From the pandemic many major businesses and employees have embraced working form home as the new normal. With the vaccine and drastically lower COVID numbers, companies in Idaho and elsewhere started expecting staff to work in person again. However, many employees are pushing back and even quitting because they want the work from home life that they became accustom to. Plus who wants to deal with a commute and traffic just to sit in front of a computer all day?

There is a massive, massive (yes I did it twice on purpose) labor shortage in Idaho. So much so that it is forcing businesses to close. It is worse here than just about anywhere else. There are a few reasons for people quitting or not going back to work in Idaho. Wage of course being a big factor. In Idaho minimum wage in Idaho is just $7.25. To be honest it would be hard at this point to find many jobs that are only offering that much unless there is some great other incentives. The job market has become so competitive here that offering wages have shot up with a restaurant offering up to $30 an hour in the Treasure Valley! Many are getting creative like McDonalds offering a free iphone if you stay for at least 6 months.

Another reason, at least a massive assumption is that Idahoans who have been on unemployment since the pandemic have no real reason to run out and look for jobs until the unemployment benefits are exhausted. For many that time runs up at the end of this month.

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One other major component is that a lot of Idahoans got comfortable and preferable to the idea of working form home. My company as a whole let employees slowly make the transition back to in office after many worked remotely but as of today, all employees were to be working back in the office at full capacity. There is something to be said about working together as a team and it is hard to feel included from home.

My friend Amy who works in behind the scenes health care (mostly billing and insurance) has been told that they are not allowed back in the office until mid September. She is the kind of person who loves being around other people so for her working from home was fine at first but now feels like a punishment.

According to security company Kastle Systems, only about 28% of U.S. office workers are back at their buildings. But as office returns accelerate, some employees may want different options. A May survey of 1,000 U.S. adults showed that 39% would consider quitting if their employers weren’t flexible about remote work. The generational difference is clear: Among millennials and Gen Z, that figure was 49%, according to the poll by Morning Consult on behalf of Bloomberg News.

 

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