For workers, the past two years have been a whirlwind — and a fundamental reexamining of what work means.
And 2022, in particular, has been marked by several workplace trends that demonstrate how people are feeling about their jobs. "Quiet quitting," "acting your wage," having a "silly little job," and treating your personal life as a full-time job fascinated Insider readers.
It goes back to 2020, when the low-wage work that became increasingly dominant in the wake of the Great Recession was suddenly rebranded. The in-person workers who kept grocery stores and warehouses running were "essential" "heroes." But as the pandemic dragged on, meager pay increases didn't.
At the same time, laid-off workers — some of whom saw work as intrinsic to their own identities — were flung out of the workplace. Expanded unemployment benefits meant that some jobless Americans received higher and more steady incomes than they ever had before.
Once vaccines became widely available, Americans were ready for a rethink of work, even if the workplace wasn't ready for them. The result over the past year and a half has been workers quitting at near-record rates, unionizing across previously untouched industries, and redefining the role work plays in their lives.
Insider has spoken to Americans as they rethink work, grapple with structural barriers to doing better, and push for better. All of their perspectives — from those acting their wage to younger workers shaking up workplace norms – show an appetite for a workplace changed by and for workers.