I Quit! Overworked Employees Are Fed Up: A Survey Finds 8 Out of 10 Americans Want a New Job

CNN/ Money ^ | 11/11/2003 | Leslie Haggin Geary

[Luke Skyfreeper]

I quit! Overworked employees are fed up: a survey finds 8 out of 10 Americans want a new job.

New York (CNN/Money) - Ready to quit? You have plenty of company.

Many employees are overworked, stressed out, fed up -- and eager to quit their jobs once the economy picks up. In fact, worker angst is so pronounced it has surprised even the most tuned-in human resource professionals. They say employee anger is now almost palpable.

[DeuceTraveler]

Ah ha! This is how they can still attack Bush on the economy. It's doing so well because bosses are cruel to their employees! Let's pass a law making them nicer.

[HighRoadToChina]

bump

[PFKEY]

For example, a national clothing chain must sell 3,000 pairs of $35 khakis to cover the price of replacing a salesperson who quits, including recruiting, training and lost productivity.

The tab to replace a typical white-collar middle manager runs about $100,000.

Let's see $35 X 3000 = $105,000 for a retail clerk at a clothing store.

And $100,000 for a middle manager?

Maybe it's just me but I say this whole article is just garbage.

[Destro]

No-it means you are getting less workers to do more work.

[Fledermaus]

It's not you, it's garbage from an idiot that doesn't have a clue about basic economics.

[glorgau]

Let's see $35 X 3000 = $105,000 for a retail clerk at a clothing store.

That's gross, not net.

[PFKEY]

Good point. But it was a bad example to use IMHO.

[nutmeg]

read later bump

[JoJo Gunn]

"In fact, worker angst is so pronounced it has surprised even the most tuned-in human resource professionals. They say employee anger is now almost palpable."

Where have these dweebs been? From my point of view, it's been this way since the mid '80's. Either you do the work of 3 or you're out the door.

[LibertarianInExile]

Don't laugh too hard. This is something you will see used by a smart Rat demogogue someday. When it happens, look out. I only hope it ain't Hillary.

[STONEWALLS]

"Where have these dweebs been? From my point of view, it's been this way since the mid '80's. Either you do the work of 3 or you're out the door."

......that was my experiance too........in the late 80s my old company went thru "restructuring" and a bunch of jobs were eliminated.....those of us that survived went thru "survivors syndrome".....that is we felt bad for the ones that got the boot but were grateful to have survived......then reality slowly set in; the work still had to get done and there were fewer of us to do it......seeing this, some of the old timers took retirement.....which meant even FEWER folks to get the work out......computers help, but they are not the total answer......there's just no substitute for manpower........I went thru three rounds of layoffs......I survived the first two but they got me on the third.......at the end I was just as glad.......the tension at work made me not want to go in any more.

[KC_for_Freedom]

the tension at work made me not want to go in any more.

I worked in the defense/aerospace industry where layoffs were not occurring (or only very infrequently). However the work load went up with each transfered employee who was not replaced. Finally I hit early retirement age and the stress left as I realized it was time for me to make room for a younger employee who wanted to work 12 hours a day. So now I RV the good old USA with others who have seen the light.

[discostu]

It's typical no math journalism to make things looks bigger than they are. A significant chunk of that $35 goes to the manufacturer and possibly the wholesaler. So it's 3000 X $35 x {markup percentage). The cost of replacing a clerk is probably 20 to 30 grand.

[biblewonk]

Let's see $35 X 3000 = $105,000 for a retail clerk at a clothing store.

And you are thinking they got them for free and work at 100 percent profit?

[AD from SpringBay]

Yes, but how much does it cost to replace a fiction writer for a news magazine? How many rags does said publisher need to sell?

[Zathras]

In the past 3 years, management has beaten up us so badly that I have yet to talk to anyone here who DOESN'T want to leave.

Last March upper management finally got the message and put away the hammer.

[Rev DMV]

At the place I consult at there has been one person who has left in the last three years. When things turn around I see most of the younger workers bailing as soon as they can. from my experince a persons biggest raises and advancements come from jumping ship. It shouldn't be that way but it's been almost universally true in my experience.

[Elric@Melnibone]

I worked in the defense/aerospace industry where layoffs were not occurring (or only very infrequently).

We must have been working in different parts of the defense/aerospace industry: in 1991, I was one of 10,000 laid off at General Dynamics (I think it's now Lockhead Martin) in Ft. Worth, where they build the F-16.

That was one-third of their workforce at that plant and it was a mix of blue- and white-collar workers.

At the same time, Bell Helicopter-Textron (Arlington, TX) was also laying off a bunch of people.

Oh, and just for good measure, GD was laying off people in Land Systems Division, (where they built tanks), Electric Boat division (nuclear submarines) and whatever the division was called out in CA where they built the cruise missiles.

The "bombs and bullets" part of defense went down the tubes as part of our "peace dividend" and even my friends at E Systems (which are more of the "spy in the sky" types) were being laid off.

[KC_for_Freedom]

We were in the same company, but I was refering to a later period. (I left in 2002) By that time LMT had the JSF in Dallas Ft Worth and the THAAD missile (my project) in Alabama and Sunnyvale. Plus space launches out of Denver.

This business has always had its ups and downs, and looking back I can see how much it depended on the administration. Lockheed benefitted from Reagan, and the latest Bush. Boeing had its greatest adherents in the Clinton Administration even thugh Clinton was shifting from defense to social programs. (the peace dividend was a boon to democrats).