Underemployed? Meet the overemployed

So the three part-time jobs you are now holding down still don't give you enough income to stay current on your mortgage and your car payment at the same time. You look at your next door neighbor, leaving the house at 5 every weekday morning and coming home at 8 every night, and think, At least she has a steady job.

It may be only a matter of time before she asks you whether she could swap jobs with you.

An item posted to the Workforce Development blog "Work in Progress" caught my attention recently because it calls attention to one of the underreported downsides of the downturn. Not only has the Great Recession created a great reserve army of the unemployed, it has put growing strain on the backs of those still employed.

Were employers distributing work to be done across the staffs they need to do it, there would be even more jobs in Philadelphia and other cities than are already open. Instead, they are piling more of it on the reduced workforces that remain - and those workers are growing increasingly dissatisfied.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 25 percent of the U.S. labor force now works more than 41 hours a week. Workforce Management and the employee assistance firm Workplace Options surveyed 600 of those workers in July, and they found that their workloads are getting heavier and their work weeks longer. More than half - 55 percent - said their workloads had increased since the recession began, and 27 percent said they had doubled. And while some said the increased load had increased their overall well being, the majority said the burden worsened theirs.

According to the blog post, some of the problems the overemployed are experiencing echo those the unemployed struggle with, including substance abuse, marital discord, depression and even homelessness. And even those not experiencing such troubles are far from happy: a study by the Leadership IQ consulting firm states that 69 percent of American workers are now disengaged or underengaged from their work.

About the only folks smiling over these developments are the owners, whose profits have shot through the roof thanks to not hiring more people to do the work. This false economy could come back to bite them, though, as the current workforce burns out.

Maybe a jittery employer should dust off an idea that was bruited around during the 1990s boom: job sharing. A couple - one working, the other not - could agree to split the hours and duties of a position, instantly lifting a great weight off three people. The working spouse gets some of her life back, the nonworking spouse has his dignity repaired, and the employer can avoid a workforce expansion for now.

It's a less than ideal solution, granted. Those profits could be put to better use putting people back to work full time; judging from this survey, it's not like there wouldn't be anything for them to do once hired. But it might spare employers worse problems later on.

Are you overworked and looking to lighten your burden, or underemployed and looking to increase it? Do you know someone who has become overworked? Share your stories in the comments.

By Sandy Smith



Sandy Smith is a veteran freelance writer, editor and public relations professional who lives in Philadelphia. Besides blogging for PhillyJobs.com, he has written for numerous publications and websites, would be happy to do your resume, and is himself actively seeking career opportunities on Beyond.com. Check out his LinkedIn profile and read his other posts on PhillyJobsBlog.com.

The Unemployed Now Have a Union- And It's Catching On

Are you unemployed or underemployed? If so, there is a new union organization that is being formed to help people who have lost their jobs ban together to make changes and find adequate employment. The Union of the Unemployed, or Ucubed was started as a community service project by the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers ( IAM ). According to their website, Ucubed mission is-

It brings people together – the unemployed and underemployed alike – to build a community of Jobs Activists who will create local networks, support one another and help get America back to work.

The idea is that if everyone who is unemployed joins together, they can affect national change. Congress may be able to ignore jobless individuals, but it is much more difficult to ignore a group that is advocating change. By lobbying for issues like job creation, more reasonable COBRA benefits, unemployment insurance and increased food stamp benefits, the group can better have their voice heard.

How the union works is that when someone joins, they are given a list of other members in their zip code. 6 people in a zip code or area form a Ucube. 9 Ucubes for a neighborhood. Just 3 neighborhood Ucubes form a group of 162 people with a voice that is harder to ignore. On both the Ucube level and neighborhood level, the groups are self managed and elect their own leadership. According to their site-

Jobs Activists, organized by their zip codes, advocate for sound public policy, emailing public officials to alert them about policies that directly impact the jobless. And to help ease the burden of being unemployed, they receive steep discounts and rebate dollars when shopping the Machinists Mall.

Job Activists come from all walks of life, all corners of this country and all sectors of our economy. This Grave Recession has harmed us all – salary and hourly, manufacturing and construction, finance and service, union and non-union, college educated and high school dropouts, inner city and suburban residents. And only by working together can we end this economic turmoil.

The idea is unique, and has already received the support of the AFL-CIO and many of the prominent Unions. If fact, most worker's unions have begun encouraging their members who have lost their jobs to join Ucubed. It is vital for organized labor to show solidarity to those who haven't been able to earn a paycheck. The truth is that both the organized workers and the unemployed are working for the same team. Worker's rights benefit both groups. And when the economy recovers, and new jobs are created, the unions want the new workforce to have a good feeling about organized labor.

Even for people who do not want to join a union, the website and the group provide support and encouragement to unemployed people. The website attracts over 19,000 viewers a month and offers a place where people can share their unemployment stories and give each other advice and emotional support. It is an innovative idea and one worth watching.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a freelance writer and regular contributor to several websites and other publications, a volunteer, a full time mom and an active job seeker.

The Laid-Off Life: Being The Change You Wish To See

"Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations." – Edward de Bono

I have a friend (yes, I know, insert-joke-here). Let’s call her 'Betty'. Betty is not like us. Betty has a job. A good job. A good job in a fairly interesting industry where she doesn’t have to weld widgets or scoop up horse poop. She gets a paycheck every two weeks, not enough to make her rich, but she’s doing okay, thankyouverymuch. She has nice benefits and nice coworkers and a nice office. Betty’s job is awesome.

Except she hates it.

"I haven't been happy here for some time," Betty told me. "Aside from organizational issues, I feel that I'm not using all of my skills, have become detached from my industry, and can't [do work] that meets my standards. And mentally, it's bringing me down. I don't want to compromise my work ethic b/c I am so unhappy. I know I should be grateful to even have a job, but what good is a job that doesn't get the job done?"

In a nutshell, there’s the issue. In this most-trying of economic and employment times, we are trained to believe – no, we inherently believe – that the simple fact of having a job when others don’t should make us happy. "It could be worse", we tell ourselves. "At least I have a job. Who am I to complain?" I would imagine that every employed person in America knows at least one, and most likely several, people that are unemployed. Family, friends, until-recently-co-workers. They most likely have been avoiding an axe themselves, and may not even know it. And they probably have been privy to a conversation that goes something like this:

Employed person: "I hate my job."
Unemployed person: "At least you have a job, so stop complaining."

But the simple truth, as the truth often is, is that no, you shouldn’t be just happy having a job, even in the times in which we live, if that job is making you miserable. Now, I’m not condoning walking in to your boss’ office, handing in your resignation letter and telling him off (though that may make you feel a-whole-lot better). You’re going to need things like health insurance and retirement contributions and, you know, money for rent-and-groceries. And telling boss-man "You suck" probably won’t get you okayed for unemployment compensation. So, keep your job, but start looking for a new one. Immediately, if not sooner. Don’t be content, don’t be satisfied, don’t be miserable. There is no rule that says you can’t look for a new job if you already have a current one.

I’m not gonna lie, it won’t be easy. Just look at your friends who are unemployed; the job market sucks, jobs openings are still sparse, and the near future isn’t looking rosy quite yet. And you, currently-employed-person, will have your own special limitations:

Time is the big one. Working a full-time 9-5 job (anyone work those hours anymore? What would they call that movie nowadays?) is a hindrance to full-time job hunting. You work an 8-, 9-, 10-hour day at the office, and then expect to spend another 2-to-3 hours a night searching for a new job. And if you do get an interview, a) good for you!, and b) that’s gonna be some long lunch hour to get to an interview, partake, and get back to the office. How many times are you going to get away with that one? Time management better be top of your 'positive job qualities' list.

Secondly, you best also be a very stealthy, private person because the last person you want to find out that you’re job hunting is your current boss. Good luck explaining that one. I don’t have a lot of tips for that except be really freaking careful. Stay away from blind-box job listings that don’t tell you the name of the company. You’d be amazed how often the job turns out to be at your current company, or worse, turns out to be your job. Leave anyone at your office off your recommendations and references lists. Sounds like a no-brainer, but that’s the easiest way to get found out. Don't search for jobs while you're at work; you never know who's looking over your virtual shoulder. Make sure, if asked, you indicate that it is not ok to contact your current employer. And in your social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs – do not (NOT!) mention your job hunt and be careful with whom you discuss it: you never know who’s talking to whom.

And your primary stumbling block may actually be a potential employer. No matter why you’re looking for new work, no matter how horrible your current job is, no matter how dire your straits, a potential new boss may have a preconceived idea about you: you aren’t loyal. If he can leave that company in a lerch, he can do the same thing here. There’s a lot of time and money to be made and spent in hiring a new employee, and they want to know you’re around for the long haul. That’s a first impression you’re just going to have to accept. But this is the real world, and a potential employer will hopefully know that. People get tired, people get unhappy, people get disillusioned, people want more money and better opportunities, and a good boss will understand. Just be wary of the question you will most certainly get asked: “Why do you want to leave your current position?” Be joyous, don't be a jackass. No potential employer wants to hear you bash your current one. Speak well of your company, and your job. Say you just need a change, say you are looking for a better opportunity to move up, say you couldn’t pass up a chance to work at Wayne Enterprises or Mom’s Friendly Robot Company. Tell them you’re a better fit with them, but do not indicate you dislike, much less hate, your current job.

So, back to our friend Betty. Betty has a friend, let’s call her 'Veronica'. Veronica worked with Betty and had the same problems with the company that Betty did. And Veronica got out, got a better job elsewhere and is much happier. Betty and Veronica aren’t whiny and ungrateful. When employees aren’t happy, it’s usually something that permeates an entire office, at least on the rank-and-file level. There is rarely just one miserable employee. When it pervades a significant segment of the proletariat, the blame often falls upon the company, the supervisors, and the big boss. And it is a plague in this country: employers completely out-of-touch with the collective mood of the employees. And if they don’t know, nothing will change.

If I asked Betty and Veronica’s bosses, I would bet drachmas-to-doughnuts that they wouldn’t have a clue that their people were disgruntled. So why the disconnect? Happy workers produce more and this reflects well on their manager; unhappy workers make for low productivity and this reflects badly on the manager. This would lead you to believe managers want happy employees, right? You’d think it would be easy to tell if an employee was happy. So managers, tell me this... Do your charges look happy? Are they smiling? Are they happily absorbed in their work, sitting up straight, or are they hanging all over their desks? When they speak in meetings, are they animated or indolent? Do they welcome a challenge or shy away? Are workers unwilling to undertake new or difficult tasks? When telling them about things that are going on in the company, are they interested? Does everyone stop talking when you enter the room? Perhaps you are the problem.

Raises, bonuses, vacation days, 401(k)’s, and other incentive programs have been slashed, and employees with additional workloads for no increase in pay are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their current position, or just plain burnt out. And a manager may be so engulfed in crunching numbers or writing TPS reports or trying to keep their own job, they may not have a clue about the overwhelming gloom. Bad management can make a good employee dysfunctional. So why then don’t they see it? I would venture to say that it’s a combination of a boss whose eyes are closed to the problem and employees afraid to speak up about it in fear of losing their job.

So, maybe you are like Betty and Veronica. You’re underpaid and/or overworked. You’re no longer using your skills to the best of your ability. Your boss is an unreasonable taskmaster, or worse, absent. Your company discourages change and is happy with 'how we've always done it'. Co-workers are promoted over you. Office politics are making you not want to get out of bed in the morning. Your job is ill-defined. Your industry is passing you by. You just don’t fit anymore. You’ve outgrown your position. Promises are not being kept. You live in fear of your boss. You go home every night and cry into your pillow, complain to your cat how much you hate your job, and consider every day just not showing up for work.

My advice to Betty, and to you: If your job is making you miserable, don’t stay. Don’t worry about parochial guilt about being happy with what you have because others have it worse. Don’t be satisfied with the less-green grass. Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. workforce is underemployed; stop being a statistic. Start looking for that new, better position rightnow. Because if you don’t search, you will not find. And you will have made your bed, slept in it, and made it again. Every day. Workplace suicides are up nearly 30 percent since the downturn began. Workplace depression is an epidemic in this country today, and it’s a disease you can cure yourself. The cure? Get out. Get down off the horse and join us here in the poop. We’re here to help. Start slow, start smart, but for chrissakes start.

And the last thing you ever want to tell yourself is, "Wow, why didn’t I do this sooner?"

Michael Hochman
LaidOffLife@yahoo.com ◙ Laid-Off Life on Twitter ◙ Laid-Off Life on Facebook

Michael is a Copywriter, Creative Marketer, and Broadcasting Professional still in search of full-time employment after 12 months of full-time job hunting, thanks to an "involuntary career sabbatical". A Philly native and Syracuse graduate, Michael will gladly accept any job offer you may have for him. Any. Really. Please give me a job??

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"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar." - Drew Carey

The Laid-Off Life: Year One

”Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” – Seneca the Younger, Roman philosopher (co-opted by Semisonic)

It’s July Fourth Weekend. Around the country, people are enjoying the extra day off, a Monday that’s not a 'Monday', hitting the shore to walk the boards, setting up the backyard barbecues, and celebrating the independence of our nation by blowing up a small part of it. For me, it’s just another day off in a long line of days off. July 4th, September 22nd, February 18th. They’re all 'days off'.

But there is one holiday I am "celebrating". Recently, I surpassed my anniversary of one year since my layoff. No party, no fireworks, but plenty of self-reflection and introspection. But I did mark the date by watching the movie "Up in the Air". There’s a film that will make your unemployment depression take a whole new spiral. One line in the movie, about being fired and how people react to it among many other themes, hit me. It says,

"Commonly, it takes one month of searching for every$10,000 you expect to earn in salary."

So, if I’ve been looking for a year, I should be making $120,000 when I get a job? That reflexivity is certainly suspect, but I sure hope that the original statement is just as dubious. I did some research to verify this, and found nothing but articles stating it as a myth. Ted and Nicholas Griffin wrote that script in 2003, so even were it true, that statistic is from a different economic time. Today, maybe now it’s for every two months? Three?

Richard Bolles, the author of "What Color is Your Parachute?" (the clear homage by George Clooney’s character’s "What’s In Your Backpack" speech), says:

"People adopt unrealistic guesstimates about how long their job hunt is going to take. We should expect that our job-hunt may take months, but if we persevere, we will find a job."

Easy to say, hard to accept. So many times it seems fruitless, so many days it seems futile, so often it seems pointless. A poll from January of 2008, during the beginning of the unemployment boom, stated that nearly a quarter of the newly-unemployed thought their job search would take over a year. I wonder now how accurate these people’s predictions came to be. A quick Internet search reveals thousands of stories of people laid-off and unemployed for a year or longer. If you are like me, if you are like these people, try not to get discouraged. Lack of success in your search can take a toll as your time looking extends much longer than you originally thought. You may start to question your skills and abilities, and whether you will ever again find a job in your field. Try to stay positive. Resist the urge to give up. As the Ryan Bingham character said: "Anyone who ever built an empire or changed the world sat where you're sitting right now, and it's because they sat there that they were able to do it". As with any emotional condition from alcoholism to depression to anorexia, remember one important thing:

You are not alone.

The unemployment rate rose for 19 months after the 9/11 downturn, and for 15 months after the 1990 recession, and this go-round is no better. As of May 2010, 15 million Americans were unemployed. Another 9 million more are employed part-time, looking for full-time work. That’s 24 million of your fellow citizens that are not employed full-time and wish to be. On top of that, about 30 million Americans are considered underemployed ("workers with high skill levels in low-wage jobs that do not require such abilities, 'involuntary part-time' workers who would like to be working for a full work-week, or 'overstaffed' workers who are not fully occupied"). That doesn’t even include the million that are 'marginally attached' to work, meaning they are not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.

Do the math: The American workforce counts almost 156 million people, 51 percent of its citizens, that are currently actively working (after filtering out students, the retired, homemakers, infants, etc., and the unemployed). And by the figures above, nearly 55 million Americans are unemployed, underemployed, or working part-time wanting to be full-time (not even counting those so disillusioned they're not even looking). That’s less than a 3:1 ratio of the voluntarily gainfully employed to those competing with you on CareerBuilder (not even including those with good jobs that are looking for a better one). That’s a lot.

You are not alone.

There are now over 6 million Americans whom have been searching for a new job for over six months. That’s 40% of all job seekers actively looking for over half a year, double that of the recession in the early '80s and the largest number of 'long-term unemployed' since World War II. On average, it now takes 20½ weeks to find a new job – that’s over five months on average. By definition, half will take longer. It’s brutal out there. "It’s a real risk to the workplace," says John Challenger of Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, an outplacement firm in Chicago. "We may be creating a permanent group of people who think there are no jobs out there, who feel they are shut out of the system."

Permanently unemployed. Not unemployable – you know you’d rock a job if you had the chance – but a sense that the jobs just aren’t out there. Have you felt like that? I sure as hell have. But just like when an alcoholic first steps in to an AA meeting, it really does help to realize you are not alone. There are others just like me. My advice is not any different than that you would give someone with an addiction: talk. Talk to people in the same boat as you. Find a support group, online or in reality. Talk to a professional, whether it be a mental health counselor or a career counselor. Talk to your family and friends who, if you haven’t noticed, are going through this with you. People can offer support, reduce the stress, tell you that everything is going to be all right. As Tom Landry (boo Cowboys) said, "Today, you have 100% of your life left."

I leave you with this: My name is Michael. (Hello Michael). I am unemployed. I have been laid off for over 12 months. Sorry, I mean over a year. Saying ‘months’ minimizes the impact of 'year'. I have been laid off for over a year. Millions of other Americans, some more qualified than I, some less, are in the same position I am. But one thing I am not is alone. And neither are you. And together, we’ll make it through. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

And when you get a job, even if I have not yet, I’ll be there to celebrate with you. We’ll have a party. Maybe down the shore. On a holiday weekend. Even if it’s winter.



Michael Hochman
LaidOffLife@yahoo.com ◙ Laid-Off Life on Twitter ◙ Laid-Off Life on Facebook

Michael is a Copywriter, Creative Marketer, and Broadcasting Professional still in search of full-time employment after 12 months of full-time job hunting, thanks to an “involuntary career sabbatical”. A Philly native and Syracuse graduate, Michael will gladly accept any job offer you may have for him. Any. Really. Please give me a job??

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"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar." - Drew Carey