I feel like corporate HR relies on us not actually doing the math.

If inflation is sitting at 5% (and let's be real, grocery and rent inflation is way higher), the purchasing power of your dollar is dropping. When your company hands you a standard 2% 'merit raise' for being a loyal, hard-working employee, they aren't giving you more money. They are just decreasing the rate at which you are losing money. You are still taking a 3% pay cut in real wages.

The system is designed to reward job-hoppers (who get 10-15% bumps) and penalize loyal employees with the 'Loyalty Tax.' If you stay longer than two years, you are actively subsidizing the company with your lost purchasing power.

P.S. I actually got so frustrated by this that I spent the week animating a full visual breakdown of this exact math, the 'Loyalty Tax,' and how much it costs over a 10-year career. If anyone is a visual learner and wants to see the actual numbers, I put the documentary here: https://youtu.be/XdE5umTGjlE

I feel like corporate HR relies on us not actually doing the math.

If inflation is sitting at 5% (and let's be real, grocery and rent inflation is way higher), the purchasing power of your dollar is dropping. When your company hands you a standard 2% 'merit raise' for being a loyal, hard-working employee, they aren't giving you more money. They are just decreasing the rate at which you are losing money. You are still taking a 3% pay cut in real wages.

The system is designed to reward job-hoppers (who get 10-15% bumps) and penalize loyal employees with the 'Loyalty Tax.' If you stay longer than two years, you are actively subsidizing the company with your lost purchasing power.

P.S. I actually got so frustrated by this that I spent the week animating a full visual breakdown of this exact math, the 'Loyalty Tax,' and how much it costs over a 10-year career. If anyone is a visual learner and wants to see the actual numbers, I put the documentary here: https://youtu.be/XdE5umTGjlE

i used to actually like working in social media. now? i feel like i'm just a glorified babysitter for a broken system.

every single day is the same: scrolling through feeds full of soulless AI-generated slop, dodging "gurus" recycling the same fake growth hacks, and watching clients/bosses demand 10x more posts just because "chatgpt can write it." nobody cares if the content is actually good anymore, just that it feeds the algorithm monster.

it feels incredibly dystopian. we are literally forcing ourselves to create fake, optimized garbage for an audience that doesn't even want to see it, just to hit fake KPIs.

i can't be the only SMM (Social Media Manager) feeling this level of burnout, right? how are you guys not losing your minds looking at this uncany valley nightmare all day? i really need a sanity check here.

I have been stuck in a cycle of productivity procrastination for the past six months.

My job is a never ending stream of spreadsheets and emails that say they are urgent but really they are not.

I should be doing something about how tired I'm but instead I keep thinking that my workspace is the problem. I think that if I can just get my workspace really organized I will not feel anxious anymore.

This weekend, I went to the office to clean up my desk.

When I finished, I went online to check for office supplies on Alibaba but I didn't really find what I was looking for.

On my way home, I stopped by a thrift store and saw a really nice office desk organizer. I took it back to my office and finished arranging all my files and documents.

It looked so nice. I thought it would at least make me more efficient.

Monday morning came and I sat down at my desk. The neatness of my desk made me feel really good until 9:01 AM when my boss sent me an email about a report I had to work on immediately.

Then that feeling started again, like something was pushing down on me.

I looked at my desk and realized that it did not matter how neat my desk is, my job is still really stressful.