Job Satisfaction Changes re: COVID-19

[albionmoonlight]

First, I am quite fortunate. I have managed to keep my job and transition to work from home with no loss of hours or salary. Many, many others are not so fortunate.

But I was wondering about something. A good friend and I each really like our jobs. Pre-COVID, I'd say we were each in the position that, even if we didn't need the money, we'd keep working at what we do because we enjoy it and believe in it. It wasn't a perfect job, but it was pretty good.

Having transitioned with all of the COVID stress, however, I realized that if some long lost great uncle died tomorrow and left me his fortune, I'd quit. And my friend was saying the same thing about his (unrelated) job. It's hard to pin down exactly, but things are a chore now. They aren't pleasant. They aren't normal.

How are things with y'all?

[ISiddiqui]

There are things that are better and things that are worse. Though the things that are worse may just be because of COVID one can't really go to a restaurant for lunch. I like going in and chatting with my co-workers, but there is something really nice about rolling out of bed and going right to work (meaning I can sleep in an extra hour). I get why people want to work from home full time. But I would miss conversing with folks.

[Edward64]

I voted better because of more work life balance working remote and not having to travel and be on client site where it's 98% constant interaction.

However, it is also worse because I know many companies will eventually have to do more layoffs if it doesn't get significantly better. I know only my world in my large company, we are banking on new contracts starting at the beginning of the year and if they aren't realized (e.g. no good news on vaccine, therapies, re-openings etc.), I am sure they'll have to let more go (bottom 5% already gone). So this is a concern but it's in the future.

[BYU 14]

I have worked remote for 10+ years, so no real change in that regard, outside of the fact that I feel "stuck in the office" many times because we were always out doing so much more before when I was not working.

[ISiddiqui]

Well I just ran into one of those 'worse' things. I am trying to issue a subpoena and most companies these days are fine with electronic service. However this major company only wants physical subpoenas - which is going to require our Regional Director to sign and scan them (hopefully she has a scanner) and then someone will have to physically mail it - I guess whenever one of the admin staff goes into the office (which I think they do once a week to see if there is any physical mail)

[JonInMiddleGA]

I had to go "really bad" simply because I've had virtually no work to do during this mess. When your primary client has largely shut their doors indefinitely, well ...

That said, I'm probably not as dissatisfied with that as I'd be if I was attempting to do normal work stuff in this environment. I've tried to do a couple of small projects involving routine media buying and it's virtually impossible to get anything from reps anywhere.

Staffs are short, reps in an already sketchy industry should not be working unsupervised for days on end, etc etc. It's an absolute shitshow and I get a distinct sense of "fuck it, we can't do enough to move the needle right now so fuck doing anything" that's coming from on high right on through the bottom levels.

[molson]

Work has been busier than ever. But I don't enjoy it as much. But, hell, I don't really enjoy anything as much. So I'd say "worse", but its no worse than anything else for me these days, and I know how fortunate I am to have been able to ride this out so far. And I think the world-based and personal challenges I'm facing this year are making me a stronger, better person. It's hard right now though.

[JAG]

I also haven't had a change in my job status since COVID began:

Upgrades:

• No commuting
• More productive during certain meetings that don't require my input
• Fewer distractions from random people wandering by or talking near my workspace
• Having a chance to see and talk to the family during the day.

Downgrades:

• Not being able to walk over to a teammate's desk and have a conversation or overhear a teammate talking and join in the chat (this one is kind of tough as we've had 7 new people join our department since COVID began, so I feel a bit disconnected to most)
• Less 'built-in movement' during the day (always parked far from the entrance, the building where all my meetings are was a 5 min walk away)
• Not seeing people during meetings (unable to pick up on body language cues)
• Occasional house / family distractions.

No commuting is the biggest one on the list for me, so I'd tend towards improved overall, though I do miss the team interactions. There were a lot more informal interactions at work than there are WFH.

[tarcone]

Worse. Too many protocols and too much pressure. Feel like I never get a break.

Wish I could retire. 6 more years and Im out without looking back, unless things go back to "normal".

[Brian Swartz]

I have a better job than I've ever had. Whether it holds up long-term is another matter, but for now it's definitely been a silver lining in all this for me.

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by JAG

I also haven't had a change in my job status since COVID began:

Upgrades:

• No commuting
• More productive during certain meetings that don't require my input
• Fewer distractions from random people wandering by or talking near my workspace
• Having a chance to see and talk to the family during the day.

Downgrades:

• Not being able to walk over to a teammate's desk and have a conversation or overhear a teammate talking and join in the chat (this one is kind of tough as we've had 7 new people join our department since COVID began, so I feel a bit disconnected to most)
• Less 'built-in movement' during the day (always parked far from the entrance, the building where all my meetings are was a 5 min walk away)
• Not seeing people during meetings (unable to pick up on body language cues)
• Occasional house / family distractions.

No commuting is the biggest one on the list for me, so I'd tend towards improved overall, though I do miss the team interactions. There were a lot more informal interactions at work than there are WFH.

This is a pretty good representation of the impact on me as well....

[Izulde]

I'm making more money than I ever have because of COVID. My oldest job allowed me to work remote because of the pandemic and when they saw there was no change in my job performance, kept me on when I moved to take on my new job. In fact, right now I'm making close to double what I did before - maybe even a little more.

At the same time, my cost of living will be cut in at least half, if not more, once house sale here and in Vegas both close.

I've gone from struggling just to survive financially to being in a position to thrive and set aside real savings from the first time in my life. So for me, the pandemic ended up an unexpected blessing in regards to working situation.

[Ksyrup]

I'm fortunate to be able to say things are great. But they were great before. That said, I've never had a job where I would have stayed if I suddenly came into a fortune. I enjoy my job but I'd be able to do a ton of things with that money that are completely unrelated to my profession and that I'd rather do if needing to earn money for a living was not an issue.

[Butter]

I work from home 100% of the time that used to be 60% and was only 20% just 2 years ago. I love it

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I'm making more money than I ever have because of COVID. My oldest job allowed me to work remote because of the pandemic and when they saw there was no change in my job performance, kept me on when I moved to take on my new job. In fact, right now I'm making close to double what I did before - maybe even a little more.

At the same time, my cost of living will be cut in at least half, if not more, once house sale here and in Vegas both close.

I've gone from struggling just to survive financially to being in a position to thrive and set aside real savings from the first time in my life. So for me, the pandemic ended up an unexpected blessing in regards to working situation.

Congratulations on the success(es)!

[Drake]

I transitioned to working from home at full salary.

Except for the catastrophic economic/social fabric/people dying bits impacting the rest of the country, I'd be perfectly content for this pandemic to continue until I retire.

ETA: That's like 16 years.

[Radii]

I've been working from home for about 15 years, its not much different for me.

Life/Happieness/lots of stuff is suffering in a big way that's partially COVID related, but not b/c of work.

[Lathum]

Strange on for me as I am a stay at home dad. the end of the school year was a bit rough with homeschooling, bit I always reminded myself I was lucky we weren't a family with both parents working.

Summer was actually great. I didn't feel compelled to do a lot of stuff like Six Flags, Skyzone etc...with them. We have a nice inground pool, deck, etc...so we just had our group of friends over a lot for BBQ, etc...

Now we are back in school and I am glad for the routine and time without them. We were for sure hitting a point where we were spending too much time with them.

My wife worked from home regardless, so no big change there. One super positive is she travelled 2-3 weeks of the month, so her being home full time has been awesome for all involved. Plus she works for Duracell so her business is booming.

[JediKooter]

Things are better actually. I can get way more work done now that I'm working at home and not having to deal with the normal 'in office distractions'. I can't stand the open office setup and working from home is as close to my own private office that I've had in a while. The negative, man have I gained a lot of weight. Who knew only being a few feet from my kitchen would be so problematic?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Things are better actually. I can get way more work done now that I'm working at home and not having to deal with the normal 'in office distractions'. I can't stand the open office setup and working from home is as close to my own private office that I've had in a while

This. 100 times this. And that's even with a 5yo at home that I'm homeschooling.

SI

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

This. 100 times this. And that's even with a 5yo at home that I'm homeschooling.

SI

That is actually really good when you throw in your 5 year old and home schooling them. That alone is a lot to have to do. I think this really proves that working from home isn't the negative that a lot of employers like to make it out to be.

[sterlingice]

We're fortunate in that he'll play by himself for a lot of the day: 2 hours in the morning, 1 hour each with dad/mom doing learning in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon, and then 1 hour of "homework". So that means we get a solid guaranteed 6 hours of work every day

SI

[JediKooter]

That sounds like a pretty good balance. Especially at that age, they don't need a full day of school like older kids do. The only unfortunate thing is the socializing with other kids part, but, it won't be like that forever.

[claphamsa]

I've confirmed as 100% telework from here on out...so I'm moving to be near the water! I would like to go out and be sociable occasionally...but work is 10000% better.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

That sounds like a pretty good balance. Especially at that age, they don't need a full day of school like older kids do. The only unfortunate thing is the socializing with other kids part, but, it won't be like that forever.

That's exactly it - we couldn't do that if he wasn't 5. But they wanted 4 hours+ a day on the computer and we thought that was insane. When I say "2 hours of school" - nominally, 1 is for exercise and 1 is for learning. Though if, say, we go for a walk during exercise, we're always talking about something from types of trees/birds we see to nouns/verbs. But he has to get 1 hour of exercise, too, and we usually go for a walk at night, too. Schools just don't offer enough recess anymore.

Then again, sometimes he's just cheap labor (though with the lesson that we all have to pitch in to get things done in the family - we don't just do things for him; he has to help out, too). Today, his job was to help me trim the bushes - I cut and tossed branches to him while he was putting them in the yard waste bag.

We can't make up for the socialization, but he's going to public school as soon as he's able. I mean, we even registered him this year but when we saw what they were going to require of Kindergartners, found out that we can re-enroll at any time, and discovered Texas has basically no regulations around homeschooling - this just made sense since we're both working from home until at least early next year.

SI

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

That's exactly it - we couldn't do that if he wasn't 5. But they wanted 4 hours+ a day on the computer and we thought that was insane. When I say "2 hours of school" - nominally, 1 is for exercise and 1 is for learning. Though if, say, we go for a walk during exercise, we're always talking about something from types of trees/birds we see to nouns/verbs. But he has to get 1 hour of exercise, too, and we usually go for a walk at night, too. Schools just don't offer enough recess anymore.

Then again, sometimes he's just cheap labor (though with the lesson that we all have to pitch in to get things done in the family - we don't just do things for him; he has to help out, too). Today, his job was to help me trim the bushes - I cut and tossed branches to him while he was putting them in the yard waste bag.

We can't make up for the socialization, but he's going to public school as soon as he's able. I mean, we even registered him this year but when we saw what they were going to require of Kindergartners, found out that we can re-enroll at any time, and discovered Texas has basically no regulations around homeschooling - this just made sense since we're both working from home until at least early next year.

SI

Sounds like you have a really good plan and that's a really important thing that I think goes a long way to not only reduce stress, but, give the child some form of 'normalcy'. That's insane at them cutting the recess time, especially for younger students.

Haha! The cheap labor is definitely a bonus, but, in all seriousness it's more than that, it's some bonding time that you are getting with him that you normally may have never had the chance to do. It will be a lot different when he is 15 and wants to do his own thing, haha!

I totally agree with you on it making sense. No need to rush it when you don't have to.