It's Wednesday, March six. I'm Oscar Ramires from the Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. The workplace has gone through drastic changes as a result of the pandemic, and even attitudes about work have changed. With more job openings than people looking for work, Employees feel like they have all the power. But how long can that last? Test Viglin, host of the new Wall Street Journal podcast As We Work, joins us to talk
about the changing dynamics of the workplace. Thanks for joining us. Tests delighted to be here, Oscar. Well the new podcast. I'm really enjoying it right now. I've had the pleasure of having a lot of your guests and fellow Wall Street Journal journalists there on my podcast to talk about
all this stuff. The pandemic came and disrupted all our lives in a number of different ways, especially with the way we work, our attitudes towards work, and it's been one of the most interesting things that I have just been covering as part of my podcast. So the new podcast As We Work tell us a little bit about it overall, and then we'll get into uh some of the episodes, because there's two episodes out so far, so just give us an overview of what we can expect
on the podcast. So it's really kind of what you've just been talking about, which is that there has been this sea change in not just how we work, but even how we feel about work itself. Right, I mean, you have millions of people who basically up and left their jobs over the last year year and a half, the quits rate reached a record and that has to tell you something about what the pandemic did too, really prompt people to take another look at their lives and
the role that work was playing in it. And so that's really our main focus question for the podcast is how has the role of work changed in our lives and how has that changed in the workplace, How has it changed between us and our colleagues, between us and our bosses. That there's almost nothing about our workplaces and our work lives that did not change over the last two years. So that's we're delving deep into all kinds of issues surrounding that, and it's you know, it's so important.
Right when the pandemic first hit and we were going into lockdowns and everybody was very scared, nobody really knew what was happening. And on the work side of things, it did two things. It really made us reevaluate that work life balance. Life became so much more important than work because we were scared of getting sick and dying and things. And then the other part of it, for a lot of people, not everyone, right, we always have
to put that caveat on there. We were able to prove that we could do remote work, we could make that sharp right turn and do it all of it from work, and that's where a lot of people really said, well,
this is what I want to do going forward. So getting into the first two episodes that have been out so far, the first episode really deals with kind of this overall changes at work, and one of the things you talked about was this power dynam You know, there's countless articles that say the workers have all the power right now, that's why they're quitting, that's why they're demanding remote work, all that stuff. The question is how long will that last though, because maybe this is a sea
change in attitudes, but will that last forever? I think that is the key question that everyone is looking at right now, both employees and employers and you know, governments. That's policies where we are in completely uncharted territory here and so right now, yes, workers are completely feeling their oats. They saved some money perhaps over the span of the pandemic by not commuting, not having lunches, you know that to go out. They perhaps were able to save some
of the stimulus money. And so you have that aspect of it. And then you know, as you said, people really taking a look at their life and their work and where those two intersect. And so with the workers feeling their oats, they're feeling like they have more options now the type job market, there are more jobs than people to fill them. But if the economy turns around and starts doing not quite as well and employers start having you know, the market to themselves, then we possibly
could see a change. So that really, as you said, the really big question is how long this is going to last. How long will workers be feeling more powerful, how long will the economy allow them to do so? And at some point, how long will we have the memories of the pandemic with us. Ultimately, after trauma, things do start to subside. So will we start thinking back to the olden days of two years ago when we just did everything that our employers told us to. So, yeah,
it's a it's an open question. I think it's going to be a fascinating thing to follow. I agree definitely. The second episode focused on salary transparency and how the paper performance model is a little more of a myth going on right now. Everything has changed. And the question I had based off of that was paid transparency does seem like a really good notion. Let's know what our colleagues are being paid, so we all are feel appreciated.
I guess that's part of the episode two. You know how closely we associated with ourselves with our salary and feel good about that, But it could also have the potential to, you know, make others feel bad that they don't because much. And and my question is is that something that's going to cause an employer to all of a sudden bump everybody's pay up. I don't think that would happen, you know. So it's it's a difficult another
another difficult thing to tackle there in the workplace. It is absolutely and this is something that I think a lot of employers are struggling with right now, in part because there are several cities and states that are mandating some form of paid transparency in New York and may employers there are going to have to give a full range of salaries and job listenings. And so, yes, for one thing, this is not a subject that in general Americans talk about, right, we don't talk about money at all,
and we certainly don't share what we're paid. The only time I remember talking about money was back, you know, in the late two thousand's before the housing crash, and everybody talked about what their house is worth. But beyond that, with just this is like a remoting topic. But there is a generation coming up, gen Z millennials who have a bit of a different notion about this. Some of them are literally going on social media and saying this
is what I make. I want you to know this for either if you want my job after I leave it, or be like if you work with me, I want you to know what this is so that there is some equity involved, so that people of color can have some measure of equality, so that women can have some
measure of equality. So yes, it's something that a lot of people don't want to happen because I don't know, do you want to tell me what you make Oscar, I do not hear that question around throughout the podcast, and either yeah, I mean so you know, we'll see if that becomes a permanent change or not. Um, it's it's hard to imagine. There's so much going on right now. As We Work is the new podcast from the Wall
Street Journal about the changing dynamics of the workplace. Test Viglin, host and senior producer for the podcast As We Work. Thank you very much for joining us, and it drops every Tuesday so everybody can check it out. Terrific. Thanks so much, Oscar. I'm Oscar roomers, and this has been reopening America. Don't forget that. For today's big news stories, you can check me out in the Daily Dive podcast Everybody Good Friday. They'll follow us and I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.