Empress High Council
Empress High Council
The Great Resignation
Hey, Royal Family. So, what's happening in our current American workforce? Why are droves of people resigning from their day jobs? What needs to change, and are the incentives big corporations offering enough to entice qualified employees to come back? Let's jump in and discuss at the round table.
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00:08.35
Thee Alchemist
Great day, royal family and welcome to season 5 episode 4. Don't forget to hit the like subscribe and share button. You can follow us @triempress on IG and Twitter or you can just Google the Empress High Council. We are everywhere. Before we get started. Let's introduce our cast this is the alchemist coming into in a frequency of energy to transmute your social spiritual and financial currency into abundance.
00:35.23
Jaz Afrodite
And this is Jaz Afrodite coming to you on the 3 universal frequencies of love music and numbers.
00:42.55
Dannie
Happy love month. That's number 1 this is Dannie giving you positivity and providing you the resources and inspiration to become your authentic self.
00:54.30
Thee Alchemist
In this episode. We'll be speaking about the great resignation. The pandemic has paved the way for more people to have control in deciding the direction of their lives and their careers. A tale is old is time as the rubber finally meets the road and the employee fight for work life balance due to productivity pressures struggles with time and trading long life hours grief and stress for pennies on the dollar. This should not come as a surprise for decades employees have been facing burnout dips in morale and feelings of disconnection from their peers family and friends is the great resignation. A story of employees holding companies responsible for the pressures and control. Over their schedules incomes neighborhoods they live in and time spent with loved ones. The great resignation has resulted in the biggest talent crisis since 2008 recession. But this time around things are different people are no longer competing for jobs. Companies are competing for people. In fact, approximately 4.3 million people quit their jobs in 2021 some found new passions and some are just looking to make a career change and or start their own businesses. It is time to rebuild a better smarter holistic workforce that offers balance flexibility and respect our employees finally in control to redesign the way they work. That's the question. So empresses, what do you think? Roundtable kings and queens are we finally in control to design and redesign the way we work.
02:56.48
Dannie
I would say this that it is definitely an employee market and as such employees have to really map out what they want to do in their work their work role be it going back into the workforce or starting a new opportunity. So. It's great to have this leverage but employees now have to look at how they utilize it. And use it to their advantage and that is 1 thing that we have not fully seen mapped out by the workforce. We've heard from the economists. We've heard from them a lot especially with the recent um January job report that came out that stays. That the um unemployment rate is at 4% but at the same time you still have people departing the workforce and they're saying that although that the unemployment rate is low in their eyes. Ah that this. Seems to be turning in a good direction because people are starting to pivot I hate that word, but we're doing that a lot these past two years pivot and how they work be it. We're working remotely so you're not seeing as they would call it a dip. But the great resignation is still here for the fact that companies have not done a good job in addressing. What is fully needed from employees from those that want to stay in the workforce. Being mindful of the employees physical and mental wellbeing and also looking at having resources where an employee can feel that they are making an impact within their respective organization. So that calls for development opportunities, professional development opportunities across the board. Not just at the executive level. So one of the things that they recently um, called out was the fact that leadership corporations. Really need to look at providing appropriate resources for low-wage workers. The mindset that has been in the past is that low wage workers in particular are expendable and that's far from the truth and we're seeing that more and more especially with the statistics of the great resignation. The funny thing is economists and the job market here us just looking at United States they really thought that this trend would end at the end of 2021 so the continuance of the great resignation has. The job market. The us job market really thrown off kilter like what do we do with this and they're actually classifying now. The great resignation as a ticking time. Bomb and really wanting leadership leadership executives and organizations to start to think about. What they're calling the great reset.
06:27.58
Jaz Afrodite
Well I don't know about the great reset because that has many different connotations that's separate from the job force. So I'm not even going to touch that conversation. But in regards to the resignation, I’m reading articles and they're calling it the great upgrade because now people are leaving their jobs. Not necessarily to go out on their own but to look for better opportunities I think that America just needs to revisit the way that we approach work they approach work as if everybody's working on an assembly line whether they're in an assembly line job or if they're in the office and that's not the way that we choose to work. We need to start looking at hourly wage work and start looking at work as product based. If this is something that we are actually creating something that is tangible something that is going to contribute to whatever the end goal is rate me and pay me according to the product that I develop. Should not be based on a number of hours that I'm sitting in your face because we all know that we've been in offices with people sitting there for eight nine and 10 hours clocking overtime and they are unproductive. Many of them are shopping online, booking dinner reservations doing everything else. But actually working the work gets done in like 2 hours within the day and the other 6 hours people are just goofing around walking around the office who wants to throw a meeting for the sake of scheduling a meeting because people are available to talk about some stupid shit like no like let's start revisiting. The way that we work I don't need to be in an office every day I can accomplish more in my bed on my laptop as long as I give you what you need at the time that you need it. That's fine. Pay me as a professional at the end of the week Two weeks however the payment cycle is give me my salary I don't need to be paid hourly and so that's what we need to revisit allow people to have a life I should be able to go out in the middle of the day and go to a doctor's appointment or get my nails done because I need me time in the middle of the day today is a day. That is a stress day for me and I need to go and get some pampering in the middle of the day you will have your report, your deck. Whatever it is that you need by tomorrow at Eight o'clock but right now I need some me time like let us be real about the way that we function no one needs to be relegated to a desk all day. So America needs to revisit the way that people function in society and be realistic like a slave mentality just top down mentality is so ridiculous and so passe and for those who are not upgrading. Some people are just chilling. They realized that they were getting that money from unemployment when it was good and it was nice and we were getting that $600 and they found ways to either keep it going or found some new hustles like people are finding different ways to make money people are tired of massa on their back and that's just what it is.
09:27.41
Dannie
Um, and on top of that Jaz is the fact that people started to realize that their hourly wage salary wasn't adding up or lining up to the cost of living as we all know that has increased and they were. Better off in collecting unemployment during the time and we had the the stimulus to live. Um, so that's that's the other thing that that comes to mind and folks are like enough. We We deserve Better. You know me self-priority and it's not and it's not just self-priority at the top. It's self-priority across the board.
10:07.05
Thee Alchemist
Exactly.
10:13.61
Thee Alchemist
That leads us to ah a piece that I was looking at and actually thought about people who are working remotely now are more hesitant to go back into the office. Do you think that remote work has led to less harassment Micro aggression. Decrease of commuter stress as well as fitting into the corporate culture of of dress. Now you can get up get work done and just and be you one of the other things is that since people have been working remotely household debt. Went down does it cost more to go to work and.
10:53.68
Jaz Afrodite
Yeah, it does what aggravates me is that we've been working in this field in education for like 10 years We've been trying to tell people that telecommuting is the way to go I remember I had so many proposals taking it up to legal to let them know we can allow the teachers to work from home. And pay them for the products that they create. Oh no, it's breaking chancellor's regulations. It's a stupid regulation that you have on a piece of paper that can be amended. Of course you're going to save money from working from home because you're not commuting in our spending money on lunch and I spending money on outfits and clothes. You're not spending money on all of the coffee that you buy because you need to stay up for 8 hours during the day with these ridiculous meetings that they keep throwing you in all day. So yes, you're gonna save money become being a home and you're gonna be more productive I wouldn't blame anybody but not going back into the office or the workforce after working from home. It gives them the flexibility again like I said to take siestas in the middle of the day.
11:50.41
Dannie
I have been working remotely now for over 5 years Um and different different variations. Be it remote complete remote or hybrid. Um, obviously with the pandemic I have primarily been remote. You get a lot of more out of me when I'm remote I'm putting in more than eight hours and as such I've had to regulate my timing as to when I do things and put in certain parameters to ensure that I have self-care the problem. That a lot of companies organizations they this urge and need to have people come back into the office is is is dollars and cents when it comes to their if they've acquired property and they want to. Maintain that property and have a reason to be paying rent or whatever. Um, and also the hierarchical um mindset of wanting to watch people and feeling that if you're in a position of power. Ensuring that that work is getting done. There was an interesting article that came out um last year when ah there were people who were going back into the office especially when you think about those who are. Black and brown community. Ah there was the feeling of anxiety of going back because it's like oh my gosh I have to now put my other representative on to come back into the workspace your white counterpart was excited to be going back. But as a person who's black and brown persuasion is like here we go and having to navigate and and and engage with people face to face um I know for me in working in the space remotely for all of these years besides productivity not getting caught up in like the ra-ra or the politics of things. What have you and just doing the work and hoping that the work speaks for itself in regards to how I produce and how I function. Um. So there are pros and cons to working remotely and 1 of the cons potential cons is the question Mark and gray area. As it pertains to like diversity like do people really know each other because they're in this virtual paradigm. Um, and you don't you don't really have a ah better sense of who that individual is and in some instances in the past two years a lot of people have been hired during the pandemic and have never met their colleagues in person. So now what?
15:13.13
Thee Alchemist
Exactly and I think that makes the virtual paradigm. It makes all people equal. What do you think Jaz.
14:59.44
Jaz Afrodite
It should make all people equal because we're all starting from an equal playing field I think what will separate people is the quality of the work and so that now becomes more scrutinized in a virtual environment because I no longer like Dannie said have to watch. Over people as an executive or a manager now I'm watching over the work and I'm micromanaging the work as opposed to micromanaging the people. So yeah, everyone should be on equal playing fields in a virtual environment. But again, there's something about. Not meeting in person that kind of takes away from the work dynamic I think there needs to be a hybrid combination if there can be depending on where people are located but there's something about coming together to build team. Especially if you're doing something that is project based and people from different offices have to contribute to the end product. It needs to have a synergy involved and so I'm never one who advocates for a complete virtual solution or a complete face to face solution. I believe that there needs to be a balance of both.
16:05.86
Dannie
And yeah, it depends on the job role and capacity. Especially if you're a creative you ah a good majority of the time need to be in a space as you said Jaz, to have the space of synergy. And to feed off of each other creative-wise to get a project or a product or whatever and or an idea to come to fruition so I too am am for the for the for the advantage to have a hybrid type of setup. So you have the choice as to whether or not you want to come into the office space. Um I know for me there were times when I worked in hybrid. Um I wanted to just go to the office because I wanted to change a scenery. Okay. It took a lot out of me commuting wise because by the time I got to the office I was like Jesus let me let me get my mind right? because because commuting is is a lot and dependent on commuting average time for some folks at at minimum as an hour and then it can go I've heard people commuted 3 hours one way to get to work. So um I know what I would do that going into the office is like a mental preparation but then at the same time I was happy to be there for that time because I got to collaborate and work with with people and get that that. Fix that sensory fix of of engaging with people 1 on 1 um face to face. But then you know I appreciate also having my remote space and just not being bothered.
17:44.19
Thee Alchemist
Yeah, I was one of those folks that commuted two and a half hours each way at 1 point in time leaving long island and going all the way to New Jersey but the stress even when I lived in Brooklyn and just going to Manhattan that fight that stress of that 5 train and that two train. In the morning by the time you get to work. You've already had a mental workout or can be mentally exhausted distress is on its own of commuting is something but I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about the government and how the government has been offering. Incentives to companies to bring their employees back to work. So what happens is the employee the the companies actually started to give incentives to regain or recruit top talent for instance, college tuition has been paid. Should have been paid anywhere a long time ago. Why wasn't that incentive across the board signing bonuses. Um, hourly wages have increased and when I talk about hourly wages I'm talking about the targets the chipotles the Walmart’s the Starbucks of the world like Target now is going to pay 100% of tuition. And textbook for specific programs to recruit talent and for people to to work for them. Chipotle Walmart and Starbucks is offering similar programs and McDonald’s Walmart and under armor as we all know have increased the hourly wage. So remember the hourly wage. I mean when I was young. The hourly wage was $3.25 now it's $15 an hour even if the hourly wages and wages are increased to $15 an hour, who in New York can live off of that? So do you think the employee incentives will work to regain people to come back into the industry based on these incentives and how long do you think these incentives will last before they take them away and it's back to the same old same old.
19:46.25
Jaz Afrodite
It's not gonna work. It's not gonna work because what they failed to realize is a lot of these people who were working in those field stopped working because of these ridiculous mandates that they posed on people and so because they had these mandates that they now had to lift for organizations that had.
20:13.95
Dannie
Ah, right? It's not the now.
20:32.66
Jaz Afrodite
Ah, large number of people will be like F it if my health has to come into this conversation then you know what I don't need to work for you. I'm not coming back to your organization and again once you give people the opportunity not to work for you. They will take advantage of it. They will find reasons and find ways. To stay home because ultimately nobody wants to go to work like let's be real about it like if we had the utopian society, we would be doing what we love to do finding ways to either live off the land if the world was really what it was supposed to be or barter for services. Ah, just be out doing what we naturally wish to do this whole idea of this work slave mentality is still a slave mentality in terms of top down. It's just as you're getting paid monetary currency for it. But it's just the same paradigm. So nobody really wants to work. So if you're gonna tell me and put all these crazy stipulations on me, you know what? f you I'm not coming to your job I don't care if you pay my tuition I don't care if you have any incentive unless you're giving me a Google type deal where I can come and my clothes are cleaned I have a place to eat somebody's washing my laundry There's a daycare center somewhere in the building like if. Every organization looked at the Google model and the way that they treat their employees. Then yeah, people will be rushing back out to work because now you're catering to people's lifestyles and you're taking the whole person into consideration. But you're paying me this measly $15 an hour, and then you want to pay my tuition and do all those other things. Who told you I want to go back to school? What's crazy is that I was working for the phone company. Fresh out of college – fresh out of of grad school actually no before I even got to grad school and. They were offering people to go to college. They were paying your tuition. That's how I even got to Columbia and didn't have to pay a cent verizon paid for it. You know how many people did not take advantage of that they were so excited when they hired me that I said I was gonna go and pursue my master's degree I was already accepted. They were like oh. We'll definitely pay for that. We'll be happy to pay for that. Why is that people are not taking advantage of all of these perks that companies give them? so I don't know why they figure that that's going to be a draw now for people to come in after you've passed you wasted two and a half years of our lives. With this like what is going to motivate people to do this.
22:30.06
Dannie
On on top of that we got to think about when people are in the current the current state right? So you give this opportunity for tuition to be paid yet. They're making $15 an hour okay you're covering my education tuition. Thank you Thank you? kindly. But I still got to live in the now while I go to school I have rent to pay or or portion of a mortgage to pay or all of the mortgage to pay I have I have utility bills to pay I have daycare to pay and daycare is a whole another salary in its own right? So what. Is $15 an hour gonna do for me while I'm seeing about going to school because you're covering my tuition. Fantastic! great. But I need you to think about what's going on with me in the present while I do all of these things. And that's where these incentives miss the Mark I will say this. But last time I saw a signing bonus was over twenty years ago when I first came out of college in my first job at a top at 1 of the top 3 consultancy firms in the country. And I don't think I ever saw a signing bonus ever again or people entertaining that type of thing ever ever again and I got my signing bonus and I was actually higher than some of my peers who were coming in as a hiring class because of the school I went to okay so now. Okay, you're bringing back signing. Bonus. So if I told you that I the last time I saw a signing bonus is about Twenty fifteen years ago that should speak volumes of the fact that you're now bringing these stuff this stuff back.
24:13.32
Thee Alchemist
Exactly exactly exactly this is stuff that should have been into play a long time ago instead of now utilizing it as a bone now to recruit talent like you said these. These this is completely Mr Mark completely Mr Mark in August of 2021 ten point Four million job openings were available across the country with this mass exodus and with the cost of companies may have ah. See and what I'm trying to say is because of all these massive job openings across the country and this mass exodus this cost companies' money and yes they are starting to listen but they're really not listening. They're not listening. There's a cost for exit processing when it comes to your employees leaving. There's a training cost. There's loss of productivity and there's a cost to reattract talent. So that's the bottom line of the company. And this is these are the these are the scraps. These are the scraps that they're bowing right.
25:34.25
Dannie
That percentage the alcheist is 33% it is 33% per worker with when you when you have when you have individuals depart.
23:37.68
Thee Alchemist
Yeah, yeah.
25:47.56
Dannie
And all of the the components that you just called out that is a 33% loss per worker. So for for companies and organizations. It's obvious dollars and cents so still not keeping in mind. About the physical and mental. Well-being of the individual how in the world. Do you expect someone to function if you are not putting that piece at the forefront. And then of course the dollars and cents being in the top 3 whatever have you there has to be a ah ah shift in the prioritization of of what companies and organizations look at and I don't know when that will happen. But this right now this ain't it. This.
26:43.46
Thee Alchemist
It most definitely is not it I don't know what's going to lead to the improvement of how corporations do business. Ultimately I am just glad that. We have the great resignation. The employees have spoken. There's something happening. We put our foot down and it's time for them to listen and listen with intent and listen with not only the intent but provide programs. Salaries for us to be able to want to work for you like the hybrid being able to being able to be involved in working hybrid like the like Jaz mentioned being able to have the opportunity to come come and go as you please. Being able to have the opportunity. This is your stress day I just need to take a few hours but I'll get back to your work and and being able to complete your work and not matter speaking of complete your work I think it's in um Canada and Canada. Ah, you don't work a work day. You actually work based on project. So even if you're supposed to work. You know 8 hours a day if you come to work and you finish what you're doing in 2 to 3 hours you go home. You still paid your your salary.
28:13.10
Jaz Afrodite
But that's how it is hit in a professional or real professional environment. I mean that's how I ran my team even though we were supposed to be there for 6 hours cause I know some days if I didn't come in I had stuff to do in the morning I would come in late I would get what I was doing done in 2 hours and the day would be done I had 1 guy. Didn't start working till five o'clock in the evening so he would just be shooting the breeze and going talking to people all during a day but he couldn't focus with people in the office during the day so when everybody left at 5 he would get his work done from 5 to 7 that's something I had to see about him and instead of criticizing it I was like well I see this, you're more productive in the evening so come in later. Why are you even coming in in the morning and wasted all this time reading newspapers and reading stuff just wait coming in the afternoon and leave in the evening like people really have to be realistic about the people that work. With and for them like.
29:07.56
Dannie
But you see Jaz what you utilize is that and we'll talk about this in another thing. Um, utilize what's called you, you were on the balcony you were on the balcony and you looked over the balcony in particular with this. This worker and said hold up wait a minute they work best in the evenings late afternoon. Let's shift your time again. A lot of executives managers across the board. They don't operate like that and that is horrible. Because it's just like well I'm the manager and you gotta do this work and it has to get done between the hours of 8 to 5 or 9 to 5 or 9 to 6 or whatever hours of 8 to 6 there's no set time because everyone is different in regards to level of productivity and that's what. This society not even just in the United States but in other countries you know need to get out of the mindset that everything needs to be done within a 6 to 8 hour time period and preferably between these these timeframes that I just called out. It doesn't work that way. Um. So.
30:18.56
Thee Alchemist
And Jaz I'm glad you said that because I was that employee? yeah I was I was because the job was easy for me. It was easy people people actually needed to work all day on what it was that they were doing. I was displaced so I can actually work from 5 to 7 and get everything that everyone got done from eight thirty to 5 or eight thirty to five thirty and then there's those people. So. The question is is the great resignation a story of um of employees holding companies responsible for the pressures and control over their schedules incomes neighborhoods they live in and time spent with loved ones. Do you think the wave of resignations. Could ultimately lead to improvement in the lives of employees and how corporations do business and as it stands as of right now. The answer is no.
31:25.38
Dannie
I agree um, what would need to happen with the state that we're in this great resignation. There would need to be a very very very extensive holdout from employees for this to really resonate. I'm not talking about what's been going on where you know the great resignation officially happened February of 2021 so in essence we've we've been in this for a year I'm talking about like massive holdout for more more than 8 years like employees stand in their ground saying I don't I still don't want this do better. Do better. Do better do better and if that doesn't happen. We will continue the cycle of the employers having the upper hand.
32:21.50
Jaz Afrodite
Well, I can say that they've created that environment on their own I don't even think that they plan for all of this to happen but the more that they continue with everything around this pandemic is the more that people are gonna hold out so they've created something that's just picked up a wave and it's gonna continue until we go back to some level of normalcy and people feel as though they have ah autonomy, the same level of autonomy that they thought they had pre Pandemic. So until that is restored This is gonna continue and if they don't know that then they need to know that.
33:56.94
Thee Alchemist
And the other component to that is about 35% of the workforce are millennials right now millennials are not signing up to do what their parents did at all go to work. Been all these long hours at work come home with barely enough to pay their bills and nothing to retire on and in 8 years millennials would be 75% of the workforce so they are changing the game. And over the last year and a half there have been more millennial millionaires created than ever with social media. They are finding ways not to work at your companies and start their own business. So on that note Kings and Queens Queens and Kings of the Empress High Council. We're gonna leave you with those thoughts but before we go, we're going to give you our herb of the episode and our crystal of the episode.
34:06.77
Jaz Afrodite
So, the crystal of the episode for those of you who have decided to go back into the workforce who didn't have the opportunity to start your own venture. The crystal is Cinnabar and Cinnabar is one of the best crystals for manifesting a job. Not only grants you the ability to be more confident but also gives you the courage to embrace the unfamiliar atmosphere of a new job. It is certainly one of the best crystals for starting a new venture. 1 thing to know about Cinnabar though is that it contains a great deal of mercury. So, if you're going to handle Cinnabar, you need to wash your hands. Immediately afterward. It's good to have on your desk because sin bar is also the magician stone so any downloads or impressions or if you need to give a speech. It makes you speak fluently that the words just come to you automatically. So Cinnabar is a great stone to have around you if you are speaking or giving a speech but definitely when handled, wash your hands afterward.
35:07.46
Dannie
The herb of this episode is Devil's Shoestring the powers of the Devil's Shoestring are protection gambling luck power and of course employment used to ward off evil when worn around the neck. Gamblers carry Devil's Shoestring as a good-luck charm cut the root into small pieces place in a jar filled with whiskey and the spirits of camphor. When you need power of any kind take out a piece of root and rub your hands with it then use the root. In the appropriate way. For example, money is desired place it near money or in your wallet a piece of Devil's Shoestring carried in the pocket while seeking employment or while having problems at work will either help you get hired or will smooth out the difficulties. Also carry when asking for a pay raise. That's the herb Devil's Shoestring.
36:08.76
Thee Alchemist
Thank you for tuning in queens and Kings of the Empress High Council. You can follow us @triempress on IG and Twitter or you can just Google the Empress High Council. We are everywhere. We're going to leave you with our one final thought: Know your worth.