Would You Take A 25% Pay Cut To Be Able To Continue Working From Home?
We talked about this on the morning show.... When the Pandemic began last year and I was still living in the Chicago area, I made the decision to work from home because I deal with asthma and heart related issues. I was grateful to the company for letting each employee decide their own comfort level and whether or not you wanted to be in the building--it was your own personal choice. Some say it was irresponsible of them and they should have made the choice for us and closed the offices and studios and sent everyone home. A lot of radio people WERE sent home to work from makeshift bedroom studios with microphones and laptops with the necessary software. And for about 5 weeks-I was one of those people. Until the Covid Axe came swinging upon 12 of us, due to lack of revenue from advertisers pulling ads from the air since the world shut down.
I had never experienced anything like that before-I've been in radio 32 years this year and haven't ever NOT been in a studio to do my job on a daily basis. There were some cons as we didn't have direct control over the on-air system and what it was playing at any given moment-as our software was an antiquated operating system from 2001, not designed to be so tech-savvy. You wouldn't think a group of Chicago stations would operate that way being a big city and major market-but alas it was in fact true they were.
I was able to run the morning show as best I could from the laptop at home, but because of the limitations on the equipment there had to be someone in the studio as well making sure everything ran on time. But I will say that working from home was a great experience. And not just because you get to stay in your pajamas all day (some people still got up and got dressed, as if they were going in to the office--just to stay in the right frame of mind). But it had it's perks. But--I didn't do it for an extended period of time. Five weeks is hardly ample time to form a real opinion on something like this.
I know there are folks who STILL haven't gone back into an office--a year and half into this whole debacle. THOSE are the people I'd love to hear from. Comment below or message me HERE and tell me how you're liking it. And if they made you go back to the office or gave you the choice of taking a 25% pay cut to be able to stay home--which would you choose?