THE GREAT RETIREMENT?

Is the great retirement really fake news? Are people just tired and looking for a better option or have they really given up completely? There seems to be three main areas which are reporting that many of their workers have left, and it is worth examining each of them, Nurses, Teachers and Hospitality workers.

The COVID pandemic has had a great impact on our medical workers, but nurses are in short supply. The main problem, partially a result of staff shortages, is the amount of extra work they have to do including extra shifts, handling difficult relatives who want to visit the patient but aren’t allowed to, difficult patients and relatives who want unapproved treatments that they have seen on social media and even just being masked up for their whole shift. Overseas nurses are rarely available as many states and countries have closed their borders. We need nurses and they need a positive working environment.

Many parents are now more aware of what teachers do as they have had to home school their own children and may have found this surprisingly difficult. The teachers have provided materials, run numerous video conference classes while also teaching some students on site. They have also had to work with disenchanted students who are missing the classroom community and have difficulty giving individual feedback to students and even seeing what the students are writing. They are also available for email questions and are still often required to attend school meetings. Teachers need to be respected for doing a wonderful job from ‘9 to 5’ and shouldn’t need to be missing out on their own family time in the evenings.

The hospitality workers are leaving their worksites because in many cases they have closed or reduced their hours to the extent where it is no longer financially viable. When the restrictions go everyone will want to go to their favourite restaurant but might not be happy to see it understaffed. They need to have secure employment at a better rate of pay than seems to be the current rate.
People need to be respected, supported and paid well or they will actually resign.

Dennis Fitzgerald,
Melbourne, Australia