Tameside Radio's Breakfast presenter ponders whether our relationship with our jobs has changed forever as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

I've dragged my birthday out more than the current heatwave is outstaying its welcome, and have just one more celebratory meal to go this Saturday night. I've almost got my weight back to where it was a month ago too, and eaten most of the chocolate in the fridge, so it's back to my magical Skyr yoghurt and blueberries rather than naughty Dairy Milk bars again.

It's difficult to imagine at the moment when the sun is cracking the flags, but it won't be that long until we need to think about flicking the heating on, which I know is a worry for an awful lot of people. I'm a little perplexed that a man who hasn't been Prime Minister for twelve years (Gordon Brown) seems to have a better grasp of the situation than the current zombie incumbent of the position, or indeed his opposite number. The red meat policy bidding war to get Conservative members salivating and voting in the ballot is sadly overshadowing most sensible conversations and solutions, it seems to me.

Away from the cost of living crisis, I read a great piece in last weekend's Observer about "quiet quitting". It basically involves not going the extra mile for your employer and doing just enough to tick the basic boxes of your job, and no more. Apparently, far more of us are unhappy at work in the UK since the pandemic, with a Gallup poll (didn't they used to compile the Radio 1 Top 40?!) showing that a paltry nine per cent of workers were engaged or enthusiastic about their work. In fact, on the list of European countries, we rank 33rd out of 38. I'm not sure which countries are more miserable, but at least they don't have long queues at Dover to contend with, I suppose, as a consolation prize.

An NHS staff survey carried out almost a year ago showed that morale had dropped from 6.1 out of 10 to 5.8, and staff engagement is down from 7.0 to 6.8. I wonder if our relationship with our jobs has changed forever as a result of the pandemic? Many people used the time gained from losing their daily commute to look at their life choices, and I guess a lot have decided they don't want to go back to being full time in the office, away from the convenience of sticking a load of washing on between work meetings. Before you shout at me, I'm fully aware not all jobs can be done from home, but in my experience, a lot of friends are still doing at the very least a hybrid of home and office based working.

I feel very lucky to do a job I love, and have called broadcasting a 'job' for two decades this month. My life didn't actually change that much during the three lockdowns, in the sense that I continued to commute to a radio studio the whole time to do my show. My beard got out of control and I piled some weight on, but apart from that, it was pretty much business as usual. My wife, on the other hand, said she loved switching off from the rat race and occasionally says to me, a little guiltily, that she misses elements of life under lockdown. I bet she's not the only one.

It's thought that "quiet quitting" may be inspired by Chinese social media, where #TangPing (or lying flat) is apparently now censored as a hashtag in the country. I guess a lot of us became more aware of our own mortality during the pandemic, and assessed the hours lost to commuting or spending time in a job we didn't really find any meaning doing. Work life balance is a big consideration, and a taste of freedom working from home perhaps led to many wondering which bits of the old routine they actually wanted to go back to.

Money is obviously important, especially with the looming icebergs of winter fuel bills, but feeling valued and fulfilled in life is arguably worth more. I wonder how many quiet quitters you've got in our workplace? I do need to get better at switching off my overactive mind, and am resolving to have a full week off work in September for the first time since I went abroad in May 2019. I might even get a ghost writer for this column! If you read lots of praise for Boris Johnson and his legacy of getting the big calls right as the new Prime Minister replaces him next month, you'll know I've quietly quit this column and got someone to pen it for me! Have a good week.

You can listen to Alex every weekday from 7am to 11am and on the 'Super Scoreboard' show on Saturdays from 3pm to 7pm, on Tameside Radio 103.6FM. 

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