The huge corporate companies don’t want the workers to do better, they want them to make the company more money.
However, there are companies that are trying to benefit their employees, customers, and community, they just tend not to pay high wages or be on the stock market, and are usually much smaller in their areas of operation.
THEY are terrified of what the masses would do if we had any free time.
Funny way to spell exploitation
Unironically. Watch what happens when unemployment gets over 6%. Occupy in 2008. BLM in 2014. J6 in 2021.
Left, right, and center, shit pops off when work drops off.
I don’t have the research ability to prove it, but I think there was absolutely causation between the closing/cancelling of sporting events during COVID and a rise in violence. At least until they completely locked down and everyone stayed inside.
She ain’t wrong. But think about the shareholders.
That’s the thing though, even for shareholders it would be better.
Not if you only think 1 quarter at a time
But they don’t THINK it would be better, so it won’t short term. Which is what truly matters
To an extent. Like the workers that are now the only members of a project’s team yeah they can’t go on vacation until that project is done unless you want delays. But learn from your mistakes. Have more people in the project to begin with. Train more than one person in key areas. Your project will happen faster with similar resources and the people involved will be happy since they can take a vacation.
Just so you know, this is often referred to as the “Bus Factor”, aka “how many employees would need to get hit by a bus for us to suffer a catastrophic loss of knowledge/manpower?” Way too many places have a bus factor of 1, meaning if that single employee isn’t available for whatever reason, everything around them grinds to a halt. You usually want that number to be BIG as often as possible.
My boss give us shit if we call off for being sick. It’s such a toxic environment and I hate it
When I worked in big box retail we were only allowed to call in sick 2 days in a row. Once I had food poisoning from bad oysters, so I tried to call in on the third day.
Of course, they told me I couldn’t. So I dragged my ass out of bed, chugged a bottle of OTC antinausea syrup, drove to work, walked into my boss’s office, grabbed her trashcan, and threw up in it.
Suddenly I was allowed to call in sick.
What a fuckin power move. Way to go, my guy!
I was the exact opposite kind of boss and got great results.
“I don’t care why I care how often”
At least I would get advanced notice when people weren’t afraid to call me.
Also when I called around to fill shifts I wouldn’t guilt trip people “can you cover for bill? No? Okay thanks for answering “
The other bosses would call me to call their employees because they would answer me. One of my favorites was calling another boss and saying “Claire’s going to come in”. “What? She told me she couldn’t make it!!!”
“If I were you I wouldn’t mention that when she comes in. Just be happy the shift is filled”
Respect goes both ways at work. I got more work out of my team than anybody because I had their back as much as they had mine.
I had a disciplinary for calling in sick, the most recent time I was “nearly dying” from the flu.
Ive got it in writing somewhere from the meeting report “I had the flu the other week and still made it in, just take 2 paracetamol and get on with it” and “the flu isnt contagious so you didnt have to worry about infecting other staff”
Next time that piece of paper surfaces im getting it framed.
The new Oklahoma Superintendent first goal was to cut off late start that students have been enjoying for fucking years. Asshole said that it was limiting their learning.
I didn’t think anyone could be worse then Ryan Walter’s but they found a way.
Literally toxic if everyone has to show up sick
I am immunocompromised and started wfh full time because everyone was coming in sick. I sacrificed advancing my career here so I wouldn’t get sick all the time. Full time wfh folks don’t get to advance and get demoted to the lowest position in the company. I was already at the lowest position so I had nothing to lose.
Yes, I’m looking for a new job already. The market is abysmal right now, so I don’t see me getting out of this job any time soon.
Good luck with the job hunt, and even more with staying healthy
Thank you!
Next time come into office and cough all over your boss and their desk.
I wfh full time so I don’t get sick from my coworkers coming in ill. I’m immunocompromised, so if I get sick enough, I could just die. The whole company, except me, has been dealing with covid for the past two weeks. Last time I had covid, I was almost hospitalized, and that was before I was put on immunosuppressants. I could very well die from covid now
A company I used to work for switched to 4-day weeks for a time and everyone was much happier, especially those with children or other caring responsibilities. Productivity was the same or better.
But, predictably, they later did a U-turn and forced everyone back to 5-day weeks. The justification given was ‘some’ people weren’t always taking the extra day off. No figures given, no additional info.
I, and everyone else, strongly suspected it was just the C-suite not liking the idea of people getting the same pay for one day less. Purely ideological.
Millennia of evolution have shown that humans thrive when they’re just sitting around and vibing with each other. As long as you don’t need anything that requires an economic surplus or specialised work force, like, say, infrastructure.
That environment of our evolution, like the Garden of Eden, no longer exists. We’ve created a new environment in which sitting around and vibing is no longer sufficient to thrive. Without the economic output we all die. See this first episode of Connections for details.
How much work do we actually need to do to maintain our lifestyle? I’d say a lot less than we’re currently doing. Just think about all the waste that goes into Bitcoin. What about insurance, or any number of jobs. Humans create systems (or that’s what I got out of that episode of connections) but those systems are not necessarily efficient at benefiting equally.
Part of the reason I included the link to Connections was to illustrate just how many people are involved in maintaining our critical infrastructure. But of course the show can only highlight a tiny fraction of them.
You might think “oh, we don’t need insurance companies so we could eliminate all those jobs” but even if we did eliminate the insurance industry we’d have to replace a lot of the work that people at insurance companies do.
Take health insurance for example. You might say “we should get rid of health insurance and give everyone free, public health care!” Well, I live in Canada and we have free public health care. Guess what? We still have a health insurance company: the government. They do all the same jobs: receive and process health care claims, decide which treatments to cover and which to reject, and send payments to health care providers once the treatment is approved and the work has been completed. The only difference is that there’s no profit in the government system. Otherwise they’re still doing the same amount of work, so we still need all those people doing those jobs.
You might go on to say “why don’t we just eliminate the approval process and pay for every single treatment?” but that line of thinking shouldn’t get you very far. We don’t have unlimited doctors or unlimited hospital beds. There will always be far more possible treatments to give people than should be given. In the case of older people with terminal illnesses, you can spend essentially unlimited money on treatments in a desperate attempt to prolong their life… and prolong their suffering in the process.
My disagreement with the show came primary from the premise that we rely more on technology than we do on people(not sure he was trying to make that point but the whole thing about loss of electricity leading to bad anarchy leads me to interpret it that way). However I also believe that with our technology we could be very close to a post scarcity world.
We could feed everyone, house everyone, etc. at our current level of technology. Should we decide we want to increase contentment by giving people more free time we could. It’s because some people value other things that we do it the way we do.
My disagreement with the show came primary from the premise that we rely more on technology than we do on people(not sure he was trying to make that point but the whole thing about loss of electricity leading to bad anarchy leads me to interpret it that way). However I also believe that with our technology we could be very close to a post scarcity world.
We could feed everyone, house everyone, etc. at our current level of technology. Should we decide we want to increase contentment by giving people more free time we could. It’s because some people value other things that we do it the way we do.
Hell yeah Connections is incredible.
How much work do we actually need to do to maintain our lifestyle? I’d say a lot less than we’re currently doing. Just think about all the waste that goes into Bitcoin. What about insurance, or any number of jobs. Humans create systems (or that’s what I got out of that episode of connections) but those systems are not necessarily efficient at benefiting equally.
When I finished school and had my Bachelors, the only thing I thought was, “Glad I am done with that bullshit.”
I was lucky to do college debt free by going back years later and having a nest egg from years of working to pay off my costs, but so many kids go at 17 because that is what they are told to do and have debt for life from a degree that that they likely won’t use because they have never worked and don’t know where they want a career.
Now with AI taking away white collar jobs, I think it will be harder for kids to justify. Why would they put themselves through all that stress and work for no guarantee of a career?
There needs to be a correction in college attendance. Too many go and get a degree at an expensive school for a profession that has shitty wages or wide pay gaps, and poor upward mobility. Unless you’re going for a profession that needs a certification or degree, like engineer, finance, or doctor, a degree should require some serious thought. Also, for the vast majority of people, nobody cares where you got your degree after your first “real” job. Don’t go spend big bucks at a school “known” (read: we charge a lot) for whatever degree if you can find one cheaper that will do.
A lot of what happens in business is performance theater, not actually being productive. It’s one of the reasons bosses like AI do much, because if gives a magnificent impression of doing lots of work, even if in some cases you have to hire more people to correct that slop afterwards.
It’s the same for going back to the office. They want to see the worker show being performed in the building even though working from home is usually more productive.
Yep, and we could solve traffic and a lot of other problems as well as making things better for workers by making WFH standard. I remember around covid I could zip downtown no problem, now the roads are fucking parking lots. I have to spend hours a week doing the most dangerous activity at my own expense. I think it’s mostly because of old fashioned thinking that jobs should suck.
More like enjoying something is a sin. Sexual pleasure? Straight to hell. Food pleasure? Straight to hell. Get enough sleep so you don’t feel like shit? Believe it or not, straight to hell. Enjoy your work? Turbo hell.
at my own expense
I reckon if companies were required to pay you for your commute (or, let’s say, a standardised one hour extra per day if being physically in the office is required, so as not to incentivise people living far from work), there’d be a lot more WFH.
It’s even hassle to cross the road with all these cars tbh and i almost risked life 2 times because of too much cars but whatever, capitalism must continue
My countries gouvernment has recently proposed a set of laws that would limit the maximum length of homework to 1 hour a day for 0-IV and 2 hours for V-XII
It would also make all homework for vacations optionalIn the age of AI I don’t even see how homework should even be a thing anymore.
Or if there is homework, it needs to be tailored in a way that it can’t be fed into a machine and solved, it needs to be projects that lead to personal engagement and reports on what the experience was like, or group activities or something.
Or tests designed in ways that you need to have understanding of the topic to pass while in class. Basically we need a LOT more teacher involvement, but I’m speaking from a country that hates our own teachers so much that I can’t blame them for sending schoolwork home and trying to be done with the day.
People still do homework even if text generating AI could replace that
My countries gouvernment hates teachers too
That is still 2 hours a day extra work on top of going 8 hours to school.
Are including transport
A school day in my country takes between 5 to 7 hours
Damn thats good
I hope it will be actually enforced if it becomes law
Unfortunately they turned schools into glorified daycares so they always say it “endanger” students to let them off early or get to school after parents go to work.
Maybe sync school and work schedules? Why does this sound so crazy? It’s hugely disruptive that these schedules are different.
here they staggered all the school start times so parents with lots of kids can spend their entire day dropping off and picking up kids. we’d just have them walk or bike (and i’m fine biking there, there’s a bike lane), but some idiot decided to build these schools on their own little complex a mile down the highway (speed limit: 65mph/105kph)
Because you can’t sync all work schedules. It would create crazy traffic, even more than it is now.
That and a lot of jobs in the service sector would mean you can’t go shopping after work, can’t bring your car to the garage, or even get medical care at the hospital.
Schedules should be staggered instead.
You can’t sync all work schedules but you can match the mode.
Not sure why you think taking kids to school separately and then driving to work is less traffic?
Jobs could still be open later but maybe those jobs would be less attractive to people with kids.
It wouldn’t be a world halting event. It would just mean less traffic, less money spent on childcare, and less stress for families.
France does something somewhat close to this / at least makes an effort to minimize the wide gap between work and school start and end times.
A lot of GOP politicians are trying to get kids back to work and out of school, so I guess they’re technically doing their part.
If they weren’t so fucking
stupidevil they could make a lot more money.
Highschools get out first in a lot of the country to allow older students to go to afterschool jobs, participate in afterschool sports, or to be home when the younger kids return home. If every student and worker was on the same schedule you would have scenarios where sports wouldn’t get out until very late and younger kids could be at home alone.
around here highschool is shifted to later start and end and there isn’t any chaos. but they also have access to transportation and parent can leave them homs alone legally.
the real issuse is k-5. my kids start at 730 and are done at 2. That means i have to leave work at 1. literally half a day of work and then i have to leave. i don’t get paid enough to do child care so i have to work from home with kids and have a gap mid day due to commute.
At my last job HR announced that they had found studies showing increased productivity and employee satisfaction when people had one 3-day weekend a month. From there on we were given a choice of any Monday or Friday off, but we had to take one.
My friend: “Yeah, that’s fucked up not paying you.”
“It’s PTO.”
“That’s fucked forcing you to use your PTO.”
“It’s on top of our PTO. We get an extra 12-days a year now.”
I’m sure someone will find a cynical take on this story.
Lemmy: CaPitALisM!
Gosh! I left out a really important part! That business wasn’t part of a monopoly or cartel. Well, ironically, we did have a basic monopoly, no one else did what we did, but we weren’t a subsidiary of a megacorp, if you get my drift.
LOL, two years in a row our CEO told the board we would lose money on purpose to build our people and products. They applauded him. We fucked around and made a profit anyway. Got FAT Christmas bonuses!
If you think that’s a one-off company, you should hear how Quik Trip stores operate. Imagine people dedicating a career to working in a convenience store. That’s another story. (And an amazing one.)
Work hard, get experience, stack resume, move on until you land at a solid employer.
When my two friends and I moved to NW Florida, we knew no one, had no family. One guy started at an oil change place, way below his skill set and experience. Kept quitting and moving to better jobs. Within a decade he was the top service manager for the top car dealer in the area, clocking 6 digits, treated with utmost respect, seat at the table.
I don’t get the take about “CaPitALism”. If your employer did what you say then they did so in spite of the system of capitalism, not thanks to it. A good employer will set their sights long-term, aiming to keep their employees happy in order to build a stable future, but that’s not what the system rewards, the system rewards short-term profits.
Also, the last story kind of reminds me of “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”-rhetoric (the term also drives me insane because it’s literally against the laws of physics). Are there people who work hard, take steps to advance their careers and achieve success because of their efforts? Absolutely! Are there also other people who try just as hard and don’t achieve the same successes, either due to other struggles or just due to random chance? Most definitely.
set their sights long-term, aiming to keep their employees happy in order to build a stable future
Funny, that’s how it worked at my last job. And then there’s Quik Trip, an untold story.
As to the working hard part, I think you’re missing the “move on” part. Gain experience, QUIT. Lemmy in general, if not you, has this victim take on employment. As an old supervisor used to say, “Fuck me? No, no, no, fuck YOU!”
“They’re getting rich on our labor!”
“What if I told you, you can withhold that labor?”
If one’s job is that shitty, they can easily move on for the same pay at another shitty job. The least we can do is punish bad behavior.
Anyway, capitalism was pretty OK when we had unions (back to the punishing bad behavior bit) and didn’t allow megacorps to monopolize every sector of the economy. Most here are probably too young to remember those days. :(
capitalism was pretty OK when we had unions
That’s kind of the trick. People who collected loads of capital then spent loads on developing an ecosystem of media, ‘academics,’ and political manipulation that has steadily chipped away at those unions, and the ideas and circumstances that make them possible. The glut of overpriced degrees with distorted prospects, the idea that schooling is for getting a job rather than advancing knowledge, the union busting activity, the system of HR, the mergers on top of mergers that build monopoly, all paid for by capitalists who already had more money than they could use.
‘Just quit’ is pithy, but misses out on the fact that survival without a job is not an easy prospect. It doesn’t even punish the management who are making their workplace awful. It all gets displaced onto the other employees and the company machinery. Hell, it can serve as a reward in some places. If they throw work at someone until they quit, the employee has been doing all that work until then, so no worries there, the work can be shoved off onto the other employees on the team, and most people aren’t going to quit over a small extra ask when the alternative is months of job searching with no unemployment. And for however long that manager can spin that out, they’re just adding to their bonus. And then, ironically, they can do exactly what you are talking about and quit, going over to the next company saying ‘look at this, I cut costs at my old job by XX%.’ and getting the job-switch payraise with a premium for doing things that harm their former team and employer.
Definitely students need more sleep, right through to university. According to this study humans are still adolescent from 9 till 32. Scientists identify five ages of the human brain over a lifetime Want to protect human potential ? That would be a good starting point. It’s sensible even from a purely utilitarian profit focused view of study and work.
Rich ppl only care about their own potential.
Shoot, I’m definitely still a child, and I’m in my 40s! I definitely need more sleep than I’m allowed.
advocating “hustle culture” is often virtue signalling right? “I iz very hard worker and people should appreciate me” or something?
I can only speak for myself, but I used to be like that because of poor mental health as hard physical work, and alcohol, kept me from facing my problems.
Edit: forming coherent sentences is apparently hard today 🙃
