Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / A Holiday Tale of Women's Labor and the Great Resignation

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A Holiday Tale of Women's Labor and the Great Resignation · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to stuff
0:07
Speaker 1: I never told your production of I Heart Radio. So
0:18
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go ahead and time stamp this one because
0:22
Speaker 1: we're talking about something that is actually a lot of
0:24
Speaker 1: stuff is being written about right now, and that is
0:27
Speaker 1: the Great Resignation as it's called, um, among other things. UM.
0:32
Speaker 1: So today is November twenty one. This is our last
0:39
Speaker 1: recording session for about a week. So yeah, that's exciting.
0:44
Speaker 1: And we do have a bit of a mixed Santa
0:48
Speaker 1: labor bag on this one. And now that we're in
0:50
Speaker 1: December officially or we will be when you listen to this,
0:53
Speaker 1: we are not currently right, we are not a future
0:56
Speaker 1: at this point in time, and at this point, UM,
1:00
Speaker 1: we wanted to do a very brief revisit of holiday
1:02
Speaker 1: emotional labor, and we've been talking about that kind of
1:05
Speaker 1: a lot recently. UM. But also yes, issues that are
1:08
Speaker 1: impacting women when it comes to things like the Great
1:10
Speaker 1: Resignation and all of these labor shortages are just product
1:13
Speaker 1: shortages that we've been hearing about. So before we get
1:16
Speaker 1: into it, we have gone over emotional labor before. But
1:20
Speaker 1: just as a reminder, Arlie hash Child first to find
1:23
Speaker 1: emotional labor as quote, invoking and suppressing feelings to fit
1:26
Speaker 1: the job for which you are paid, especially in jobs
1:29
Speaker 1: often helped by women that involve personal interaction, customer service,
1:32
Speaker 1: and empathy. Things like that. UM. Nowadays, we've expanded the
1:37
Speaker 1: meaning to include a plethora of stuff that we and
1:40
Speaker 1: again usually women in this context do outside of work
1:44
Speaker 1: to maintain relationships, like getting cards and gifts, remembering important
1:48
Speaker 1: dates for you or your partner, mood management, UM, all
1:52
Speaker 1: kinds of things like that. And we talked about how
1:55
Speaker 1: emotional labor is often heightened for women and especially for
1:58
Speaker 1: mothers our caregivers during the holidays last year, and how
2:03
Speaker 1: it would be even more heightened during a pandemic. UM.
2:07
Speaker 1: Since then, a few articles have come out about it,
2:10
Speaker 1: as well as some new challenges for this year UM
2:14
Speaker 1: that have shown up in this discussion. So many challenges.
2:18
Speaker 1: One interesting but not at all surprising theme for the
2:21
Speaker 1: articles that have come out from last year, where all
2:24
Speaker 1: the women who reported they just didn't have it in
2:27
Speaker 1: them to do the traditional holiday labor during the pandemic,
2:31
Speaker 1: and then the guilt that many felt alongside that realization. Yes,
2:36
Speaker 1: people and women more so felt burnt out they were
2:39
Speaker 1: and are taking the brunt of housework and caregiving. More
2:42
Speaker 1: women experienced loss of jobs for whatever reason and cuts
2:46
Speaker 1: and pay, which made the holidays more difficult. On top
2:50
Speaker 1: of that, there was all that tragedy brought on by
2:53
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen, and in the face of all that, many
2:57
Speaker 1: women reported wanting to give and pressure to give an
3:01
Speaker 1: even more positive experience, but just flat out not having
3:05
Speaker 1: the energy or resources to do so. For some, this
3:09
Speaker 1: resulted in a simpler celebration that was in many ways
3:12
Speaker 1: a relief, and for others, a conversation with a partner
3:16
Speaker 1: about taking on some of the responsibilities she traditionally been doing.
3:20
Speaker 1: They're saying throwing as traditional a holiday as they could
3:23
Speaker 1: give them some resemblance of control in a time where
3:27
Speaker 1: everything else felt out of control, and again for some
3:31
Speaker 1: just the feeling that they'd failed. Yah. Yeah, I mean
3:35
Speaker 1: it was a real mixed fag overall. I feel like
3:38
Speaker 1: there was a lot of conversations people were having in
3:40
Speaker 1: these articles. I was reading about like what can we
3:43
Speaker 1: give up and what what can we let go? And
3:46
Speaker 1: I've been doing all this work and the other person
3:48
Speaker 1: doing a right. Yeah, so that's interesting and it'll It'll
3:53
Speaker 1: be interesting to see after this year how it sort
3:56
Speaker 1: of goes after this sort of our second time around.
3:59
Speaker 1: Although I do feel like this one there there are
4:04
Speaker 1: different challenges and there are still some of those things
4:07
Speaker 1: going on, absolutely, but it does feel quote more normal
4:11
Speaker 1: um than last year, at least for me um. So
4:15
Speaker 1: we'll see, we'll see. Hilariously to me, some articles cited
4:21
Speaker 1: Malaya Trump's words, who gives up about Christmas stuff and decorations?
4:26
Speaker 1: But I have to do it right. I feel like
4:29
Speaker 1: that might have been her attitude throughout her administration, so
4:33
Speaker 1: fair enough. One thing that's weighing on all of us,
4:38
Speaker 1: and in this conversation, women planning holidays are all the
4:41
Speaker 1: shortages that we've been hitting, from toys to food. A
4:46
Speaker 1: survey from October one found that thirty eight percent of
4:49
Speaker 1: women were anxious about holiday costs. At the same time,
4:54
Speaker 1: holiday prices are expected to rise by twenty percent this year.
5:00
Speaker 1: Read the room, y'all capitalism Read the room. Yeah. My
5:05
Speaker 1: mom was like, I've got an emergency turkey frozen and
5:09
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try. I heard there's gonna be a turkey
5:11
Speaker 1: at this store at this time, and I was like, wow,
5:14
Speaker 1: what is happening. Uh. Um. I did spend a good
5:18
Speaker 1: hour today trying to get a PlayStation five. I failed,
5:20
Speaker 1: but I was close. It was in my cart that moment. Yeah,
5:28
Speaker 1: I'm planning to go to a little market. And this
5:32
Speaker 1: is just because this artist and this crafter is fantastic,
5:35
Speaker 1: But I'm planning to go to a little market here
5:37
Speaker 1: in Atlanta to get something that is on demand. It's
5:41
Speaker 1: impossible to get and I'm planning to go thirty minutes
5:43
Speaker 1: before it even opens to get in line. I guess
5:46
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be one of those people because the last
5:48
Speaker 1: time she had an online shop similar to this, it
5:50
Speaker 1: was in my car and as I was checking out,
5:52
Speaker 1: it was gone. I was like, Oh, I hate it.
5:58
Speaker 1: This isn't part of that kinda we're talking about, though,
6:01
Speaker 1: Like it sounds kind of silly, but I mean, if
6:02
Speaker 1: you've got kids and you've got to plan these things,
6:04
Speaker 1: and you've got to know that that's an issue, and
6:07
Speaker 1: then you've got to plan around it, like it's just
6:10
Speaker 1: taking up some of your mind space. And I think
6:12
Speaker 1: I said recently, Um, I bought most of my presence
6:15
Speaker 1: in October and so did my mom because we were
6:17
Speaker 1: anticipating you know, the shortage or delay and delivery um.
6:22
Speaker 1: And yeah, my mom brought a lot of food already
6:25
Speaker 1: and froze it. She's like, but if I can't get
6:27
Speaker 1: it later, So that's just like an extra thing to
6:30
Speaker 1: kind of plan. And with that the gift, because etc.
6:34
Speaker 1: Does this a lot where you're like looking at a
6:36
Speaker 1: gift like, hurry up, there's only three left, and you're like,
6:39
Speaker 1: oh no, please don't go away before I make my decision. Um.
6:43
Speaker 1: On top of the fact that, yeah, you know, you
6:46
Speaker 1: don't know where it's coming from. Sometimes I'm like, oh no,
6:48
Speaker 1: this is from Mexico. It's gonna take two more weeks.
6:51
Speaker 1: So having to plan perfectly as well as trying to
6:54
Speaker 1: find the perfect thoughtful gift, y'all, it's a lot, it
6:59
Speaker 1: is it really. It feels great when you do it,
7:02
Speaker 1: when you pull it off, but if you can't work
7:04
Speaker 1: to get there, yes, yes, if you can. And also like,
7:07
Speaker 1: we're throwing out a lot of company names in this one,
7:10
Speaker 1: but currently no sponsors or that's not why we're mentioning
7:13
Speaker 1: them anyway. And then yes, of course there are the arguments,
7:18
Speaker 1: as always about politics, but also about masking and vaccination.
7:21
Speaker 1: I did see a recent study where UM seventy cent
7:24
Speaker 1: of American households. We're like, you know, we're having a
7:28
Speaker 1: small gathering this year vaccination and masks. So that's interesting. Yeah,
7:33
Speaker 1: women tend to do more of the controlling of a
7:35
Speaker 1: family's narrative on social media, something that can be really
7:39
Speaker 1: fraught if your family doesn't agree on things like that,
7:42
Speaker 1: which I thought I hadn't really considered that, but yeah, yeah,
7:48
Speaker 1: it's so stressor I'm trying to figure out how not
7:52
Speaker 1: to be the person to start an argument. Something else
8:08
Speaker 1: we wanted to talk about is the all these labor
8:12
Speaker 1: shortages we're hearing about, and also the great resignation. In
8:16
Speaker 1: September one, a record four point four million people quit
8:19
Speaker 1: their jobs according to the US Labor Department. That's on
8:23
Speaker 1: the tail of four point three million. Resignations are about
8:25
Speaker 1: three in August, which is way larger than the number
8:30
Speaker 1: of layoffs at one point three million. Data from small
8:34
Speaker 1: to medium sized payroll provider Gustos suggests that of those quitting,
8:38
Speaker 1: more of them are women. UM. The company started tracking
8:41
Speaker 1: the gender gap in resignations in January, and according to
8:44
Speaker 1: the information they've collected, the gap was at its highest
8:46
Speaker 1: in August one, with a one point one percent point
8:50
Speaker 1: difference between the number of women quitting versus the number
8:53
Speaker 1: of men quitting. Since then, that percentage just dropped a bit,
8:56
Speaker 1: but it's still hovering around one percent. Three and women
9:00
Speaker 1: quit their jobs in September compared to the thousand jobs
9:05
Speaker 1: added to the workplace, So I mean, we don't really know,
9:09
Speaker 1: We don't know the breakdown of the second number, but
9:11
Speaker 1: more women quit than we're hired, right all right, which
9:15
Speaker 1: we talked about when we said that we were losing
9:17
Speaker 1: the gender gap. At one point, we were like, oh, yeah,
9:19
Speaker 1: it's happening, it's moving forward, and then pandemic just swept
9:22
Speaker 1: all of that away. As well as the fact that
9:25
Speaker 1: a lot of these jobs that have higher resignations are
9:27
Speaker 1: probably the essential quote unquote central jobs which have more
9:32
Speaker 1: women as a part of that, so that could explain
9:34
Speaker 1: a lot. And so data from LinkedIn found that the
9:37
Speaker 1: number of women reporting job transitions, which can mean anything
9:41
Speaker 1: from leaving the workforce or switching jobs, has jumped for
9:45
Speaker 1: women in one compared to for men. One third of
9:50
Speaker 1: women surveyed said their income wasn't enough to pay for
9:53
Speaker 1: their families, and the number one reason the women gave
9:56
Speaker 1: for changing jobs, which, yes, that makes a lot of sense.
10:00
Speaker 1: This isn't just limited to the US. At the same time,
10:03
Speaker 1: a recent survey of fourteen thousand corporate leaders, middle managers,
10:07
Speaker 1: and individual contributors from twenty seven countries found that in
10:10
Speaker 1: twenty two, sixty of women were planning on staying with
10:14
Speaker 1: their current employer, down from seventy one percent in twenty
10:19
Speaker 1: twenty one. That's compared to sixty seven percent of men
10:24
Speaker 1: planning on remaining with their current employer in twenty twenty two,
10:28
Speaker 1: down from seventy percent in twenty twenty one, So that's
10:32
Speaker 1: a more precipitous drop among women. When it comes to leaders.
10:35
Speaker 1: Of leaders, the number of women intending to stay in
10:38
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two dropped from eight seven percent to sixty
10:41
Speaker 1: six percent. Before the pandemic, women had a majority of
10:45
Speaker 1: the country's jobs. So this is a big deal for
10:48
Speaker 1: multiple reasons. Yes, yes, yes, yes, um, And of course
10:53
Speaker 1: this is impacting companies diversity quotas the report included this
10:57
Speaker 1: quote with companies competing for the same high at least
11:00
Speaker 1: skilled talent Action on d E I B, which stands
11:03
Speaker 1: for a public diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and fostering
11:06
Speaker 1: a culture of belonging will be a key differentiator, but
11:10
Speaker 1: our research shows are still a ways to go. Four
11:12
Speaker 1: and five senior leaders say their actions show they are
11:15
Speaker 1: genuinely committed to a greater d e i B, while
11:18
Speaker 1: only three and five or fifty eight percent individual contributor
11:21
Speaker 1: to say the same. Closing this gap will play a
11:24
Speaker 1: leading role in retaining people to making it one of
11:27
Speaker 1: the key areas of focus to get right during the
11:29
Speaker 1: Great Resignation. A separate recent study found that a large
11:32
Speaker 1: amount of people will leave if they are made quote
11:34
Speaker 1: uncomfortable on a job because of their gender, ethnicity, socio
11:37
Speaker 1: economic background, or neurodevelopment condition. And then over in Canada,
11:43
Speaker 1: a study found that one hundred thousand working age women
11:46
Speaker 1: left the workforce since the beginning of the pandemic as
11:49
Speaker 1: of spring, one more than ten times than the number
11:52
Speaker 1: of men. Some analysts suggests that if it were reversed
11:56
Speaker 1: and men were the ones leading again such high numbers,
11:59
Speaker 1: there would be more concern, which is also a problem.
12:02
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of reasons for this, and
12:04
Speaker 1: many of them we've discussed before. The most commonly cited
12:07
Speaker 1: is a desire for a better, higher paying career, women
12:11
Speaker 1: start their own businesses, burnout, and child or elder care concerns,
12:15
Speaker 1: and the words of an economist at Gusto Luke Pard,
12:18
Speaker 1: he said, this pandemic has been particularly difficult for women
12:22
Speaker 1: at jobs who also need to care for families. They've
12:25
Speaker 1: been the ones who have needed to take that step
12:27
Speaker 1: back in their professional lives in order to meet their
12:30
Speaker 1: family's responsibilities. And yeah, we talked about that previously. A
12:34
Speaker 1: twenty twenty Women in the Workplace survey found that women,
12:37
Speaker 1: on average, we're spending twenty hours a week on housework
12:40
Speaker 1: and caregiving. Uh yep, again, talked about that hasn't really
12:44
Speaker 1: changed since according to some sources, two out of three
12:48
Speaker 1: caregivers are women, and that same survey found that one
12:51
Speaker 1: in three women have considered leaving or down shifting their
12:54
Speaker 1: career in twenty one, compared to one in four at
12:58
Speaker 1: the start of the pain. Dimic, Yeah, that's what we
13:00
Speaker 1: were talking about with the gap at one point was like, oh, yeah,
13:03
Speaker 1: it's closing in. Oh no, it's gotten wider. Yep. Yeah,
13:07
Speaker 1: there are a few episodes I looked back that we
13:09
Speaker 1: did before the pandemic and I'm like, oh, we had
13:11
Speaker 1: no idea. We had no idea, but we did one
13:14
Speaker 1: that was like very hopeful of like women are made
13:18
Speaker 1: all these strides and all this, and then when we
13:22
Speaker 1: had to review after all the reports were like, yeah,
13:24
Speaker 1: mostly women are leaving, Like yeah, so yes, as you're
13:31
Speaker 1: kind of saying, Samantha, all of this has been compounded
13:33
Speaker 1: by the fact that many essential workers, many of them women,
13:37
Speaker 1: and fields like nursing, teaching, and childcare are also leaving
13:41
Speaker 1: the workforce. Indeed, dot com found that more and more
13:44
Speaker 1: companies are posting quote urgent hirings that start immediately, and
13:48
Speaker 1: most of those industries. Three of the top four in fact,
13:51
Speaker 1: are dominated by women. Personal care and home health, nursing,
13:55
Speaker 1: and childcare. A lot of these jobs require in person interactions,
14:00
Speaker 1: meaning that health concerns are primary concern for employees as well.
14:03
Speaker 1: So this is you can find articles specific to each
14:06
Speaker 1: of those professions that we just mentioned of like why
14:10
Speaker 1: it's a big deal, why it's happening, and a lot
14:11
Speaker 1: of it is related to what we're talking about, but
14:13
Speaker 1: it does have that ripple effects then of you know,
14:17
Speaker 1: there's no teachers, or there's that child care aspect is
14:20
Speaker 1: so big in this conversation when it comes to burn out,
14:25
Speaker 1: an increasing number of women, and especially women of color
14:28
Speaker 1: and l g B t Q plus folks are taking
14:30
Speaker 1: medical leaves to cope with stress, exhaustion, and burnout. For
14:34
Speaker 1: many women or can at home has blurred the lines
14:37
Speaker 1: between work hours and off work hours, meaning that a
14:39
Speaker 1: lot of us are working ten to twelve hour days
14:42
Speaker 1: for the same amount of pay or even less pay.
14:46
Speaker 1: Of women surveyed over ten countries reported that the pandemic
14:49
Speaker 1: had increased their workload, and six reported that their home
14:53
Speaker 1: responsibilities it also increased. So that's that's just a lot.
14:58
Speaker 1: It's just a lot. Don Lee over at the Los
15:02
Speaker 1: Angeles Times wrote about all of this, especially for working moms, quote,
15:05
Speaker 1: the pandemic has exacted a heavy toll on millions of
15:08
Speaker 1: moms in terms of job security, pay equity, and long
15:11
Speaker 1: term career opportunities, losses many will likely never recover in
15:16
Speaker 1: significant numbers. They endured pay cuts, reduced hours, diminished retirement benefits,
15:20
Speaker 1: and lost promotions. As we discussed in previous episodes, some
15:24
Speaker 1: experts predict the pandemic will set advancements made in gender
15:29
Speaker 1: equality back fifty years, and those are like early guesses
15:34
Speaker 1: right um and yeah, that didn't have all the numbers
15:37
Speaker 1: that we have, and it is not pretty. It's like
15:39
Speaker 1: as as bad as they expected or a little bit worse. Um.
15:42
Speaker 1: And on top of that, I yeah, I find it
15:44
Speaker 1: interesting when we talk about these gender gaps that most
15:47
Speaker 1: of the companies are ragging about how well they've done.
15:51
Speaker 1: And when I say company, I mean these like big
15:53
Speaker 1: corporate ones obviously not the small businesses which have been
15:56
Speaker 1: hit pretty hard. Um. But again typically these small businesses
15:59
Speaker 1: also like impact women, just as a reminder, pretty greatly. Uh.
16:04
Speaker 1: And I find that interesting as well, when we're sitting
16:07
Speaker 1: here and going, oh, no, it's gotten bad. But at
16:09
Speaker 1: the same time, we're getting reports from corporations and big
16:12
Speaker 1: stockholders be like, but we've made a lot of money.
16:15
Speaker 1: Right again read the room. I feel like we've been
16:18
Speaker 1: saying that a lot. I mean, it just feels like,
16:21
Speaker 1: I don't know why, you feel like it's time to
16:23
Speaker 1: brag right now, this is the worst time. Be quiet
16:26
Speaker 1: and again, have all the seats. Um. On the other hand,
16:31
Speaker 1: another study found that about ten percent of Americans quit
16:34
Speaker 1: their job to pursue something they were more passionate about.
16:37
Speaker 1: Good on you. Ten percent of the people's On top
16:40
Speaker 1: of that, the study found that fifty of women were
16:42
Speaker 1: more open to doing that compared to forty four percent
16:45
Speaker 1: of men. Good on you, ladies, Yeah yeah, And so
16:50
Speaker 1: there have been numerous articles aimed at employers about how
16:53
Speaker 1: to keep workers and women at their jobs, suggesting things
16:56
Speaker 1: like flexible hours, um and flexible work options, student loan assistance,
17:00
Speaker 1: higher pay, and four day work weeks. However, experts warned
17:06
Speaker 1: that if not carried out carefully, some of these options
17:08
Speaker 1: could backfire and further exacerbate problems that the pandemic made worse.
17:13
Speaker 1: For instance, if most women at a company choose to
17:17
Speaker 1: work remotely due to child care, the office might be
17:20
Speaker 1: full of men. And multiple studies have shown that in
17:24
Speaker 1: person interactions are beneficial when it comes to things like promotions.
17:28
Speaker 1: So that's like, I know we've discussed before, it is
17:32
Speaker 1: really beneficial to have this like flexible work schedule and
17:36
Speaker 1: remote work options, and that is really beneficial for women.
17:39
Speaker 1: But it's one of those things that we also have
17:41
Speaker 1: to keep in mind these other things, and so we
17:43
Speaker 1: talked about this, but also like the bluring of work
17:46
Speaker 1: lines and finding like work life balance, it's just nothing
17:51
Speaker 1: in here is so simple as this like, we should
17:53
Speaker 1: definitely talk about this should be an option, but also
17:57
Speaker 1: right and let's also think about the fact that if
18:00
Speaker 1: a woman is staying at home to be with their child,
18:03
Speaker 1: they're double working the two jobs at once, so that's
18:07
Speaker 1: not necessarily a benefit other than saving money, which should
18:10
Speaker 1: not have to be for a woman who wants to
18:13
Speaker 1: continue in our professional has to continue in our profession,
18:16
Speaker 1: right right, right, right, and and all of this has
18:19
Speaker 1: also led to a lot of conversation around updating how
18:22
Speaker 1: employers find employees. Maybe the resume is no longer the
18:25
Speaker 1: way to go or not as important, or maybe a
18:27
Speaker 1: college degree is and always so important, um and right
18:30
Speaker 1: now analysts think women have more negotiating power. Of course, yeah,
18:35
Speaker 1: that won't matter if we don't get to the root
18:37
Speaker 1: of systemic issues, like if there aren't affordable care options
18:40
Speaker 1: or elder care options for those that need them. Even
18:44
Speaker 1: the term the Great resignation is disputed for what's happening
18:48
Speaker 1: because it implies a level of choice not present for
18:52
Speaker 1: all workers. Um. Some have called it the Great Reassessment.
18:55
Speaker 1: Others say it's just women being forced out of jobs
18:58
Speaker 1: to take care of children, and that's what it is.
19:00
Speaker 1: Right Many of caution that while coverage of this can
19:04
Speaker 1: be quite inspiring, it often focuses on those that have
19:07
Speaker 1: the resources, time, and health to undertake something new, right um.
19:12
Speaker 1: One of the surveys mentioned added that a part of
19:15
Speaker 1: the solution has to be quote doing the work at
19:18
Speaker 1: the root of the problem. As you're saying, the systemic
19:20
Speaker 1: part a toxic culture that rewards a workplace martyrdom over
19:24
Speaker 1: self care and self awareness. And yeah, it's obviously we
19:28
Speaker 1: see this in a lot of like you need to
19:29
Speaker 1: sacrifice your life to be here. That can happen, um,
19:33
Speaker 1: And so many women interviewed reported being frustrated at the
19:36
Speaker 1: lack of advancement, opportunities, support, a financial compensation, and just
19:41
Speaker 1: general respect and basic necessities, which you're like, why why
19:45
Speaker 1: is that not a part of this? Why is this
19:47
Speaker 1: is something that we have to compromise for? I know,
19:50
Speaker 1: I know. And yeah, the recent passing of the infrastructure
19:53
Speaker 1: bill here in the US and what got cut also
19:55
Speaker 1: plays into this conversation. We're planning on returning to that
19:58
Speaker 1: to discuss it in a future episode. I will say,
20:02
Speaker 1: just because it kind of stuck out to me. Some
20:05
Speaker 1: women interviewed in all of these articles about this chose
20:09
Speaker 1: not to get vaccinated and reported difficulties finding jobs. Um,
20:13
Speaker 1: while others quit because their companies didn't have a vaccine mandate.
20:16
Speaker 1: So that's also something that's happening. Right. As we said
20:19
Speaker 1: at the top, this is like people are really writing
20:22
Speaker 1: a lot of articles about this all the time, And
20:24
Speaker 1: since I've researched it, I get like an update every day,
20:26
Speaker 1: So it's ongoing. It's you know, relatively new, so data
20:30
Speaker 1: collection is still happening. But that's what we know for now. Um,
20:35
Speaker 1: maybe you will revisit. So for the very little I
20:38
Speaker 1: knew of it beforehand, I felt like the great resignation
20:41
Speaker 1: was the stories about all of the like the fast
20:43
Speaker 1: food workers who which is up and quit and you
20:45
Speaker 1: would see the massive science that says, oh, not not
20:48
Speaker 1: able to be open, including one of the zacks we
20:50
Speaker 1: here in Atlanta. I would and they didn't have another employee,
20:53
Speaker 1: so I had to shut down for a few weeks
20:55
Speaker 1: without it interesting. Yeah, I mean, there there are a
21:00
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of very interesting conversations happening around this,
21:04
Speaker 1: I think because that aspect I've also seen and it
21:07
Speaker 1: has been pretty widely covered, and I think that is
21:12
Speaker 1: you know, another like when we're talking about the minimum
21:14
Speaker 1: wage and stuff, what we're asking people to do for
21:17
Speaker 1: so little and people just being fed up with it,
21:21
Speaker 1: um paying people a living wage. But yeah, there's a
21:27
Speaker 1: lot more going on then if we can really simplify.
21:33
Speaker 1: But I do think after reading all of this, I
21:36
Speaker 1: do think a lot of it when it comes to
21:37
Speaker 1: why more women are quitting is definitely child care based
21:40
Speaker 1: or just like other responsibilities based, yea, which is something
21:46
Speaker 1: we need to be talking about. All right. To wrap
22:01
Speaker 1: this one up, this episode actually started with this news
22:04
Speaker 1: story that I heard, and then it expanded into the
22:09
Speaker 1: Great Resignation, but I actually wanted to talk about Mrs
22:13
Speaker 1: Claus Yes, um, so this is our holiday theme section
22:18
Speaker 1: of labor shortages, and you can see the past host
22:22
Speaker 1: of done episodes on Mrs cause um. But yeah, very briefly,
22:26
Speaker 1: if you're wondering, she does not have a definitive first name.
22:29
Speaker 1: Some more recent pieces of entertainment give her one, but
22:33
Speaker 1: it's not the same name. So I think she's called
22:35
Speaker 1: Anna and something and like something else with an a
22:38
Speaker 1: and another thing, but they're not the same name. So
22:41
Speaker 1: that's kind of where we are with the business cost
22:45
Speaker 1: and as more and more malls and venues are looking
22:48
Speaker 1: to hire someone to play Santa Clause after missing out
22:50
Speaker 1: on last year. They are running into a shortage of
22:53
Speaker 1: folks available to play. So this is for a few reasons, older,
22:58
Speaker 1: heavier setment um that are typically sought after to play
23:01
Speaker 1: Santa Claus, or at a higher risk for more severe
23:03
Speaker 1: cases of COVID nineteen. Since the job requires interacting with
23:07
Speaker 1: hundreds of people in public, many are opting out this year.
23:11
Speaker 1: Several died from COVID since the pandemic started, and they
23:14
Speaker 1: actually keep some of the Santa schools keep statistics on
23:17
Speaker 1: this and it's pretty it's pretty grim schools. Yeah, oh yes, Samantha,
23:23
Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about some of them, Okay.
23:26
Speaker 1: Other other Santa potential Santa players are deciding they'd rather
23:31
Speaker 1: spend more time with their family during the holidays. UM.
23:34
Speaker 1: Many are sticking to digital visits as they did in
23:37
Speaker 1: and actually found quite a bit of success in that. Um.
23:41
Speaker 1: All of this is coupled with a significant increase in demand.
23:45
Speaker 1: According to the founder of a Denver Santa school, Susan Mesco,
23:49
Speaker 1: on an average year, she receives around fifteen to twenty
23:51
Speaker 1: requests for Santa in July, but by February of this year,
23:54
Speaker 1: she'd already gotten seventy request. A school in Texas reported
24:00
Speaker 1: around a twenty shortage of available Santa's increase in demand.
24:07
Speaker 1: This does mean that Santa's are making more money. Uh.
24:11
Speaker 1: And you know, there's still a lot of concerns about
24:14
Speaker 1: COVID and all this, so there's a lot of like
24:16
Speaker 1: safety things, but in place it's still you know, a
24:18
Speaker 1: mall and kids and all stuff. Some're doing like plexiglass
24:22
Speaker 1: or you know, six ft uh distance. But the people
24:26
Speaker 1: who are doing that are making a lot of money,
24:28
Speaker 1: a lot more than they normally make. Nice. So it
24:31
Speaker 1: also means that some bookers are turning instead to Mrs Claus.
24:36
Speaker 1: And I'm not gonna lie. So there is an episode
24:38
Speaker 1: in Dirty Rock where Jack Donneghee talks about Mrs Claus
24:44
Speaker 1: in one of their holiday specials and he's like, where's
24:46
Speaker 1: Mrs Claus? And I'm like, we didn't need one, and
24:48
Speaker 1: he's like, there's always a Mrs Clause. And it turns
24:50
Speaker 1: out that his mom, who his father was not in
24:53
Speaker 1: the picture, would have Mrs Claus doing everything because they
24:56
Speaker 1: had just had and so he thought that was a tradition,
25:03
Speaker 1: so more and more women are receiving solo bookings. On
25:06
Speaker 1: top of this, in part because of anticipated toy shortages,
25:10
Speaker 1: The Jammie Claus Company is set to publish Jammie Claus
25:14
Speaker 1: The Christmas Tradition of unconditionally giving all about how Mrs
25:19
Speaker 1: Claus delivers to put jamas on Christmas Eve. I like this.
25:23
Speaker 1: The kids are supposed to put out the bag on
25:26
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve and then she will fill it with pajamas.
25:29
Speaker 1: Why do the children have been naughty or nice? You know?
25:32
Speaker 1: The company is partnering with Domestic Violence and Homeless Shelters
25:35
Speaker 1: in conjunction with their annual Pajama drive. Very smart, I
25:39
Speaker 1: want the pajamas. Jamas are great. Pajamas are great. And
25:44
Speaker 1: then in November, Old Navy hosted Santa boot Camp, claiming
25:48
Speaker 1: they wanted Santa to be quote more representative of modern culture,
25:52
Speaker 1: representing all backgrounds, ethnicities, and heritage. And I also saw
25:56
Speaker 1: just today that they have training on how to handle
26:02
Speaker 1: ridiculous gift request. Yeah. I mean, like I always think
26:08
Speaker 1: about that when you have a child going to Santa
26:11
Speaker 1: telling secrets and the thing they want is like a
26:14
Speaker 1: horse and you're absolutely not getting this child a pony
26:18
Speaker 1: or a horse? So how do you deal with this?
26:21
Speaker 1: And for me, who have never actually believed in say
26:24
Speaker 1: in the clause, it was not a big deal knowing
26:27
Speaker 1: that we had cash limits, were told we had cash limits,
26:31
Speaker 1: didn't really, you know, care much other than comparing with
26:34
Speaker 1: all the rich kids who were like I got a
26:36
Speaker 1: new phone with my own private number. I'm like, I
26:39
Speaker 1: got hug, but I'm just wondering, that's not your I
26:45
Speaker 1: had a great Christmas. I was just just wondering in that, like,
26:48
Speaker 1: what do you do? What do these parents do? Another
26:52
Speaker 1: reason that I'm glad I don't have children in that
26:54
Speaker 1: so this would make me panic trying to figure out
26:57
Speaker 1: what to do for these kids who are like I
27:00
Speaker 1: want this and this, and especially you know, you see
27:02
Speaker 1: the really sad tales of like kids wanting some people
27:06
Speaker 1: to be healed or wanting to help people and there's
27:08
Speaker 1: nothing you could do about this. What do you do? Yeah?
27:12
Speaker 1: I would not That is not a job I would want. Nope, Nope, nope.
27:18
Speaker 1: Another job I wouldn't want being Santa Disney World. But
27:21
Speaker 1: they also have now they have their first black men
27:25
Speaker 1: playing Santa. I think I like it. Yeah, but Yeah,
27:30
Speaker 1: that's no way. That sounds like it sounds like a
27:35
Speaker 1: nightmare in general, to have to have kids one right
27:41
Speaker 1: after another. Tell you like you hope it's great experiences,
27:44
Speaker 1: and I'm sure the sweet ones are so fantastic, but
27:46
Speaker 1: then the ones you're like, yeah, I really want to
27:48
Speaker 1: just push you right into the grass, like get away
27:54
Speaker 1: from me, kid. Yes, um, and I guess related. Santa
28:01
Speaker 1: Con is back this year, so okay, what is this is?
28:04
Speaker 1: That's just because I've seen pictures? Is it a race?
28:07
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it? Someone tell me there might be
28:12
Speaker 1: a reason, Bob. But it's a convention. And it's sort
28:14
Speaker 1: of notorious for drunk people who addressed Sandy getting really
28:20
Speaker 1: drunkn like puking in the streets and getting in fights
28:22
Speaker 1: on the streets in New York. Oh Santa fighting. Okay,
28:28
Speaker 1: uh don't. There's so many things that worry me about this. Hey,
28:33
Speaker 1: if y'all have gone, y'all have gone, and you can
28:37
Speaker 1: tell us the tales of Santa Con please because I'm
28:39
Speaker 1: very thoroughly confused. Oh yes, any yeah, any convention can
28:44
Speaker 1: get a little yes, and please if you've got any
28:51
Speaker 1: stories you want to share, whether it's holiday related or
28:54
Speaker 1: resignation related. We with love to hear from you. You
28:58
Speaker 1: can email us um at Stuff Media, mom Stuff at
29:01
Speaker 1: i heeart me dot com. You can find us on
29:02
Speaker 1: Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or on Instagram and Stuff
29:05
Speaker 1: I've Never Told You. Thanks as always to our super
29:06
Speaker 1: producer Christina, Thank you, and thanks to you for listening.
29:10
Speaker 1: Stuff I've Never Told You is a production by Heart
29:12
Speaker 1: Radio for More podcast on my Heart Radio because if
29:14
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29:16
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