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The ‘Anti-Work’ Facebook group had 38.8k members at the time of writing, and it invites people to be kind to one another. They’re against the glorification of violence, ask people not to support any politicians, landlords, or company owners, and (oddly enough), their movement is against any type of reform.
Instead of reform, the ‘Anti-Work’ team aims for ‘abolition.’ And while we get the desire to overhaul literally everything, we also know that idealism doesn’t always match how politics works in real-life. Compromise, diplomacy, slow-but-steady change in voting patterns are (unfortunately?) how real change happens. The members of the group also suggest that Facebook users go outside and “touch grass” and urge them to avoid posting low-quality content.
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Financial expert and author Sam, from the Financial Samurai project, gave Bored Panda some insights into what employees should think about if they’re dissatisfied with their workplace and are considering quitting. Though some people have power fantasies about quitting with style, it’s important to consider the impact your decision will have not just on your life but on the day-to-day of your colleagues. It pays off to do things smartly, and not just slam the door.
“The best way to quit a job is to actually try and negotiate a severance and not quit. When you try to negotiate a severance, you try to make the job quitting as painless and seamless as possible for your manager and colleagues,” the expert told us.
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“When you suddenly quit your job, you put your manager and colleagues in a bind, scrambling to find your replacement and do your work. However, if you try to negotiate a severance, you help find your replacement and train your replacement so that your company doesn't feel too much pain,” Sam explained to Bored Panda that a compromise like that can end up benefiting both parties.
The expert shared his own experience with changing career tracks. “For example, when I negotiated my severance after 11 years, I stayed on for three months to train my junior employee. I introduced him to all my clients as well. As a result, I was able to receive a severance package equal to six years of living expenses!” he explained how the benefits can be greater if you approach the situation differently.
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“I even helped my wife negotiate a severance from a job she no longer liked as well. She was able to get full pay only working 2-3 days a week for several months. Then she got a severance check and a year off. Then her old firm hired her back as a consultant for 50% higher pay. It was one of the best severance negotiations ever because we found a win-win solution for both sides,” he pointed out that it’s not just a fantasy that both sides can end up winning out.
“The right way to quit your job is to make sure your company and employees are OK if you leave,” he explained what the mature way of changing jobs entails.
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Previously, my colleague spoke to the team behind the ‘Anti-Work’ Facebook page to learn more about the group and its values.
"Fundamentally, the idea of Anti-Work is that people should choose to be productive on their own terms, not as a result of coercion or having their stability threatened. The underlying message of the Anti-Work philosophy is that the connection between survival and employment status or productivity levels must be eliminated,” they told Bored Panda.
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The Anti-Work group is a fairly new niche on Facebook: it was created not even a year ago, in October of 2022 “as a result of needing to create a digital community tailored specifically for Facebook users."
"In our group, we have people from all backgrounds. Writers, frontline nurses, school teachers, line cooks, truck drivers, forklift operators. To name just a few,” the Anti-Work team shared with Bored Panda, adding that they are explicitly anti-capitalist, support the creation and expansion of unions, and see the need for workplace democracy.
“As a society, we have the ability to provide for humanity's needs, to give people a base layer of support and stability to encourage productivity without coercion," they said. With the Facebook group, they aim to create a platform for inclusion and empowerment so that people from all walks of life feel safe to share their workplace stories. And while some trolls do pop up from time to time, overall, most members are "awesome people with valuable insights, and stories worth telling."
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