Post-covid economics: The great resignation, remote work, & musical chairs

[Sheilbh]

Having to comply with laws? What happened to liberty?

That is more or less what some American clients say when they get the bad news.

My favourite from a European perspective was informing them that privacy law and rights apply to employees in Europe, not just consumers

[crazy canuck]

Having to comply with laws? What happened to liberty?

That is more or less what some American clients say when they get the bad news.

My favourite from a European perspective was informing them that privacy law and rights apply to employees in Europe, not just consumers

Yeah, good for business 

[Sheilbh]

Unexpected bit of post-covid economics (I used bookshop.org and strongly recommend) but is this first straw of the potential from covid - that collapsing rents would destroy the identikit chain stores and allow a flourishing of local small businesses. Bookstores here but also suburban cafes replacing Prets for WFHers, plant shops etc (two have opened near me, I assume, to support my apparently insatiable demand for houseplants) etc

As the Economy Tanked, Brits Opened Bookstores
Cheaper rent is helping local shops, which are banding together to fight Amazon.
12 October 2021, 05:01 BST

Rachel Thomas at Parade's End.  PHOTOGRAPHER: ROMILLY LOCKYER FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK

Rachel Thomas had long dreamed of owning a bookshop, perhaps once she retired from her job as a project manager. She might then have the time and money to open a storefront brimming with the latest titles from authors she loves, and to share them with local readers. She never expected that the right moment would come during a global pandemic in which shoppers barely dared to venture beyond the kitchen or couch.

But since Thomas opened Parade's End in southwest London last November, she has discovered the benefits: grateful customers and a good deal on her lease. "I wasn't sure I'd make any money in the first year; I thought I'd be operating at a loss," Thomas says. "Despite Covid, I broke even, and that's definitely thanks to the local people."

Contrary to all expectations, the past two years have seen a slew of bookstore openings in the U.K. and Ireland. Even with the disruptions of lockdowns and ongoing pressure from Amazon.com Inc., mass retailers, and e-books, 77 independent shops joined the Booksellers Association trade group last year, and 35 more did so in the first eight months of 2021. Today, Britain has more independent bookstores than it has since 2013, according to the BA.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic put millions Britons out of work, growing numbers of entrepreneurs were willing to bet that they could still find enough people to step inside a nearby store and pay a bit extra to get the book they want. "When everything shut down, we were still keen to go ahead, because we thought it'd all be over in a couple of months," says Laura Iveson, who cofounded Darling Reads in West Yorkshire in 2020. "The pandemic has made people realize that if they don't support their local shops, the shops won't survive."

One key to surviving the past year's restrictions on retailers has been a web presence for what has traditionally been a hyperlocal business. Sarah Frame was dismayed when Scotland went into lockdown in December, just eight days after she opened the Book Nook in Stewarton, near Glasgow. Wary of the cost of building a website and managing the stock to supply it, she turned to Bookshop.org, a company that aims to help independent stores fight back against the likes of Amazon. "When I had no money coming into the bookshop, I really couldn't justify the cost of investing and creating a fully online offering," Frame says.


FrameSOURCE: COURTESY OF SARAH FRAME

The site, which started in early 2020, is certified as a "B Corporation," a designation that indicates a strong commitment to social sustainability. Shop owners can have their own storefronts on the site, where they create lists of recommendations, much as they might feature books on tables in a physical shop. Bookshop.org takes care of the warehousing, shipping, and payments, and a store gets a 30% cut of sales made through its page. Ten percent of the cover price from any sales that aren't linked to a particular store get put into a pot and distributed to member shops: more than £1.6 million ($2.2 million) in Britain, where 480 stores have signed up to the site, and $16 million to the site's 1,209 U.S. outlets. "We are hoping to be as convenient as Amazon," says Nicole Vanderbilt, U.K. managing director for Bookshop.org. "But we are offering something fundamentally different in the form of knowing that you're supporting independent bookshops."

As vaccinations progress and the economy reopens, Bookshop.org heralds what could be a new phase for independent book retailing, giving even the tiniest shops a path to compete online with the almost limitless range of titles available on Amazon. And the U.K. Booksellers Association is working with the site to encourage diversity in bookshop ownership via a program that provides mentorship and support to people from underrepresented communities who want to open stores.

"Every time we've had a reopening from the pandemic, we've seen a commitment of bookshop customers to shop locally," says Meryl Halls, the association's managing director. "What we really want to see is bookshops appearing in places where there are no bookshops now. We want it to feel like an industry that's open to everyone."

[Tamas]

It is very pro-global warming to buy paper books instead of digital

[Josquius]

I like book shops and all. Trouble is the ones I like don't really exist anymore. Second hand book shops where massive bargains can be found. It used to be a highlight of holidays to trawl the bookshops for £1 1973 editions of pulp Sci fi classics I hadn't read yet.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I like book shops and all. Trouble is the ones I like don't really exist anymore. Second hand book shops where massive bargains can be found. It used to be a highlight of holidays to trawl the bookshops for £1 1973 editions of pulp Sci fi classics I hadn't read yet.

That and the discount for buying used isn't that great.   Its often 50-75% of the cover price, and since the newer books are expensive, there isn't much reason to get a beat up older one. 

[viper37]

Wise move, the number of employers who are shocked to learn they need to comply with the laws in which their remote working employee resides is fairly high.

So, if Microsoft employs someone working remotely from Quebec attached to their head office in Washington State, on the 24th of June and 1st of July, he will get the day off, but he will work alone on the 4th of July?

Interesting to know.

[viper37]

It is very pro-global warming to buy paper books instead of digital

Data center contribute a lot to global warming.  We should stop reading instead, better for the environment.  There were no such thing as global warming before writing was invented

[Caliga]

At my company, we return to the office on Monday.

One of my full-time consultants is absolutely refusing to return in-person (he's based in Chicago), and I was thinking I was going to have to fire him, but I found out this afternoon we would make an exception for him, so that's good at least.

[HisMajestyBOB]

I like book shops and all. Trouble is the ones I like don't really exist anymore. Second hand book shops where massive bargains can be found. It used to be a highlight of holidays to trawl the bookshops for £1 1973 editions of pulp Sci fi classics I hadn't read yet.

I need a second hand book shop that sells me the time to read a book, rather than another book to add to the endlessly growing reading list.

[The Brain]

I like book shops and all. Trouble is the ones I like don't really exist anymore. Second hand book shops where massive bargains can be found. It used to be a highlight of holidays to trawl the bookshops for £1 1973 editions of pulp Sci fi classics I hadn't read yet.

I need a second hand book shop that sells me the time to read a book, rather than another book to add to the endlessly growing reading list.

You want to borrow a feeling too?

[Josquius]

This is an old article which is all over the place.
But thought it interesting it talks of many of the things I said eons ago were where smart money would go actually coming to pass. Particularly interesting to read about the near work phenomena. Will have to check up more on that.

https://www.ft.com/content/7db6dbe2-5ac5-4e08-9ec5-f72f0bc1f5aa

Also ever more convinced the whole thing is a practical joke the gods are pulling on me. Giving this perfect work world now when I am not flexible on location rather than 6 years ago when I could have really used it.

[Sheilbh]

Interesting stat I'd not seen before - record high of almost 1 million people resigning/quitting to new jobs over the summer in the UK, that stat includes dismissals/firings but is apparently overwhelmingly driven by people actively quitting

(I changed job in the survey period so....it follows...)

[Iormlund]

My buddy who has been WFH (and loving it) since the pandemic hit is going to get himself fired, I think.

He' a project manager so he spends his day in conf-calls with people all over Europe. No real necessity to come to the office to do that. But other managers are whispering in the General Manager's ear that he's getting "out of touch" with the factory (as if they actually came out of their offices and meeting rooms), not capable/willing to do his job, etc.

[Josquius]

Surely if you're in meetings every day that's the perfect defence about not doing anything?
It's the meetingless days I worry.