K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
In August, Annie Bishai left her job at a publishing house. After four years in the business, the 28-year-old, who lives in Brooklyn, had already been weighing a career change. But her frustrations increased along with her workload as she was working remotely through the pandemic — tasks for a new boss were mounting, she said, and it seemed like they were all all going unrecognized.
“It felt like much of my work just went into a black hole,” Bishai said. One too many large tasks in addition to the massive reading load — “and not even receiving thanks” or “a word of acknowledgment” — prompted her to leave before securing a new job.
“It made more sense to just get out and give myself time and space to figure out what I’d do next, rather than to try to figure that out while doing the unending and often unrecognized work,” Bishai said. In the meantime, she is getting by with temp and freelance work and money that she was fortunate enough to borrow from her parents, she added.
Now, she’s considering leaving the industry altogether. In her next job, Bishai is looking for “a workload that does not extend into unpaid hours,” with clearly defined boundaries. She is also looking for a different kind of culture, in which she can talk openly with her colleagues and supervisors about what she finds challenging and how to improve, she said.
“Publishing seemed like a lot of faking it to me,” Bishai added.
The United States remains knee deep in “The Great Resignation,” as another 4.2 million Americans quit their jobs in October, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this month. That follows a record-setting September, in which 4.4 million Americans left their jobs, which also came on the heels of the previous record of 4.3 million workers quitting in August.
Women have been leaving the workforce in disproportionate numbers throughout the pandemic. Since February 2020, 1.3 million mothers between 25 and 54 left the workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s September 2021 Current Population Survey.
The pandemic has pushed U.S. workers to the edges of what they can or will tolerate at jobs that range from less than satisfactory to dismal. In addition, the persistence of the pandemic and frequent coronavirus surges have somewhat normalized a background in which working mothers, in particular, face limited options and increased costs for child care while stable in-person schooling remains elusive.
Continue reading: https://www.thelily.com/these-women-left-the-workforce-heres-what-they-want-in-their-next-jobs/
“It felt like much of my work just went into a black hole,” Bishai said. One too many large tasks in addition to the massive reading load — “and not even receiving thanks” or “a word of acknowledgment” — prompted her to leave before securing a new job.
“It made more sense to just get out and give myself time and space to figure out what I’d do next, rather than to try to figure that out while doing the unending and often unrecognized work,” Bishai said. In the meantime, she is getting by with temp and freelance work and money that she was fortunate enough to borrow from her parents, she added.
Now, she’s considering leaving the industry altogether. In her next job, Bishai is looking for “a workload that does not extend into unpaid hours,” with clearly defined boundaries. She is also looking for a different kind of culture, in which she can talk openly with her colleagues and supervisors about what she finds challenging and how to improve, she said.
“Publishing seemed like a lot of faking it to me,” Bishai added.
The United States remains knee deep in “The Great Resignation,” as another 4.2 million Americans quit their jobs in October, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this month. That follows a record-setting September, in which 4.4 million Americans left their jobs, which also came on the heels of the previous record of 4.3 million workers quitting in August.
Women have been leaving the workforce in disproportionate numbers throughout the pandemic. Since February 2020, 1.3 million mothers between 25 and 54 left the workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s September 2021 Current Population Survey.
The pandemic has pushed U.S. workers to the edges of what they can or will tolerate at jobs that range from less than satisfactory to dismal. In addition, the persistence of the pandemic and frequent coronavirus surges have somewhat normalized a background in which working mothers, in particular, face limited options and increased costs for child care while stable in-person schooling remains elusive.
Continue reading: https://www.thelily.com/these-women-left-the-workforce-heres-what-they-want-in-their-next-jobs/
