Work Morale Low Among Layoff Survivors
from the i-just-wanna-go-to-nepal dept
Most everyone I know that is still employed out here in the Bay Area is in a similar situation. They're happy to be working and getting paid, but the excitement of work is just no longer there. Worker morale is dragging in the gutter lately. We miss fun work culture of the boom times, are riddled with survivor guilt and are envious of our friends partying around the world on severance checks. Some of us are resorting to buying lottery tickets and appearing on game shows to try and find a way out of our seemingly Sisyphus-like existences.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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PLEASE...
Millions of grunts spend their day doing manual labor. Millions of others spend their day in small cities all over America working twice as hard for half as much...not because they are any less talented, but because of the luck of the draw.
Crying because people miss foozball tables and wearing jeans to work?
As technology workers we were all spoiled rotten.
Now complaining about having to actually work is like a rich spoiled Yale grad oil tycoon's son complaining he has to pay for his own automobile....
FEH!
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However, I tend not to put much weight in arguments that begin along the lines of "millions of people are suffering and you're complaining about..."
The feelings and morale of the people in these jobs are still real feelings.
People spend a significant portion of their lives at their job. What is wrong with someone realizing that they don't enjoy their job? Do people have to suffer to make their feelings legitimate? I'm all for helping everyone have a better life, but there's only so much a single person can do - and if it initially involves focusing on making their own life happier and more enjoyable, what's wrong with that?
"I can't complain, because other people are worse off" isn't exactly a recipe for improving the world.
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Location had a lot to do with it. Are programmers in Pittsburgh who never made more than 50k better than some schmuck in Silicon Valley with a liberal arts degree who happened to stumble into an IPO at the right time?
The dot-com boom was jam packed with under-qualified, over hyped con artists, many of who over-estimated their own talent and began to believe their own hype....
When the walls came down and legitimate business rules began to apply again, the wheel turned and shook the excess flour from the pan.
Now they are all wondering what the smell is....and are upset that their company sold the HDTV in the rec room?
I've watched countless losers over the past three years leeching off their families and whoever else (and complaining all the while) because they were too proud to lower themselves and consider other job possibilities...
I rode through the boom and did very well for myself as a network admin and now a writer....very well....
But for every one of me...there's twenty thousand people in other businesses (and many in tech) who think you people whining about perks and stock options are whiney b_tches. ANd quite frankly I agree with them.
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Sisyphus-like = Sisyphian
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ok, back to rolling my boulder up the hill.
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Not all tech workers are spoiled rotten- I call on a lot of tech companies and most people are worried about their jobs, they are concerned about the employees let go, and I think a lot of people are afraid its going to get worse. And its even worse in Telecom- its not alot of fun in the valley right now...
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"the excitement of work is just no longer there??"
"We miss fun work culture of the boom times"???
Wahhh....work isn't fun....no more free mountain dew.....no more afternoons playing Counter-Strike in Greg's cubicle! Wahhh! I'm now forced to actually make the network work! I'm now forced to come up with a business idea that actually makes a profit. Wahhh!
People should be happy their working, and if their job is such a drag and they actually have any talent to begin with, go find another job.
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