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The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees

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Re: The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees

#91

Post by jdtang13 »

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #85
DeusExMachina wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this idea bizarre. It's like humans enjoyed their time for millennia and only now we have to work. For all human history, the conditions of people were dire. Today people might be stuck in an office in their "best year", but people in the past had to toil all day to barely scrape by and didn't even have that many years to live. It's only now that we live these comfortable lives with houses, heating, electricit…

> For all human history, the conditions of people were dire. No. There's been societies based on slavery or indentured servitude and industrial societies treating workers much like slaves and there's been also almost idyllic, often agrarian, societies far removed from war, exploitation and hunger. Furthermore, given the incredible amount of energy and natural resources that the average person in rich countries is con…

In those idyllic societies that you mention, there are still teachers, senators, merchants, and diplomats who have to do work. The only people I can think of who don't do "work" in ancient history are religious monks and rich people living off of an inheritance.

Re: The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees

#92

Post by enraged_camel »

jriot wrote: post #78
simonebrunozzi wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is, in the US. I live in San Francisco, but I'm from Italy and have worked (and hired, and fired) people there in the past. I can assure you that all this "legal wall" around everything doesn't really exist in Italy, or at least it's vastly mitigated. As a consequence, I was able to provide detailed feedback every time I rejected a candidate, for example, without even thinking of the legal consequences.

Agree this is a US problem and I don't understand why. It doesn't hurt me why you didn't select me. You didn't think I would fit in culturally. Ok, no worries. You didn't think I knew enough of what you wanted to know. Ok, no worries. You didn't like the way I was dressed. Ok, no worries. You weren't really hiring but were just testing the waters. Ok, probably won't apply again but no worries.

>>Agree this is a US problem and I don't understand why.

Because the US has very severe issues related to racism, sexism, ageism and many other types of discrimination. So the laws are much tighter, which results in extreme caution and risk aversion on the part of employers.

Re: The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees

#93

Post by eeZah7Ux »

cyberpunk0 wrote: post #44
tboyd47 wrote: post #31

Honest question. How much of this is cultural or psychological? Can people be trained not to take so much shit from bosses or automatically make the company's problems their problems? I ask because at my current job, a lot of work is explicitly motivated by the threat of getting yelled at or publicly shamed in some way. I often wonder if these stressful interactions could just be handled politely but in a way that do…

"Not take shit from your boss" = "get fired by boss for 'insubordination' "

Only when the majority of other employees accepts that environment.

Re: The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees

#95

Post by tboyd47 »

remar wrote: post #33

I've had the chance to see the toll that a stressful environment (big tech company) can have on physical and mental health - I've experienced it personally and noticed it in others that I work with. The part about a big tech company being a stressful environment isn't the thing that surprised me, but rather people's responses to how they react to either being on the receiving side of the stress, and management's fail…

People who treat their workers in this way should be ashamed. Such blatant exploitation should be illegal.

Re: The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees

#96

Post by FlyingSideKick »

How can workers change corporate culture from within to demand work-life balance? I asked an executive VP this at a one of the worlds largest company’s here in Seattle and she said “If the young talent we need coming out of school across the board demanded shorter days and more vacation we would have to comply. But they don’t instead they are awed by an extra $10k on a hiring bonus they might or might not get after two years and they’ll work 60 hour weeks because that’s what they think ‘normal’ is because their peers are doing it.”

So how from the ground up can we make corporate culture in America more focused on the social health of their employees?

Re: The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees

#97

Post by osrec »

jdtang13 wrote: post #91
eeZah7Ux wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For all human history, the conditions of people were dire. No. There's been societies based on slavery or indentured servitude and industrial societies treating workers much like slaves and there's been also almost idyllic, often agrarian, societies far removed from war, exploitation and hunger. Furthermore, given the incredible amount of energy and natural resources that the average person in rich countries is con…

In those idyllic societies that you mention, there are still teachers, senators, merchants, and diplomats who have to do work. The only people I can think of who don't do "work" in ancient history are religious monks and rich people living off of an inheritance.

It's not work itself that is the problem. Work actually should contribute to happiness, but the conditions must induce that. The negative atmosphere that exists in many work environments is terrible. Rather than leaving with a sense of achievement for your expended efforts, you leave feeling beaten down and unappreciated.

Re: The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees

#99

Post by bobzibub »

minikites wrote: post #49

As I type this comment, there are 46 other comments, not one of them using the word "union". That's the only feasible method I can see to enact large scale change. CEOs and other executives aren't going to change out of the kindness of their hearts, as evidenced by the fact that they could start at any point and still choose not to.

I think that people must move past the belief in "heroism" as a job function and understand that many companies (not all) are parasitic creatures which finagle to charge economic rents, not saviours of Western democracy that provide value added as is commonly assumed.

I got the opportunity to apply for my current job yesterday. I expect an offer letter and threats to sign within two days or lose the job I have next week. My future company is a lowest bidder and was selected from around thirty applicants.

Re: The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees

#100

Post by DeusExMachina »

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #85
DeusExMachina wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this idea bizarre. It's like humans enjoyed their time for millennia and only now we have to work. For all human history, the conditions of people were dire. Today people might be stuck in an office in their "best year", but people in the past had to toil all day to barely scrape by and didn't even have that many years to live. It's only now that we live these comfortable lives with houses, heating, electricit…

> For all human history, the conditions of people were dire. No. There's been societies based on slavery or indentured servitude and industrial societies treating workers much like slaves and there's been also almost idyllic, often agrarian, societies far removed from war, exploitation and hunger. Furthermore, given the incredible amount of energy and natural resources that the average person in rich countries is con…

These “idyllic” societies still had rough lives. Nature is not only a paradise. It’s ripe with disease, infections, predators killing you and your cattle, children’s and mothers dying during childbirth, droughts, and famines.

And wars exist also, and especially, among tribes.

Growing food without modern technologies, fertilizers and pesticides was also an extremely hard job. It’s not like growing tomatoes in your back garden.

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