"I launched the account last October after seeing how much upheaval was going on in the labor force," Lazar told Bored Panda. "I found it pretty uplifting to see stories of people saying 'screw this' to horrible bosses and terrible working conditions."
According to him, a lot of people were blaming stimulus checks and unemployment and screaming "no one wants to work anymore". This naturally angered Lazar and made them want to start highlighting why and how these people were wrong.
With 73k followers on Instagram and more than 100K on Twitter, the account gets a lot of submissions from people sharing their experiences. "It’s amazing. Definitely overwhelming at times. I have a few hundred DM’s still left unanswered and more coming in all the time," Lazar said. "All of it is appreciated and I’m extremely grateful people keep reaching out."
The creator revealed that the people who joined him on this project are incredible. "They are super active, communicative, informative, and supportive. People tell me all the time that they keep learning so much from my page and truth be told, I’m learning a ton from them as well. It’s a journey and a process."
"I’ve had countless people reach out saying that my account was the last push they needed to finally get out of their bad jobs. The response has been humbling, to say the least," he said and added that sometimes it takes knowing you’re not alone to take the leap. "I’m very grateful I’ve been able to help facilitate that for them."
Lazar noted that for decades, employees have been viewed as expendable: "Just an unfortunate but necessary costly line item that affects a company’s bottom line and takes a chunk of the profits away from shareholders. I think the pandemic is changing that. Not necessarily in the viewpoint of said companies—their end-all and legal allegiances lie strictly with shareholders—but within the employees themselves."
Chances are, you've already heard of the term the Great Resignation which describes the mass exodus of employees leaving their jobs after Covid broke out. Nearly 69 million people quit, were laid off, or were discharged in the US last year, with 47.4 million walking away from their jobs voluntarily. Workers started looking for better opportunities, finding themselves at an advantage in this tight labor market.
"People are fed up with decades of mistreatment and poverty wages and unless these corporations are willing to provide fair and equitable accommodations, they will have a hard time keeping people on staff," Lazar argued. "It’s a buyers’ market now. People know they have way more options than employers do and they are taking advantage of it."
"The pendulum has shifted in favor of the labor force, finally, and it’s incredible to see people rise up and capitalize on it. The landscape is changing."
According to Pew Research Center, feeling disrespected at work is one of the top reasons Americans quit their jobs last year. While it may seem that more companies are starting to carry the label of "toxic work environment", Lazar believes they have always been this way.
"It’s just the nature of the beast, at least here in the US. It’s how we’ve always operated. Only more recently, within the last 20 years or so, have we started seeing obscene disparities in wealth with top brass making 1000 times more than people at the bottom of the organization. This unbalance is a big part of why people are fed up. And companies are slowly responding."
You see, they realized that without knowledgeable and loyal staff, they are in a fine mess. "The better you treat your employees, the better they treat you, go figure. Employees can be brand advocates or your worst nightmare. Corporations need to act accordingly."
"More and more companies are starting to come around with higher wages and better benefits. It will take a while before the total soul-sucking corporate mantra dies if it ever does, but at least we’re starting to move in the right direction."
However, shining a light on these issues might help bring change. "I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t," the creator said. "Movements don’t take place in the darkness. And labor is having one hell of a movement right now. It takes people talking about these issues for them to ever sort themselves out. Silence in this regard is not a virtue."
Lazar stressed the importance of people understanding their worth. "Work relationships are like any personal relationship. If there isn’t balance, mutual respect, and understanding then it’s a toxic relationship and no one wins."
