RedBalloon CEO Andrew Crapuchettes keeps track of workplace trends to better serve his clients. Crapuchettes created RedBalloon to help employers in what he refers to as the “courageous economy.” Businesses that post openings on his site must take an employer pledge, which reads:
By registering for RedBalloon’s Job Board and/or Marketplace services, you as an employer commit to neither discriminate against your employees’ personal beliefs, infringe on their constitutional rights, or invade their medical privacy. Thank you for standing for freedom – for your business, for your employees, and for America.
In practice, RedBalloon helps employers who want to win in the marketplace instead of playing politics find employees who align with that vision. Crapuchettes says that the freedom economy made significant strides in 2022, with new companies entering the market or being more explicit about their values. Moving into 2023, he believes this trend will continue as part of a “big sort” that touches several aspects of people’s lives.
Crapuchettes says worker dissatisfaction is one driving factor for his prediction that Americans will be able to seek opportunities to live and work in communities where people share their values this year. He points to Gallup’s 2022 State of the Global Workforce report that shows 60% of employees feel dissatisfied at work. This includes just 33% of workers in the region made up of America and Canada who are engaged at their current job.
Another factor is the persistent shortage of workers. “According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, there are 1.7 available jobs for every available worker. This is good news for employees wanting to make a change. They are in the driver’s seat when it comes to finding a job that aligns with their values,” Crapuchettes asserted. This data was supported by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell when he recently told reporters that there is a structural problem in the labor market. About 3.5 million workers are missing from the economy.
“It’s a good time for employees who are fed up with ESG, DEI, CRT, and the alphabet soup of wokeness in their workplace to find a job that will uphold their constitutional rights,” Crapchuettes said. “I hear thousands of stories from job seekers about the soul-sucking, demoralizing DEI trainings that not only take them away from productive work but leave them uninspired, unmotivated, and depressed.”
Unfortunately, corporate spending on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives is likely to rise. Chapchuettes says that a recent Morningstar Sustainalytics survey of 556 ESG professionals found that 90% of companies already have or are developing ESG practices. International Data Corporation also estimates that companies intend to increase spending on ESG business services to $158 billion by 2025.
Americans are also on the move. Between 2020 and 2021, Los Angeles lost over 40,000 people, Chicago lost over 45,000, and New York City lost over 300,000, according to the Census Bureau. Pew Research reports that New York, Illinois, Hawaii, and California saw the largest population declines in 2021, and those losses were driven by people moving away. According to the Gallup survey, 20% of Americans plan to relocate in the next year, including almost 30% of people under 40. Over 70% also feel it is a good time to find a job.
Companies like Tesla, Boeing, and Citadel are relocating to find more favorable business climates, and 90% of tech companies are reporting a return to remote work to cut costs, according to Crapuchettes. He adds that all of these trends together could mean 2023 is the perfect year for freedom-minded employees to leverage a persistent worker shortage to live and work in places that share their values. So polish up your resume. 2023 might just be the year you escape the woke workplace.
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