When my library laid me off after 21 years because I wanted to work behind the scenes until an effective vaccine became available, I was impressed by how well everything continued without me.

My pal Maria, the reference librarian, missed me. In fact I stop by often to chat, and we've continued our friendship in my post-library world. (She's my "gem.")

But my employer just relisted the job they'd booted me out of, stripped of all the benefits I'd enjoyed, like excellent health care and paid vacation, and replaced me with somebody who is going to cost them a lot less money going forward.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that I agree with everything you've written here and hope that your readers will take it to heart.