn't care about succession planning or where we'll be in five years because he'll already be at his next j*b in two years."

• "If I can't meet some unreasonable expectation, I get spanked. But when the CEO screws up, he blames it on 'headwinds' and gets a bigger bonus."

• "Every new administration tells us we just need to 'embrace change'. But every 'change' is invariably 'Less for you, more for me'."

There is unquestionably a stronger sense that short-term objectives predominate compared to when I hired on back in the previous millennium. Also, I think many managers are little more than clones: they all studied the same curriculum at whatever business school they attended; they read the same books; they adopt the same software; they parrot the same jargon; they play golf at the same clubs and sit on each others' boards. The result is that most organizations are run by interchangeable suits with identical group-think devotion to squeezing rather than growing. No wonder employees find remaining there unbearable.

However, maybe the Good Old Days were just as erratic and chaotic as the Bad New Days. It's entirely possible I just didn't recognize the flaws because of my youth and naivete.

I don't have confidence that a stock portfolio based on intolerable w*rkplaces will be sufficiently sustainable that it will sustain me. So I put it to this group. Are w*rkplaces genuinely worse than they used to be?

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

However, maybe the Good Old Days were just as erratic and chaotic as the Bad New Days. It's entirely possible I just didn't recognize the flaws because of my youth and naivete.

I don't have confidence that a stock portfolio based on intolerable w*rkplaces will be sufficiently sustainable that it will sustain me. So I put it to this group. Are w*rkplaces genuinely worse than they used to be?

I think that they aren't necessarily better or worse...they are just different. There have been lots and lots of changes, again some better some worse.

 

[nancyfrank232]

People are being asked to provide more value and school/college is completely inadequate in teaching people the necessary skills to do this

 

[REWahoo]

Are w*rkplaces genuinely worse than they used to be?

Thankfully, I don't have a clue!

 

[Midpack]

However, many of the fine folks here post that their w*rkplaces had become intolerable, and that's what finally sparked their retirements.

I’m not sure how you know if work “became intolerable” due to changes in the job itself, or simple boredom from being in the same rut for many years. I doubt most people could be objective enough to know - they blame the workplace (anyone but themselves) when they were just inevitably burned out. And I knew a lot of basically lazy coworkers who steadfastly resisted change, clinging to the good old days that clearly couldn’t continue.

Work became better in some ways and worse in others over the post college 35 years I worked, but that was forced by globalization and not change for change sake IME. Productivity increased dramatically over the course of my career, absolutely out of necessity.

And ironically those changes have made all our investments more profitable, would we rather those companies held on to the past and failed?

I didn’t vote because I’ve been out of the work world for too long to know.

 

[W2R]

Even though I don't know (not having worked for over 10 years), I voted that workplaces were better. That's because it seems like so many younger people online say they are earning six figures and working from home even without much experience on the job. That really wasn't the case very often when I was working but it seems more frequent now.

I would have loved to have experienced either a six figure salary, or telecommuting, but was never able to pull off either one at any point during my working days.

 

[gauss]

Voted Worse but probably biased by increased responsibilities and deliverables.

 

[Gumby]

I can really only speak with personal knowledge about the legal profession. It is substantially less enjoyable now than it ever has been. Much longer hours, fewer and weaker relationships both within and without the firm, and ever more economic pressure. If I had children, I would try to steer them away from law.

It appears from the outside that the same has occurred in medicine.

 

[GrayHare]

No poll option for better than before, seems odd to check off Other instead.

 

[MRG]

No poll on android. I worked until 5/13. I watched the Megacorp I'd been with for many years strip more benefits away every year since 08. The really bad sign came after the founding CEO retired. The legacy profit sharing fund no longer covered the 1% management fee[emoji23]. Apparently the former CEO wouldn't think of doing that, the new management had to wait until his retirement. My former co-w*rkers who stayed after I left would agree.

 

[pacergal]

voted just different.
my job basically stayed the same (medical field) but how the work was done certainly changed, sometimes for the better and sometimes way worse.
And of course, co workers always made the work different, depending on work ethic and personalities.

I watch history channel frequently and see how factory work, etc was done in the late 1800-early 1900s
did not look like fun!
But the stock market has continued to move forward for the most part over time.

 

[Mdlerth]

Provide too few choices or too many?

No poll option for better than before, seems odd to check off Other instead.

I did struggle a bit over how to parse that option, since I can't recall ever seeing a thread with "I hated my job in the beginning, but I stayed there anyway and after 20 years it grew on me". I tried to capture it with "no worse and may be better".

I appreciate the perspective, though. If this thread gets a hundred posts, I expect I will learn enough that a do-over poll would be much improved.

 

[JoeWras]

Worse: ridiculous deliverables; more means to communicate, yet less communication occurring with co-w*rkers; less assistance (book your own damn trip); no pensions

Better: no smoke filled workplaces; better ergonomics (raise/lower desk saved me); safer

I voted "different"

 

[street]

I voted "It is worse today than I remember it being back in the day". I noticed the politics and backstabbing was an issue. The early years we all worked together and work was fun and more rewarding.

 

[bonvoyage]

In my field, AI software research, salaries are high and workers are given a lot of autonomy. From this narrow viewpoint, you might (erroneously) conclude that things are perfect. Yet, I am feeling burnt out and am planning to quit for good by the middle of next year.

 

[Dalmore]

I voted worse. Compensation has gone down, and hours have gone up. For salaried employees, the idea of "Work-Life Balance" is completely gone. In the past when you went home for the day, you were done. Now with email, cell phones, texting, and remote access, work never stops.

 

[nancyfrank232]

I voted better

Very easy to find work. Compensation has gone up. Standard of living has drastically improved. Work life balance has improved (eg. 18 months maternity as an example)

 

[prudent_one]

My last company had the same deterioration of work-life balance but it had turned around when some younger management came on the scene. There was a lot of pushback on the old management whip-cracking style and that faded away. I actually think the impetus was that people were having no trouble finding other jobs and they wanted to not only stop the outflow of talent but have carrots to dangle when attracting new hires.

When a job candidate would say "Google is offering me 20% more and they provide free dinner if you stay late," our interviewer would say "that's because you WILL be staying late and that 20% more is in return for working 60 hours a week instead of 40 here. If you do the math you'll see you would be working 50% more hours for 20% more pay." Was pretty effective, we got our share of candidates. Even some who quit Google to join our company.

 

[scrabbler1]

In the 23 years I worked for the same company, some things got better, others got worse.


What got better: smoke-free workplace, greater company match on 401k, creation of ESOP, a PC on every desk, better phone system, federal TransitChek program introduced to offset some commutation costs.


What got worse: longer workweek (twice) without pay increase, longer commute due to relocation, pension frozen then phased out, cash-balance replaced pension, then CB phased out, retiree HI frozen then phased out.

 

[Aerides]

I think a lot of it is your personal lens, especially as you age in your career.

After the 8th new-management-fad, having seen the pendulum swing back and forth too many times, seeing colleagues face layoffs, etc., and tolerance for change goes downhill. In 2009/10, the depths of the recession, there was an atmosphere of fear and feeling trapped if you were not happy in your job.

Also if you've advanced during your career, and seen that those higher ups are not quite the smart visionaries you thought they were when you started out, it's far more easy to get cynical and take a good look at that filling BS bucket.

 

[Retiree_Having_Fun]

This is why the cartoon Dilbert was so popular. Remember when people would clip them and post them in the lunch room or cubicles because it EXACTLY described their organization or boss.

 

[RobbieB]

My career spanned 8 Companies from school to retirement. Oh yeah, some were better than others. Half fired me and I fired the other half. We're even.

 

[GravitySucks]

The actual labor was much easier at the end of my career even for the job I started with. Someone typing into a pc instead of climbing and manually wiring.

The company lost all the true team building like company sponsored golf, bowling, and softball leagues long ago. Holiday tokens of appreciation came from the managers pocket instead of company provided. The BS team building programs became insufferable and probably cost more.
Of course raises not meeting inflation, higher HI out of pocket, and the canceling of pensions were the big killers.
I honestly think I'm unemployable now. Things have become utterly humorless in the 6+ years I've been gone.

 

[JoeWras]

The company lost all the true team building like company sponsored golf, bowling, and softball leagues long ago.

Oh, oh! You hit a nerve! I saw the same decline. Seems like someone would complain about just about every activity that could exclude someone, even if alternative activities were provided.

So instead, we have these mindless exercises in conference rooms that offend everybody.

Well done, Megacorps.

 

[rayinpenn]

Your experience at a job is composed of a number of things- Compensation, work life balance, the boss, interesting work, and clients.

I had a Laissez-faire boss, i could work when and where I wanted. The work was stimulating, diverse and rewarding. The job was great. Compensation was great but we were Debt free And FI so the money didnt stimulate like it once did.

Yeah pensions were lucrative and most private ones went away. I can tell you this I dont trust corporations - my cash balance plan came with me when i left. Ask the retirees from PanAm what they think of pensions.