ASK THE HEADHUNTER You’re unemployed because you want only remote work!

[deanwebb]

You're unemployed because you want only remote work!

Nick’s take ZipRecruiter claims only 1 in 10 posted jobs provide the option of remote work — so that’s why you’re unemployed. It’s because you want only remote work. I dunno, maybe that’s true, and I don’t blame you if it is. But that’s why employers like Martin are scratching their heads. So the net is, there are loads of jobs going begging today. What’s your take? Is this why you’re unemployed? Would COVID pay (like combat pay) change your mind? Better protection against infection? On-site testing? Or is there something else that’s keeping you unemployed?     : :

The post You’re unemployed because you want only remote work! appeared first on Ask The Headhunter®.

Source: You're unemployed because you want only remote work!

[deanwebb]

Flip it around - your job is unfilled because you're demanding that it be office-based.

[Otanx]

The guy in the article is looking for factory workers. You can't do that work from home. So in his case that isn't an option. I doubt people who work in manufacturing are trying to work from home. I bet if you dug into his company a little you would find that those jobs he can't fill do not pay very well. If I can sit at home, and get unemployment, plus the COVID unemployment bonuses you need to be paying pretty well for me to give up that free money. If unemployment and the extra COVID benefits is say $1000 a month then if you are only paying $1200 that is really just $200, and the loss of the free time.

For the jobs that can be done remote if you don't offer that as an option you will have people decline. When I move on from my current job it will be for a remote/home work job. If the job requires me to go into the office every day I don't want it. That might change if I was unemployed, but I would jump at the first opportunity that offered it.

-Otanx

[heath]

We have a Lead System Admin position opening right now because work-from-home provisions were ended, the previous guy wanted to work from home, he couldn't get approval, so he found another job where he could work from home.

For me personally, while I don't mind working from home if necessary, I'd rather go to the office.  I like to keep work life and home life as separate as possible.  Plus, when we were working from home I felt so much more pressure to be productive to prove that I was actually working while home.  That pressure wasn't coming from my employer - it was coming solely from myself.  But it was still there.  So with work and home intertwining in ways I didn't like, distractions, and the pressure, I did not enjoy the work from home experience. 

I do not want to impose my feelings on others, though. Our System Admin did a fantastic job, had a legitimate health reason to want to work from home, and there was really no reason other than policy that he couldn't have worked from home.  Had it been up to me, he would be working from home for us instead of for somebody else.

[Otanx]

You  make some good points. If you make a job only one or the other you will have people that will not want it. Flexibility is key. I have co-workers who hate working from home because they don't have a good space. One of our network guys uses his dinning room table, and a normal chair to work from home. He hates it, and can't wait to be able to go back to the office full time.

I am lucky, and had an extra room that we turned into an office. With my brothers help we built a custom desk, and I have good chairs, etc. That room is now 'the office' and it is only used for work. That lets me keep everything separate. I actually get more done at home because there are fewer distractions. I still need to go in on occasion to do rack/stack stuff, but two days a week is enough.

When we are allowed to go back full time I am pushing to keep the work from home schedule as an option. If not then I will be like your guy, and find something else that allows it.

-Otanx

[deanwebb]

My role before March 2020 was 30% travel, 70% home-based. Travel meant going in to the office, even though it was someone else's office.

For over a year now, I've been 100% home-based. The biggest impact is on workshop meetings, where we need different towers to get together to discuss deployments. This is even more impact in an international company, that would use the travel to get everyone to the same time zone for the meetings. At home, we're all over the clock and everybody is either getting up too early or staying up too late. next biggest impact is in working with customers hitting some kind of problem - we want to be onsite for the improved human contact it affords so that we can better share the stress. Remotely, it's a lot easier to get frustrated at a shared Zoom screen than it is at someone sitting next to you in a conference room.

[wintermute000]

I suspect very few people are 100% in either camp. Most people are somewhere in the middle.

I need the change of scenery and the different environment, even though I have a study and nice dual monitor setup, staying at home for days in a row makes me go a bit crazy. Just getting on the train or behind a wheel, going to a nice lunch with other meatbags, a few after work betters etc. and the in-person back and forth, and that's before getting into how shitty remote workshops always are compared to in-person. That's not to say I want to be 9-5, M-F, its handy to WFH one or two days a week esp with kids, errands etc. and the lack of commute is obviously super nice.