"[T]he burnout crisis among them is a crisis for society writ large"
October 7, 2022 8:21 AM Subscribe
The Burnout Crisis in Pink-Collar Work (The Atlantic): On the urgency of resolving the job crisis in nursing, teaching, and child care. "You are starting to see cities and states get really aggressive with this stuff. [...] It’s just a matter of when you can get the stars to align in Congress. I do sometimes wonder whether we’ll need another catastrophe before they’ll do it."
(Link isn't paywalled AFAICT.)
(Link isn't paywalled AFAICT.)
They should really have included librarians in this.
posted by tangosnail at 8:36 AM on October 7, 2022 [33 favorites]
posted by tangosnail at 8:36 AM on October 7, 2022 [33 favorites]
Really feeling this rn. I'm pregnant and due for maternity leave in November, and the school knows this, but currently I have a nine period daily schedule where my only prep period for the day is period nine. I teach 6 classes going straight through the day with just my lunch and a mandatory department meeting in the middle, and I have to work through lunch to keep up. And all my classes are full!!!! Like 18-27 students each type of full.
The school admin keep asking how I'm feeling and I'm so tired. I coach an after school robotics club too.
posted by subdee at 8:40 AM on October 7, 2022 [19 favorites]
The school admin keep asking how I'm feeling and I'm so tired. I coach an after school robotics club too.
posted by subdee at 8:40 AM on October 7, 2022 [19 favorites]
We're definitely headed toward that "another catastrophe" in healthcare. This bill in Congress has the right idea--requiring hospitals to maintain certain patient/nurse ratios, so that nurses can be seen as essential rather than an expense that you can conveniently cut out of the budget. What surprises me a little is that this crisis isn't front-page news, like, constantly. We saw the fragility of the healthcare system during COVID, and the structural changes needed haven't been pursued.
posted by mittens at 8:43 AM on October 7, 2022 [21 favorites]
posted by mittens at 8:43 AM on October 7, 2022 [21 favorites]
Here in Australia, nurses are going on strike to try to ensure safe nurse to patient ratios.
"Give the nurses a chance": Union warns WA public to avoid hospitals during industrial action next week
"WA nurses will walk off the job next week, angered by the state government's refusal to implement nurse-to-patient ratios, while the Health Minister has not ruled out going to the Industrial Relations Commission to halt the action"
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:50 AM on October 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
"Give the nurses a chance": Union warns WA public to avoid hospitals during industrial action next week
"WA nurses will walk off the job next week, angered by the state government's refusal to implement nurse-to-patient ratios, while the Health Minister has not ruled out going to the Industrial Relations Commission to halt the action"
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:50 AM on October 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
Health care workers have it so tough right now. Sometimes I find myself annoyed by cancelled appointments after I already took a day off work, or issues with rotating admin staff that leads to scheduling mistakes, or going to the lab for labwork and the only tech on staff that day is out. And sometimes I don't control my annoyance enough and snap. But the staff? They're dead calm every time. They must deal with terrible patients all the time, and especially during COVID times when Trump and co were out there modeling disrespect towards every kind of expert.
posted by subdee at 8:50 AM on October 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by subdee at 8:50 AM on October 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
The other factor in this burnout is that teachers, librarians, and healthcare workers have all borne the brunt of right-wing fearmongering and wedge issue politicking. COVID denialism and trying to eradicate LGBTQ+ rights have resulted in healthcare workers being verbally and physically abused and teachers and librarians being pilloried on social media. I used to love working in public libraries in the 90s--despite the low pay and hassle--but now I'm not sure that you could pay me to.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:08 AM on October 7, 2022 [50 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:08 AM on October 7, 2022 [50 favorites]
An ugly part of my mind says that rich conservatives don't care about well paid teachers and nurses for the peons because having a growing cadre of stupid, sick peons is a great way of keeping the remaining healthy, productive peons scared of asking for too much. Fear keeps people desperate, and hungry people working two jobs don't really have time to protest.
It wouldn't be like that, would it?
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:16 AM on October 7, 2022 [17 favorites]
It wouldn't be like that, would it?
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:16 AM on October 7, 2022 [17 favorites]
And, of course, overworked, exhausted nurses and doctors directly cause avoidable/preventable patient deaths.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:23 AM on October 7, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:23 AM on October 7, 2022 [11 favorites]
The lack of quality affordable (or even ANY) child care is certainly part of this situation. Once employers were all "Okay gang Covid's over, back to the salt mines!", a lot of 20- and 30-something parents (mostly women) with small children and toddlers said "No problem lemme just find a day care spot for my kids oh wait day care costs the same amount as my gross earnings nevermind I'm staying home with them kthxbai."
posted by Kibbutz at 9:24 AM on October 7, 2022 [26 favorites]
posted by Kibbutz at 9:24 AM on October 7, 2022 [26 favorites]
Sad that we're so de-unionized in the US that Lowry didn't even mention unionization as part of the solution. We literally have no power at work. Your boss can tell you where to stand, what to say, what to wear. Unions are essentially the only tool we have to assert any power about our working conditions and compensation - and to exert pressure on the government to implement needed workplace regulations. For a very stark example: about 20 percent of COVID deaths in the US happened in nursing homes. Nursing home workers were both exposed to the virus at deadly rates, and were traumatized witnesses to mass death. Unionized nursing homes had a 10% lower COVID mortality rate than non-union! If you agree, kick down for the NUHW Strike Fund!
posted by latkes at 9:29 AM on October 7, 2022 [27 favorites]
posted by latkes at 9:29 AM on October 7, 2022 [27 favorites]
I know I'm preaching to a well-informed choir, but it feels important to say out loud that a lot of these jobs involve cleaning up shit.
I'm not being metaphorical.
Childcare, healthcare, and even a good chunk of teaching involves spending your days with the knowledge that your job requires contact with all kinds of virulent nominally disgusting bodily fluids. Having spent some time with librarians, I get the impression that the secondary "homeless shelter" function of these public spaces probably brings some of this responsibility as well.
And then you add the torrent of other "normal daily" abuse on top of the people who have these jobs - being disrespected, often yelled at, sometimes having things thrown at them, fearing for personal safety, etc. By the people who they are objectively helping. Even when it's not malicious (hey, kids pee their pants, that's part of learning to have a body and it's not a cause for shame), any kindergarten teacher has to know that today they might touch pee or be hugged by a urine soaked kid. (I HOWLED at the first episode of Abbott Elementary.) And if you dare seem to find this off-putting, or heaven forbid UNGRATEFUL for this profession where you both have to touch feces AND go through extensive expensive accreditation and training, you are seen as some kind of failure of (female-coded) empathy.
I just... man, I just want to give these people everything they ever think to ask for.
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 9:41 AM on October 7, 2022 [44 favorites]
I'm not being metaphorical.
Childcare, healthcare, and even a good chunk of teaching involves spending your days with the knowledge that your job requires contact with all kinds of virulent nominally disgusting bodily fluids. Having spent some time with librarians, I get the impression that the secondary "homeless shelter" function of these public spaces probably brings some of this responsibility as well.
And then you add the torrent of other "normal daily" abuse on top of the people who have these jobs - being disrespected, often yelled at, sometimes having things thrown at them, fearing for personal safety, etc. By the people who they are objectively helping. Even when it's not malicious (hey, kids pee their pants, that's part of learning to have a body and it's not a cause for shame), any kindergarten teacher has to know that today they might touch pee or be hugged by a urine soaked kid. (I HOWLED at the first episode of Abbott Elementary.) And if you dare seem to find this off-putting, or heaven forbid UNGRATEFUL for this profession where you both have to touch feces AND go through extensive expensive accreditation and training, you are seen as some kind of failure of (female-coded) empathy.
I just... man, I just want to give these people everything they ever think to ask for.
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 9:41 AM on October 7, 2022 [44 favorites]
A big part of the problem is that employers seriously failed their legal and ethical duty of care to protect their staff from COVID through failing to take measures such as
providing paid sick leave and requiring unwell staff to stay home;
providing N95 masks;
improving ventilation.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:56 AM on October 7, 2022 [15 favorites]
providing paid sick leave and requiring unwell staff to stay home;
providing N95 masks;
improving ventilation.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:56 AM on October 7, 2022 [15 favorites]
employers seriously failed their legal and ethical duty of care...
I think this is right, but you can just scratch out 'employers' and fill in 'just about every institution of any stripe'.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 10:30 AM on October 7, 2022 [8 favorites]
I think this is right, but you can just scratch out 'employers' and fill in 'just about every institution of any stripe'.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 10:30 AM on October 7, 2022 [8 favorites]
Are there large number of nurses sitting in the side lines that can be enticed to return to work as a result of ratio legislation? My impression is that like everything else in late stage capitalism companies have shot themselves in the foot by deemphasizing internal training and pushing those costs onto future employees. And now they are all pikachu face that there aren't enough people trained for the jobs vital to their business.
Which isn't to say legislation isn't part of the solution. At least it will reduce burn out. And long term it should encourage more people to enter nursing because of increased wages and job security.
posted by Mitheral at 10:41 AM on October 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
Which isn't to say legislation isn't part of the solution. At least it will reduce burn out. And long term it should encourage more people to enter nursing because of increased wages and job security.
posted by Mitheral at 10:41 AM on October 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
Which isn't to say legislation isn't part of the solution. At least it will reduce burn out. And long term it should encourage more people to enter nursing because of increased wages and job security.
We also need to fund nursing schools adequately. At least in my area, demand vastly outstrips supply for nursing school slots currently. Mrs. Bassooner didn't even get an interview for our local RN program this spring despite having a perfect pre-nursing GPA and maxing out most of her other possible application points (the one thing she didn't have was a practicing healthcare license -- she now has a CNA license so should be in good shape for reapplying next year). Out of her pre-nursing study group of 8 (all of whom had good grades), no one got accepted directly, and only 1 got waitlisted for next year.
My understanding is that it's hard to recruit and retain nursing instructors in large part because the pay is shit relative to being a practicing nurse.
posted by bassooner at 11:05 AM on October 7, 2022 [15 favorites]
We also need to fund nursing schools adequately. At least in my area, demand vastly outstrips supply for nursing school slots currently. Mrs. Bassooner didn't even get an interview for our local RN program this spring despite having a perfect pre-nursing GPA and maxing out most of her other possible application points (the one thing she didn't have was a practicing healthcare license -- she now has a CNA license so should be in good shape for reapplying next year). Out of her pre-nursing study group of 8 (all of whom had good grades), no one got accepted directly, and only 1 got waitlisted for next year.
My understanding is that it's hard to recruit and retain nursing instructors in large part because the pay is shit relative to being a practicing nurse.
posted by bassooner at 11:05 AM on October 7, 2022 [15 favorites]
Legislation that would help address nursing shortage:
- Free tuition
- (in the absence of free tuition) Expand loan forgiveness programs
- Robustly fund public nursing ed programs
- Staffing ratios enforced at state or better yet federal level
- Pro Act, fund the NLRB, other structural supports for unionization
- Fund OSHA/state OSHAs, increasing their enforcement teeth
- Medicare & Medicaid funding incentives to reward good employer behavior
Employer policies that would help address nursing shortage:
- Internal hiring requirements
- Training reimbursement for MA/CNA->LVN->RN pathway
- Staff adequately
- Pay better, transparent pay policies
- 'Generous' paid time off benefit amount reduces burn out
- Real incentives for staying longer: pension, increasing benefits like more weeks vacation earned over time, pay continues to increase over time/doesn't 'cap out'
- Incentive pay for picking up extra (not sustainable but a good interim)
- Voluntary recognition of unionizing workers
posted by latkes at 11:09 AM on October 7, 2022 [9 favorites]
- Free tuition
- (in the absence of free tuition) Expand loan forgiveness programs
- Robustly fund public nursing ed programs
- Staffing ratios enforced at state or better yet federal level
- Pro Act, fund the NLRB, other structural supports for unionization
- Fund OSHA/state OSHAs, increasing their enforcement teeth
- Medicare & Medicaid funding incentives to reward good employer behavior
Employer policies that would help address nursing shortage:
- Internal hiring requirements
- Training reimbursement for MA/CNA->LVN->RN pathway
- Staff adequately
- Pay better, transparent pay policies
- 'Generous' paid time off benefit amount reduces burn out
- Real incentives for staying longer: pension, increasing benefits like more weeks vacation earned over time, pay continues to increase over time/doesn't 'cap out'
- Incentive pay for picking up extra (not sustainable but a good interim)
- Voluntary recognition of unionizing workers
posted by latkes at 11:09 AM on October 7, 2022 [9 favorites]
We have a waiting list a mile long at the childcare center I work at. We just hired a new person and she seems to be working out. The last one we hired lasted two days (I partially blame my boss for putting her with the worst school ages on her first day). I'm the Head Start teacher in the morning and back with my babies in the afternoon. I have all of the crap paperwork that goes with HS (really, a checklist every day saying there aren't any dangerous things in the classroom and the same for the playground?) plus my paperwork for the babies and the regular paperwork for the preschool.
I have a MA in dev psych, but HS doesn't consider that enough and I have to do my CDA. Luckily with all the CE I've done over the last 4 years, I only have about 20 hours of classwork I need to do. But I still have to do the binder and portfolio and test and observation.
I'm burned out as fuck. And I had a baby's mother tell me yesterday that the center should provide labels for the kid's bottles. By state requirement, all baby bottles must be labeled with the name and date. She refuses to do it. Every other parent uses masking tape and a permanent marker or just writes on the damn bottle. She asked me yesterday if I had any tape. The tape we've been using was purchased by me for other stuff, not labeling bottles. I don't get reimbursed for supplies.
Sad to say, I'm looking for jobs outside of childcare because it doesn't pay a living wage. I can go to McDonalds and get paid the same for a lot less work and I can leave work at work at the end of the day.
Sorry, I know this comes off as bitchy. I love teaching and I love my kids. But I can't keep doing it.
posted by kathrynm at 11:11 AM on October 7, 2022 [55 favorites]
I have a MA in dev psych, but HS doesn't consider that enough and I have to do my CDA. Luckily with all the CE I've done over the last 4 years, I only have about 20 hours of classwork I need to do. But I still have to do the binder and portfolio and test and observation.
I'm burned out as fuck. And I had a baby's mother tell me yesterday that the center should provide labels for the kid's bottles. By state requirement, all baby bottles must be labeled with the name and date. She refuses to do it. Every other parent uses masking tape and a permanent marker or just writes on the damn bottle. She asked me yesterday if I had any tape. The tape we've been using was purchased by me for other stuff, not labeling bottles. I don't get reimbursed for supplies.
Sad to say, I'm looking for jobs outside of childcare because it doesn't pay a living wage. I can go to McDonalds and get paid the same for a lot less work and I can leave work at work at the end of the day.
Sorry, I know this comes off as bitchy. I love teaching and I love my kids. But I can't keep doing it.
posted by kathrynm at 11:11 AM on October 7, 2022 [55 favorites]
There's actual bipartisan legislation to improve options for nurse training: the National Nursing Workforce Center Act. Given actual bipartisan support, I expect it has a good chance of becoming law, although it hasn't attracted many co-sponsors yet (House co-sponsors, Senate co-sponsors) - so if you're in the US, you'd like to make a difference, and you have some time this week, you might want to contact your congressfolk and ask them to co-sponsor and promote the bill for quick passage.
posted by kristi at 11:22 AM on October 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by kristi at 11:22 AM on October 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
Nurses in Minnesota went on a 3 day strike in September not for just better pay but for safer staffing levels:
"Although Turner said the two sides have been moving closer to one another on wages, they are still far apart on economic terms and have made no progress on the union’s demands to solve short-staffing, retention and better patient care."
The University of Minnesota is part of a coalition to increase enrollment at nursing schools because they estimate we need 23K new RNs and 5.6K LPNs by 2025. Some of the issue is a lack of faculty.
posted by soelo at 11:30 AM on October 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
"Although Turner said the two sides have been moving closer to one another on wages, they are still far apart on economic terms and have made no progress on the union’s demands to solve short-staffing, retention and better patient care."
The University of Minnesota is part of a coalition to increase enrollment at nursing schools because they estimate we need 23K new RNs and 5.6K LPNs by 2025. Some of the issue is a lack of faculty.
posted by soelo at 11:30 AM on October 7, 2022 [6 favorites]
Sorry, I know this comes off as bitchy.
You're allowed to be bitchy about this! You are also allowed to vent about the crap conditions that lead to this type of burnout. Your experience is probably pretty common among care workers. I have a relative who teaches 1st grade and she has nearly 40 percent of her kids on IEPs and one paraprofessional for the whole class. A work friend has a child in a school with one para for every two classes, so if they are out sick, that is one para for an entire grade level.
posted by soelo at 11:34 AM on October 7, 2022 [12 favorites]
You're allowed to be bitchy about this! You are also allowed to vent about the crap conditions that lead to this type of burnout. Your experience is probably pretty common among care workers. I have a relative who teaches 1st grade and she has nearly 40 percent of her kids on IEPs and one paraprofessional for the whole class. A work friend has a child in a school with one para for every two classes, so if they are out sick, that is one para for an entire grade level.
posted by soelo at 11:34 AM on October 7, 2022 [12 favorites]
I heard some of this NZ doctors radio talk Y'day - Izzy Lomax-Sawyers is a junior doctor who has chronicled her first year working in one of New Zealand's busiest hospitals; Middlemore Hospital., her book is Vital Signs.
Also our nurses are currently refusing extra shifts, complicated, but basically demanding nurses do more for less, and we're certainly not post-Covid which is resulting in huge increases in demands on nursing
There were almost 10,000 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand and 33 new deaths last week, the Ministry of Health reported yesterday.
Over 1000 of the new cases are reinfections.
posted by unearthed at 12:11 PM on October 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
Also our nurses are currently refusing extra shifts, complicated, but basically demanding nurses do more for less, and we're certainly not post-Covid which is resulting in huge increases in demands on nursing
There were almost 10,000 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand and 33 new deaths last week, the Ministry of Health reported yesterday.
Over 1000 of the new cases are reinfections.
posted by unearthed at 12:11 PM on October 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
The poop in libraries is real. I was cleaning some up yesterday … right before I walked into my scheduled meeting with the mayor where I had to make a case for increasing Library funding as the cuts of a few years back are really coming home to roost in light of our increased us (by families, by the unhoused, by book clubs, by the Queer community etc). He at least was supportive during the meeting … but we will see how the funding goes…
posted by saucysault at 12:50 PM on October 7, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by saucysault at 12:50 PM on October 7, 2022 [9 favorites]
COVID denialism and trying to eradicate LGBTQ+ rights have resulted in healthcare workers being verbally and physically abused and teachers and librarians being pilloried on social media.
Librarians have also been accused of pedophilia/"grooming," threatened with firing, and actually fired.
posted by humbug at 3:39 PM on October 7, 2022 [8 favorites]
Librarians have also been accused of pedophilia/"grooming," threatened with firing, and actually fired.
posted by humbug at 3:39 PM on October 7, 2022 [8 favorites]
I think we have to question how it's been normalised that "work is shit, get on with it". This "all jobs suck" place we've gotten ourselves to really just means that life for the working class has become never ending misery and dispair. We have to shake off the assumption that working for someone else is, and will always be, hell.
People that run places of work, who seem fine with everyone else being miserable and hopeless, need to be replaced with people that actually treat people like people.
Empathy is not a weakness.
posted by krisjohn at 4:59 PM on October 7, 2022 [11 favorites]
People that run places of work, who seem fine with everyone else being miserable and hopeless, need to be replaced with people that actually treat people like people.
Empathy is not a weakness.
posted by krisjohn at 4:59 PM on October 7, 2022 [11 favorites]
think this is right, but you can just scratch out 'employers' and fill in 'just about every institution of any stripe'.
This is pure deflection, also not true. Employers have heightened responsibility for policy under capitalism. You want to be in charge of planning the economy? Spine up and be in charge.
Remember when the NBA triggered the US COVID-19 public health response?
posted by eustatic at 5:51 PM on October 7, 2022 [7 favorites]
This is pure deflection, also not true. Employers have heightened responsibility for policy under capitalism. You want to be in charge of planning the economy? Spine up and be in charge.
Remember when the NBA triggered the US COVID-19 public health response?
posted by eustatic at 5:51 PM on October 7, 2022 [7 favorites]
"really just means that life for the working class has become never ending misery and dispair. "
I get your point, but it is kind-of astonishing that we've decided to call nurses, 55% of whom hold bachelor's degrees or higher, and teachers, who (nearly) all hold bachelor's degrees and 58% of whom hold a post-baccalaureate degree, "working class." These are learned professions that require a huge amount of education to pursue! And a long pause in your working life to pursue that education!
But no, I get it, society says "well, mostly women do it, and it's an absolutely necessary job to keep society functioning, so it must be 'working class' work." But let's take the lead in recognizing that nurses and teachers are degreed professionals with a lot of education! They ought to be paid and respected as the highly-educated professionals they are!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:29 PM on October 7, 2022 [30 favorites]
I get your point, but it is kind-of astonishing that we've decided to call nurses, 55% of whom hold bachelor's degrees or higher, and teachers, who (nearly) all hold bachelor's degrees and 58% of whom hold a post-baccalaureate degree, "working class." These are learned professions that require a huge amount of education to pursue! And a long pause in your working life to pursue that education!
But no, I get it, society says "well, mostly women do it, and it's an absolutely necessary job to keep society functioning, so it must be 'working class' work." But let's take the lead in recognizing that nurses and teachers are degreed professionals with a lot of education! They ought to be paid and respected as the highly-educated professionals they are!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:29 PM on October 7, 2022 [30 favorites]
I take it in this context "working class" is meant to describe those who work but are not part of the "owner class".
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 7:38 PM on October 7, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 7:38 PM on October 7, 2022 [7 favorites]
Working class means we have to work in order to survive. True of most people we tend to depoliticize by labeling as "middle class", even as it is for folks who clean nurse's houses for (inadequate) pay. Class is a relationship: not an identity category, (or IMHO, less importantly as an identity category).
- A nurse
posted by latkes at 7:44 PM on October 7, 2022 [14 favorites]
- A nurse
posted by latkes at 7:44 PM on October 7, 2022 [14 favorites]
The question of whether there are nurses who would come back if there were better conditions: I don’t think I have enough fingers to count all the ones that I personally know who have quit in the last two years. It’s been an awful grueling time, and the public attitude (by which I mean public policy attitude) that the pandemic is over has made many nurses I know quit after hanging in there for two years. All the extra pay and sick time is gone, and you have to be a traveling nurse to get anything like a reasonable wage. So the regulars are working side by side with people making two to three times as much as the are and are refused raises because there’s not the budget. After getting spit on and harassed and accused of killing people (because covid isn’t real), yeah. They’re burned out and quit and for half decent workplace policies would go back. Because they got into nursing because they want to help people. Basic respect is more than they’re getting and not as much as they deserve.
posted by Bottlecap at 7:55 PM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Bottlecap at 7:55 PM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
Nurses in Minnesota went on a 3 day strike in September not for just better pay but for safer staffing levels:
"Although Turner said the two sides have been moving closer to one another on wages, they are still far apart on economic terms and have made no progress on the union’s demands to solve short-staffing, retention and better patient care."
My partner was one of those striking nurses; the union's push for better pay is actually in part an attempt to maintain those safer staffing levels by luring more people into the field. There straight up aren't people to hire. Spouse just took a job on a labor and delivery ward as a night nurse, but they're not working nights while they're finishing out the training period, because there are literally not enough experienced night staff to train the new hires on nights right now--and this is a ward with a manager trying to hire aggressively as much as possible, especially the new grads. Especially in the hospitals, this is the case. The hospital systems have been relying on incentives for overtime work to fill shifts. (There is also a chronic shortage of CNAs and aids generally, in part because they get treated and paid like dogshit, which exacerbates the problem.)
For what it is worth: the 3-day strike was a planned 3-day strike with a defined end period. Management is continuing to be disrespectful at the negotiating table and frankly to the travel nurses whose work allows resident nurses to strike, generally refusing to accede to any demands and treating negotiations as an amusing sidebar. Almost a month later, and no new contract has not been signed. We are essentially expecting to see a longer strike with an undefined end point sometime in the next six months.
posted by sciatrix at 3:13 PM on October 8, 2022 [10 favorites]
"Although Turner said the two sides have been moving closer to one another on wages, they are still far apart on economic terms and have made no progress on the union’s demands to solve short-staffing, retention and better patient care."
My partner was one of those striking nurses; the union's push for better pay is actually in part an attempt to maintain those safer staffing levels by luring more people into the field. There straight up aren't people to hire. Spouse just took a job on a labor and delivery ward as a night nurse, but they're not working nights while they're finishing out the training period, because there are literally not enough experienced night staff to train the new hires on nights right now--and this is a ward with a manager trying to hire aggressively as much as possible, especially the new grads. Especially in the hospitals, this is the case. The hospital systems have been relying on incentives for overtime work to fill shifts. (There is also a chronic shortage of CNAs and aids generally, in part because they get treated and paid like dogshit, which exacerbates the problem.)
For what it is worth: the 3-day strike was a planned 3-day strike with a defined end period. Management is continuing to be disrespectful at the negotiating table and frankly to the travel nurses whose work allows resident nurses to strike, generally refusing to accede to any demands and treating negotiations as an amusing sidebar. Almost a month later, and no new contract has not been signed. We are essentially expecting to see a longer strike with an undefined end point sometime in the next six months.
posted by sciatrix at 3:13 PM on October 8, 2022 [10 favorites]
re: working class, I will note that while nurses are highly trained and educated, nursing is one of those fields where you can make good money without investing a ton of up-front costs in terms of collegiate tuition. many many nurses have comparatively inexpensive terminal degrees from community colleges, which also carries a class inflection, and nursing is highly supportive of continuing to acquire degrees while working. In the US, we also try to fill in chronic nursing shortages by hiring nurses from other countries, especially from the Phillippines, and just generally many nurses are recent immigrants.
basically, nursing is a relatively accessible field for people coming out of working-class backgrounds who can't afford to stop working while they retrain, which is part of the class stuff.
posted by sciatrix at 3:22 PM on October 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
basically, nursing is a relatively accessible field for people coming out of working-class backgrounds who can't afford to stop working while they retrain, which is part of the class stuff.
posted by sciatrix at 3:22 PM on October 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
Amen.
Some practical ideas:
—reduce the evaluation process that requires 40%+ of professional career scores to be based on student high stakes testing or patient outcomes. It won’t be valid after Covid (not that it was before, honestly) but it can’t *not* be enforced as a mandatory State Law.
—reduce the requirement for continuous learning hours post-degree. Or set up salary contracts as non-contingent upon it. Imagine working this entirely exhausting job, parenting, then driving to master’s classes until 10pm, doing master’s homework, and back again to the job.
—improve facilities and infrastructure - windows in each room, working bathrooms & clean water access, ventilation or filters, A/C.
—stop adding work days with no extra compensation for working them (nurses and teachers, can I get an AMEN!)
—hire support staff for behavioral or medical issues that take away from instructional/patient care time (many littles coming into preschool and K-2 have significant trauma and/or lack of socialization post-pandemic)
—REDUCE CLASS SIZES so more care and education can go to EACH and EVERY child. Same with PATIENTS and nurses. Required ratios!!
—organize a big community appreciation drive for your local nurses and public school employees. Provide gift cards, gas cards, and morale boosters. If we can put a show for Halloween or July 4th, we can certainly pull it off! Reverse Santa Claus, maybe?
—consistently elect level minded local officials who put consensus, kindness, and problem solving ahead of political or personal agendas. Don’t join or pledge to support any localized ‘hate groups’ on social media or online.
Remember: teacher’s working conditions are our children’s LEARNING conditions. Nurses’s working conditions are our HEALTHCARE conditions. What happens to them, happens circuitously to you and/or your loved ones.
posted by beckybakeroo at 3:26 PM on October 8, 2022 [9 favorites]
Some practical ideas:
—reduce the evaluation process that requires 40%+ of professional career scores to be based on student high stakes testing or patient outcomes. It won’t be valid after Covid (not that it was before, honestly) but it can’t *not* be enforced as a mandatory State Law.
—reduce the requirement for continuous learning hours post-degree. Or set up salary contracts as non-contingent upon it. Imagine working this entirely exhausting job, parenting, then driving to master’s classes until 10pm, doing master’s homework, and back again to the job.
—improve facilities and infrastructure - windows in each room, working bathrooms & clean water access, ventilation or filters, A/C.
—stop adding work days with no extra compensation for working them (nurses and teachers, can I get an AMEN!)
—hire support staff for behavioral or medical issues that take away from instructional/patient care time (many littles coming into preschool and K-2 have significant trauma and/or lack of socialization post-pandemic)
—REDUCE CLASS SIZES so more care and education can go to EACH and EVERY child. Same with PATIENTS and nurses. Required ratios!!
—organize a big community appreciation drive for your local nurses and public school employees. Provide gift cards, gas cards, and morale boosters. If we can put a show for Halloween or July 4th, we can certainly pull it off! Reverse Santa Claus, maybe?
—consistently elect level minded local officials who put consensus, kindness, and problem solving ahead of political or personal agendas. Don’t join or pledge to support any localized ‘hate groups’ on social media or online.
Remember: teacher’s working conditions are our children’s LEARNING conditions. Nurses’s working conditions are our HEALTHCARE conditions. What happens to them, happens circuitously to you and/or your loved ones.
posted by beckybakeroo at 3:26 PM on October 8, 2022 [9 favorites]
People that run places of work, who seem fine with everyone else being miserable and hopelessI think it’s worth remembering that this isn’t just an accident but what they learn in business school: every bit of humanity and compassion is “inefficiency” to removed, and if it leaves the organization less robust and innovative, well, you’ll probably be gone by then. Every large consulting company will back the same messages, too, so anyone remarking on the nakedness of the emperor will face an uphill battle.
posted by adamsc at 5:15 AM on October 9, 2022 [5 favorites]
Teaching can also be accessible if you go through an alternate route or work in private schools, which often have looser requirements. But yeah you mostly still do need a bachelor's degree.
posted by subdee at 6:33 AM on October 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by subdee at 6:33 AM on October 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
I’m just thinking about our school district, which keeps saying how desperately they need teachers and how understaffed they are. And then I know a three or four people with bachelors in education who go on interview after interview with the district who does not hire them but puts a long-term sub in the classroom. Because the sub doesn’t get to belong to the union. The district cries publicly about not having enough teachers and having to use substitutes, meanwhile qualified teachers are being left hanging after six months or more of interviews. No wonder there’s so much burnout!
posted by Bottlecap at 3:43 PM on October 9, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Bottlecap at 3:43 PM on October 9, 2022 [5 favorites]
When I was on school board, we had a lot of these "turn teaching in a business machine!" types popping up, some of them drunk on Fox News, some of them full of personal importance after 40 years as an executive at an earth-moving machine company, some of them fresh out of consulting.
By far their #1 recommendation was, "Let's stack-rank teachers! And fire the bottom 10%! Every year!" Which, okay, fucko, I would like to make two separate but related points.
Point 1: there are 135,700 teachers in the state of Illinois. You want to fire 13,570 of them EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Around 4500 of them retire every year, just naturally. It goes up and down based on the economy and retirement incentives, but around 4500/year. A further 5000-ish leave each year before vesting their retirements. So you're down 9,500 just from natural attrition every year. How many new teachers is Illinois gaining every year? It must be a lot! It is not a lot. It is 6800/year. The gap between available teachers and empty teaching roles is growing about 1200 empty roles a year. It's smaller than the 6800/9500 gap because schools get by, by making class sizes larger or getting rid of Spanish teachers or deciding AP Calc doesn't need to happen. But that's the yearly gap.
But sure, finance bros, in addition to the 1200 spots a year we already can't fill, we should fire THIRTEEN THOUSAND additional teachers, whose roles will magically be filled by ... nobody? Nationwide, there are about 3.7 million K-12 school teachers (3.1M of those public school teachers), which puts them slightly behind "cashiers" and slightly ahead of "fast food workers" and one of the top ten largest occupations in the United States (and by far the one requiring the most education). BUT SURE, finance bros, let's stack-rank 3.7 million people and fire 370,000 of them, that won't MASSIVELY DISRUPT THE ENTIRE ECONOMY AT ALL, even before you add in the fact that schools provide child care for a huge portion of workers in other sectors.
So because I was in a position to do so, I used to point this out to the "government should be run like a business!" guys. They would object that, first, I had no idea what I was talking about, because I was a woman. And SECOND, I had no idea what I was talking about, because I was pregnant, which double-extra proved I was a woman AND meant my brain didn't work right. I would ask them where the 17,000 new Illinois teachers would come from, and they'd claim that they'd be incentivized to work in a rising profession with high-quality co-workers. "With poverty wages?" I asked. Hemming and hawing. I asked if they wanted to reduce qualifications for teachers. Oh, no, of course not! We'd go round and round for half an hour, and they'd finally say, "Bottom line, stack ranking works. Studies prove it!"
(Point 2:) And then I'd be like, FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THAT, because here I have a bunch of studies and a bunch of reports from the Harvard Business Review showing that stack ranking is a miserable failure that works in exactly one single setting: When you pay outrageous salaries to hire in a mass quantity of overachieving graduates with the specific intention of winnowing them down because you cannot afford to promote them all. So, for example, Big Law hiring 40 associates with the intention that 4 will make partner, or Big Banks doing similar with finance grads. It only works when your business model is to burn people out in pursuit of a million-dollar payday AND you can afford to pay them a big six figures a year to make them gamble for it.
OTHERWISE, the same studies, also published in HBR, show that the greatest achievement gains by employees happen when employees get step raises as they progress in either education or in tenure, and when everyone is sure they'll get the same pay raise for doing a good-enough job.
No, no, The Bros object. That can't be! We have to at LEAST incentivize people to achieve with bonuses for achievement!
You can do that, finance bros. You absolutely can. And the budget can afford it. The thing is, every study shows that when people are getting a guaranteed step raise for finishing the year, they give 95% throughout the year. But if there's a bonus payment for the top 5% or 10% of performers, everyone works really hard in January, but they all suss out by February who is going to get the bonuses. Your two or three top achievers keep giving 120%, but the entire rest of your staff relaxes to 75%, because they know it doesn't matter if they do their jobs pretty well, or pretty shitty. You're not going to fire them all, and they're not going to get the merit bonus, so why try? They already know you won't appreciate their work -- you made that clear in January -- so why bother doing more than the minimum?
You can show the bros these studies, and back up every single point with studies from THEIR preferred journals and publications. And they will blanche, and reject them, and insist, "That's not actually how it works! It works according to these three tiny studies focusing entirely on law and finance, and we should do that to teachers earning $35,000/year!" It's sad because they can't learn, because they didn't have enough liberal arts education to be able to generalize or draw conclusions or questions their own assumptions.
(Anyway, pro-tip, unless you are meat-grindering people for $200,000/year to pitch them all out before making partner, all studies say you get better work from your people if you give them the same salary and a predictable, tenure-based step raise every year, and that people PREFER having someone with 10 years tenure who's only okay at their job making more because they're tenured than someone with two years tenure who's a real gunner making a huge amount compared to everyone else, because that method is unpredictable, prone to favoritism, prone to sexism/racism/other bigotry, and it's unclear how to achieve it. "Work here 10 years doing a pretty good job" is something everyone understands.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:05 PM on October 9, 2022 [28 favorites]
By far their #1 recommendation was, "Let's stack-rank teachers! And fire the bottom 10%! Every year!" Which, okay, fucko, I would like to make two separate but related points.
Point 1: there are 135,700 teachers in the state of Illinois. You want to fire 13,570 of them EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Around 4500 of them retire every year, just naturally. It goes up and down based on the economy and retirement incentives, but around 4500/year. A further 5000-ish leave each year before vesting their retirements. So you're down 9,500 just from natural attrition every year. How many new teachers is Illinois gaining every year? It must be a lot! It is not a lot. It is 6800/year. The gap between available teachers and empty teaching roles is growing about 1200 empty roles a year. It's smaller than the 6800/9500 gap because schools get by, by making class sizes larger or getting rid of Spanish teachers or deciding AP Calc doesn't need to happen. But that's the yearly gap.
But sure, finance bros, in addition to the 1200 spots a year we already can't fill, we should fire THIRTEEN THOUSAND additional teachers, whose roles will magically be filled by ... nobody? Nationwide, there are about 3.7 million K-12 school teachers (3.1M of those public school teachers), which puts them slightly behind "cashiers" and slightly ahead of "fast food workers" and one of the top ten largest occupations in the United States (and by far the one requiring the most education). BUT SURE, finance bros, let's stack-rank 3.7 million people and fire 370,000 of them, that won't MASSIVELY DISRUPT THE ENTIRE ECONOMY AT ALL, even before you add in the fact that schools provide child care for a huge portion of workers in other sectors.
So because I was in a position to do so, I used to point this out to the "government should be run like a business!" guys. They would object that, first, I had no idea what I was talking about, because I was a woman. And SECOND, I had no idea what I was talking about, because I was pregnant, which double-extra proved I was a woman AND meant my brain didn't work right. I would ask them where the 17,000 new Illinois teachers would come from, and they'd claim that they'd be incentivized to work in a rising profession with high-quality co-workers. "With poverty wages?" I asked. Hemming and hawing. I asked if they wanted to reduce qualifications for teachers. Oh, no, of course not! We'd go round and round for half an hour, and they'd finally say, "Bottom line, stack ranking works. Studies prove it!"
(Point 2:) And then I'd be like, FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THAT, because here I have a bunch of studies and a bunch of reports from the Harvard Business Review showing that stack ranking is a miserable failure that works in exactly one single setting: When you pay outrageous salaries to hire in a mass quantity of overachieving graduates with the specific intention of winnowing them down because you cannot afford to promote them all. So, for example, Big Law hiring 40 associates with the intention that 4 will make partner, or Big Banks doing similar with finance grads. It only works when your business model is to burn people out in pursuit of a million-dollar payday AND you can afford to pay them a big six figures a year to make them gamble for it.
OTHERWISE, the same studies, also published in HBR, show that the greatest achievement gains by employees happen when employees get step raises as they progress in either education or in tenure, and when everyone is sure they'll get the same pay raise for doing a good-enough job.
No, no, The Bros object. That can't be! We have to at LEAST incentivize people to achieve with bonuses for achievement!
You can do that, finance bros. You absolutely can. And the budget can afford it. The thing is, every study shows that when people are getting a guaranteed step raise for finishing the year, they give 95% throughout the year. But if there's a bonus payment for the top 5% or 10% of performers, everyone works really hard in January, but they all suss out by February who is going to get the bonuses. Your two or three top achievers keep giving 120%, but the entire rest of your staff relaxes to 75%, because they know it doesn't matter if they do their jobs pretty well, or pretty shitty. You're not going to fire them all, and they're not going to get the merit bonus, so why try? They already know you won't appreciate their work -- you made that clear in January -- so why bother doing more than the minimum?
You can show the bros these studies, and back up every single point with studies from THEIR preferred journals and publications. And they will blanche, and reject them, and insist, "That's not actually how it works! It works according to these three tiny studies focusing entirely on law and finance, and we should do that to teachers earning $35,000/year!" It's sad because they can't learn, because they didn't have enough liberal arts education to be able to generalize or draw conclusions or questions their own assumptions.
(Anyway, pro-tip, unless you are meat-grindering people for $200,000/year to pitch them all out before making partner, all studies say you get better work from your people if you give them the same salary and a predictable, tenure-based step raise every year, and that people PREFER having someone with 10 years tenure who's only okay at their job making more because they're tenured than someone with two years tenure who's a real gunner making a huge amount compared to everyone else, because that method is unpredictable, prone to favoritism, prone to sexism/racism/other bigotry, and it's unclear how to achieve it. "Work here 10 years doing a pretty good job" is something everyone understands.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:05 PM on October 9, 2022 [28 favorites]
I love teaching and I love my kids. But I can't keep doing it.
I'm sorry to hear about your quite reasonable-sounding burnout. "Dancing with babies" always makes me smile when I see it in the IRL walk* relay log.
posted by aniola at 9:46 PM on October 9, 2022
I'm sorry to hear about your quite reasonable-sounding burnout. "Dancing with babies" always makes me smile when I see it in the IRL walk* relay log.
posted by aniola at 9:46 PM on October 9, 2022
But if there's a bonus payment for the top 5% or 10% of performers, everyone works really hard in January, but they all suss out by February who is going to get the bonuses. Your two or three top achievers keep giving 120%, but the entire rest of your staff relaxes to 75%, because they know it doesn't matter if they do their jobs pretty well, or pretty shitty. You're not going to fire them all, and they're not going to get the merit bonus, so why try? They already know you won't appreciate their work -- you made that clear in January -- so why bother doing more than the minimum?
The rest of your post yes, and I agree that general bonuses don't drive achievement at work. But all this...no. I mean, if bonuses work for the top 10%, then change the bonus date so the receivers aren't known until like October paid out in December. Or roll them so people can't earn the same bonus every year - solves everything you wrote. Except the underlying issue: general bonuses don't drive achievement.
Nobody works less hard because of some possible bonus either.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:18 AM on October 10, 2022
The rest of your post yes, and I agree that general bonuses don't drive achievement at work. But all this...no. I mean, if bonuses work for the top 10%, then change the bonus date so the receivers aren't known until like October paid out in December. Or roll them so people can't earn the same bonus every year - solves everything you wrote. Except the underlying issue: general bonuses don't drive achievement.
Nobody works less hard because of some possible bonus either.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:18 AM on October 10, 2022
change the bonus date so the receivers aren't known until like October paid out in December
I don't think this addresses Eyebrows' key detail there: But if there's a bonus payment for the top 5% or 10% of performers, everyone works really hard in January, but they all suss out by February who is going to get the bonuses.
The actual bonus date itself is irrelevant, people are pretty good at figuring out who the gunners are. And you already know if you're the sort of person to grind yourself down for the chance at an award. So if you're not incapable of letting go of the brass ring, why burn yourself out?
And if the bonus rotates each year, there's probably not only one person like that, so they'll be compelled to go for it.
posted by CrystalDave at 10:01 AM on October 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
I don't think this addresses Eyebrows' key detail there: But if there's a bonus payment for the top 5% or 10% of performers, everyone works really hard in January, but they all suss out by February who is going to get the bonuses.
The actual bonus date itself is irrelevant, people are pretty good at figuring out who the gunners are. And you already know if you're the sort of person to grind yourself down for the chance at an award. So if you're not incapable of letting go of the brass ring, why burn yourself out?
And if the bonus rotates each year, there's probably not only one person like that, so they'll be compelled to go for it.
posted by CrystalDave at 10:01 AM on October 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
The actual bonus date itself is irrelevant, people are pretty good at figuring out who the gunners are. And you already know if you're the sort of person to grind yourself down for the chance at an award. So if you're not incapable of letting go of the brass ring, why burn yourself out?This is especially relevant for teaching, where a significant factor in success is luck of the draw on students. If someone’s scheme depends on something like standardized test scores, teachers will know pretty quickly how likely it is that a group of students will perform well, and since those factors are often outside of their control this disproportionately demotivates teachers with lots of poor kids, non-native English speakers, etc. (Thinking of the time my wife pointed out that her teaching style couldn’t be relevant for a student who didn’t show up to class, only to be told that she should make her classes more engaging as if that could compensate for the gaps in their home life.)
posted by adamsc at 8:03 PM on October 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
"Pink-collar work" as in "women's work"?
posted by chance at 12:39 AM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by chance at 12:39 AM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
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I’ll believe these major employers are concerned about this wave of burnout when they start meeting employees halfway on anything without it having to be a massive fight.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 8:33 AM on October 7, 2022 [34 favorites]