Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

gsb.stanford.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 448 posts

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

#111

Post by odyssey7 »

> You know what might change this? I gave a talk on this to Stanford alumni and afterward a lawyer came up to me and said there are going to be lawsuits.

This won't happen as long as the worst offenders can push individual arbitration agreements. The Supreme Court heard arguments about them recently, and a decision on whether they are legal is expected soon.

On the other hand, electronic health records should make it easy to show with statistics if a workplace causes chronic disease, relative its peers. We just need to add employer information to the standard information that hospitals collect. Certainly a group of university hospitals would be interested in seeing this data, and could organize an initiative to collect it.

Edit: Actually, a way to link massive amounts of healthcare data to patients' employers might already be available. Medical records often store insurance information, which can be used to figure out a patient's employer if they are the subscriber.

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

#112

Post by wmeredith »

FlyingSideKick wrote: post #96

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 t…

Unionize. That’s how we got things like the 40 hour work week.

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

#113

Post by ljw1001 »

onezerozeroone wrote: post #71
someone7x wrote: post #19

> I see a workplace that has become shockingly inhumane. A thousand times this. Very few of the lessons my parents taught me apply in the corporate world. Be honest and straight with people, assume good intent, take responsibility, etc. All that behavior will do is paint you as naive. Sure there's room for honesty and responsibility, but only when used appropriately (strategically). Strikes me as acutely inhumane eve…

Not really the company's fault here. Policies like this exist because candidates have and will sue the shit out of you for any flimsy accusation of discrimination they can cobble together. Companies didn't create these policies arbitrarily and unprovoked. They became necessary because of some people who took advantage of the legal system to get settlements. It's in the company's best interest to protect itself from f…

True, but.... A company can (does) decide how much time, energy and money to put into protecting its executives. There is a strong trend that all business decisions are made because execs desire for self preservation makes them prioritize legal safety over every other consideration, including productivity and innovation, not just over being humane.

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

#114

Post by BigJono »

mancerayder wrote: post #16
chaseha wrote: post #5

Dealing w/ RSI has been an eye opener for me. What makes it worse: working on a laptop, working on the plane, having to do long hours in poor ergonomic conditions. What do I have to do to be good at my job? Basically, that. What happens if it gets worse and I can no longer use a computer for at least eight hours a day? That is my livelihood

It WILL become a problem. The biggest issue with RSI and other repetive-use injuries (which happens in many professions and even athletics, especially with bad form) is that it happens slowly, then suddenly. It's so slow that it's discomfort. And you ignore that discomfort, especially as your concentration is on a computer monitor with important stuff to worry about being displayed on it. Also, sometimes inflammation…

On the topic of mac keyboards and mice, I've never had any uncomfortableness or pain at work, until I started a job where I was given your standard Apple combo of peripherals.

Suddenly, pain everywhere. The tips of my fingers were burning after every keystroke, some of the muscles/tendons in my right wrist felt like they were about to snap after using the mouse for a few hours.

How are these products still on the market? Two weeks in I bought my own mouse and keyboard and haven't had a single bit of pain since.

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

#115

Post by stuaxo »

osrec wrote: post #106
remar wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure you're aware of this, but a lot of people just don't have the financial freedom to even begin thinking about a decision like this, or it ends up requiring a lot of energy to make that plan viable. And as you've probably experienced, energy is not exactly abundant after a day/week/month/etc in an environment like that...

Oh I'm very aware of it. I tried once before to quit my job and go it alone, at the ripe old age of 22! I failed spectacularly. Reason - I only had 7k GBP in my bank. That simply wasn't enough money for me to live on and pay my mortgage till I found clients. I then put aside 10x times that amount, and things started to fall into place. Exactly the same skills, idea and enthusiasm as before, just a bigger cushion that…

Fuck me, wish I had 7k at 22, just around the time the internet bubble burst, basically fucked and went back to data entry for a while.

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

#116

Post by Benjammer »

pcarolan wrote: post #105
onezerozeroone wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really the company's fault here. Policies like this exist because candidates have and will sue the shit out of you for any flimsy accusation of discrimination they can cobble together. Companies didn't create these policies arbitrarily and unprovoked. They became necessary because of some people who took advantage of the legal system to get settlements. It's in the company's best interest to protect itself from f…

It would be valuable if a 3rd party solved the problem of feedback minus the liability. Could be a business there. No idea what that would look like though.

It's called "Consulting"

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

#117

Post by stuaxo »

thowawayburnout wrote: post #104
pascalxus wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the right financial planning, it can be done. But, if you've already taken on 20K in student loans and 5 year cell phone contract, it's gonna be much much harder. That's why we need to start teach financial education really early: like K-12. Food and water can be quite cheap: the grocery stores are filled with healthy foods you can get for less than 1$ per lb in most of the US: corn, whole wheat flour, bananas,…

People have been living trailer parks, with trailers worth far less then 20k for many years. The tiny housing movement did not show us much.

Nope, just that when people who are not poor live in small houses they live quite well, hardly shocking.

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

#118

Post by chaseha »

rifung wrote: post #84
chaseha wrote: post #5

Dealing w/ RSI has been an eye opener for me. What makes it worse: working on a laptop, working on the plane, having to do long hours in poor ergonomic conditions. What do I have to do to be good at my job? Basically, that. What happens if it gets worse and I can no longer use a computer for at least eight hours a day? That is my livelihood

What motivates you to stay at your role instead of finding a different position where you would work in better conditions?

Well, for one, I like what I do. And thus far I've been able to manage it by making some changes, over time. Basically all of these I learned about from other HN threads:

* first, switching between using L and R hands for mouse

* eventually, purchased a new mouse: Evoluent VerticalMouse 4 Right - neutralizes your wrist on mouse hand

* software that forces you to take breaks instead of just sitting and typing for hours straight. Workrave is what I use (http://www.workrave.org/) - freeware and lightweight. I take 12 second micro-breaks every 4.5 minutes and a 4 minute break ever 25. Get up, stretch around, wiggle your arms. Staring at a far away corner of the room helps w/ eye strain too

* for plane rides - small, wireless trackball has worked wonders. I can't use a laptop touchpad worth a damn

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

#119

Post by lowbloodsugar »

jdminhbg wrote: post #36
lowbloodsugar wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As other commenter says, it's not "this or that", but having said that, quality of life for the middle class was definitely better only a few decades ago. An average job would get you a house, a car and a pension, working eight hours a day, five days a week. And "middle class" meant a much greater range of jobs. Factory work could get you a house, a car and a pension. Time with kids, no worries about the future, or h…

> Time with kids, no worries about the future, or how you are going to eat when you retire, if you get to retire. Good times. The numbers say you're wrong: http://www.nber.org/aginghealth/summer04/w10466.html

I say "the middle class was better off only a few decades ago".

You show me a graph that ends two decades ago. About poverty.

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

#120

Post by dizzystar »

osrec wrote: post #24

Work has become a strange thing. I see people foregoing their best years stuck in an office, in the hope they can enjoy their later years. What utter nonsense. I'm not sure what the right answer is, but society has got something very wrong, as our work culture seems to surgically remove the wonder and enjoyment from our days. Hardly surprising that it drives people to ill health. Glad I broke out of that cycle a long…

If you are so fortunate to only have to work a 9to5, there is no excuse to waste these years.

How many musicians do you know that play in clubs? Most are working two restaurant jobs, renting a room, and scraping money together to buy strings, just for the chance to entertain a crowd for little or no pay.

It's all perspective, really.

Post reply on HN