A theory: The pandemic has changed how Americans view work, and it’s one of the contributing factors to the ongoing labor shortage.

Granted, this is just my theory. Whether you agree or disagree, I’ll leave it up to you.

I started thinking about this after seeing a few different articles on the web over the last few weeks.

First, I saw an NPR article titled “Why are so many Americans quitting their jobs?” looking for answers as to why 4.3 million Americans left their jobs in August, a move dubbed “The Great Resignation.”

Then, I saw a recent post from the Jim Banks-led Republican Study Committee about how President Joe Biden is solely to blame for the labor shortage, supply chain issues, hereditary baldness, snowstorms and candy corn and continues to argue that unemployment benefits are one of the reasons for the labor shortage, despite the fact that Indiana’s labor force is 47,000 Hoosiers bigger than it was before the pandemic.

Last, there was a post from The New York Times advice column titled “The 40-Hour Work Week Is, in Fact, Life,” in which a 27-year-old wrote bemoaning the standard U.S. workweek and the problems it causes in work-life balance. They talked about quitting their job and taking on an “artist lifestyle” and trying to make life work on their own terms.

I pondered these things as I was sitting on my couch last week finishing up pages for the next day’s newspaper at 8:30 p.m., about 12 hours after I started working that morning (with a break in the evening to hit Walmart and cram dinner into my face).

And maybe it’s my Millennial generation bias showing through, but I’m coming more and more to believe that, at least in some sectors, the problem of a labor shortage has less to do with laborers and more to do with employers.

I think last year’s experience opened a lot of people’s eyes to the fact that the work status quo was/is something rotten, and that they actually have a lot more agency to improve their lot than maybe they previously realized.

How did this happen? It’s pretty simple. It sent a lot of people home, a place where most Americans don’t get to spend a lot of time.

Whether laid off, working from home or forced to remain in the house due to school or child care issues, Americans found themselves more often within their own four walls with their families.

And, my guess — they liked it.

While I never was fully working from home during the pandemic, I experienced this in 2020, when I suffered three (3) separate two-week COVID-19 quarantines. Twice was because Luke was exposed at school, and daycare wouldn’t take him back for two weeks, and once was because my wife tested positive for COVID.

Back then, Luke required much more active attention, meaning that I really couldn’t get any work done during the day except for when he was occupied by eating his breakfast in the morning and when he was down for his nap in the afternoon.

Instead of working eight-hour days, honestly I was working four to five-hour days, as well as some time late at night after Luke went to bed.

While there were some things I was unable to do from home like attend public meetings, ultimately, I was able to complete all of my job duties and do it in a compressed time frame. Cut out of my day were constant disruptions, office chatter and a myriad of other things that break my daily productivity.

Ask yourself, in a 40-hour work week, how much of that time are you actually productive? How much of that workweek is spent “at work” but you’re not actually accomplishing anything?

And how many of you out there are working more than 40 hours a week? Fifty hours? Sixty? Maybe you’re making bank, but what’s the opportunity cost of spending all that time toiling?

So, back to my theory, I believe that the pandemic and the disruption it caused in “normal” work helped many people see something we pretty much all know — working stinks.

Even if you’re one of those people who purports to love their jobs, let’s face it, wouldn’t you rather be doing something else during the day? Sleeping in a bit? Catching a movie? Going out for a walk? Cooking a nice dinner for your family?

In an average day, I might get four hours of family time and eight hours of sleep, as compared to 12 hours of prepping for work, commuting to and from work and working.

And if I have to stay late for a 7 p.m. Kendallville City Council meeting? Well, I’m lucky if I get 90 minutes with my kid that entire day before he has to go to bed.

That stinks. Period.

I spend weekends cutting grass, grocery shopping, cleaning up around the house — all of the chores I don’t have time to do during the week.

Is my work-life balance out of whack? Absolutely. Same as most people, I think.

And I think many Americans have woken up to that since 2020. And maybe they’re making a change in their life now. Or maybe that second person in the household is no longer working. Or maybe they’ve started to push back against their employers to strike a better balance or better working conditions or better pay for their labor.

Many workplaces have evolved to expect more work from less people. That’s great capitalism on the revenue vs. expenses balance sheet, but it’s also destructive toward the workforce. It’s burden leading to burnout.

In pursuit of productivity and profits, I suspect America has long been truly short on labor.

Now, as workers are reevaluating post-pandemic what’s important to them and more often finding out there’s much more to life than labor, those cracks are starting to become more and more apparent.

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Is my work-life balance out of whack? Absolutely. Same as most people, I think.”