The health care toll today’s work culture exacts on employees • Hacker News Board

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

#161

Post by vageli » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:03 AM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #158

bmpafa wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most any form of helping someone out carries risks. Part of what makes acts of kindness praiseworthy is the acceptance of those risks for the sake of another person.

>> Most any form of helping someone out carries risks. Really? I've never heard that. Can you give some examples? Preferably ones that seem harmless but could go wrong. I guess providing such examples is my job but I'm too tiered, so help me out.

Someone knocks on your door, bleeding from a wound on their arm. Are the a person in need or an armed assailant waiting to gain entry into your home?

A person flagging down help on the side of the road. Are they going to do something while you're in a vulnerable position changing a tire?

Most any interactions where "help" is more than verbal information transfer usually lead to situations where the helping party is put into a position of vulnerability. To help someone is to literally "go out on a limb" i.e. put yourself in a precarious position.

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

#162

Post by ajeet_dhaliwal » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:04 AM UTC

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…

Yeah, basically everything my parents, teachers taught me was wrong. Been unlearning and retraining my mind for the last 3-4 years via YouTube and listening to people who learned the same lessons I did as a kid and changed themselves. I’ve worked so hard and in the corporate world had basically nothing to show for it so started something else. As long as your realize this and adapt you will be ok but I was in anger/denial for too long. People cannot do anything but ‘surive’ on a company wage. I had colleagues (engineers/devs) stressing about how to pay rent or bills while expected to come in early/leave late and focus.

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

#163

Post by Trundle » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:06 AM UTC

DeusExMachina wrote: post #62

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…

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…

Equivalent animals certainly don't spend all day toiling. We aren't ants. I don't see any reason to believe that was the case for us.

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

#164

Post by vageli » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:08 AM UTC

crawfordcomeaux wrote: post #57

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…

You get to choose your actions. All actions are allowed, though you may not like the consequences. > "It kills me every time, but I NEED my paycheck more than I prefer to help my fellow human." What's killing you here? "It" is your decision to comply. A more active phrasing might be "I kill me every time I choose to comply with management's requests..." Also, it sounds like you chose to believe, if only by accident,…

> Also, it sounds like you chose to believe, if only by accident, that money is a human need. This is false...we simply have cultures around the world where asking our community for support is not considered acceptable. Again, this is a lie. If you ask enough people for help, you'll eventually find someone willing. There's more than enough of everything to go around, especially money.

But ultimately, it all comes back to money. That's the rub, isn't it? Whether it's your or someone else's, "money makes the world go round".

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

#165

Post by throwaway010718 » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:09 AM UTC

pascalxus wrote: post #88

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...

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,…

> That's why we need to start teach financial education really early: like K-12

What you are suggesting would lead to a generation that saves more and consumes less.

When GDP seems to be the only success metric that matters, I often wonder if such education is omitted intentionally.

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

#166

Post by ghettoimp » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:13 AM UTC

skookumchuck wrote: post #136

jriot wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything appears to be a liability these days - that is the problem.

I've heard the "MeToo" movement, with its guilt by accusation, is having unintended consequences. Male executives are starting to avoid women employees in any situation where there are not other people present. This means no going out for drinks to make a deal, no business lunch to brainstorm, no meeting on the golf course to pitch your plan. Not even a discussion of confidential matters in the private office of one…

Huh. Well, for my part, I haven’t changed my behavior one bit due to it, and I’m (still) not worried in the least about being sued or something for treating my women colleagues as ordinary people. Shrug.

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

#167

Post by Spooky23 » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:14 AM UTC

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.

Because the way our laws protect protected classes make it trivial to hustle employers.

I’ve been sued and served with human rights complaints for firing a sleeping employee (I wasn’t checking on the sleep/wake status of employees not in protected classes) and for allegedly terminating an employee because of their protected substance abuse issues.

It’s an incredibly time consuming, expensive and stressful process.

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

#168

Post by notriddle » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:14 AM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #156

zdragnar wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for a company who was sued because a candidate told us he was the second coming of Christ. We didn't really address it, and ended up not hiring him. He used The fact that he mentioned it as grounds for religious discrimination. He didn't win, but we still had lawyer costs and what not. It is not an overblown fear at all.

If he sued with representation this illustrates another point. His lawyer took on a stupid frivolous case, probably because he also needed the money. I think the real problem is that people today are on an economic treadmill. That need to survive economically is what make people willing to put up with all the other things.

I would not be surprised if he represented himself.

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

#169

Post by innocentoldguy » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:16 AM UTC

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…

I agree! I just sold my house, moved into a smaller place, and paid off all my debt. Once free of my mortgage and car payments, I was able to quit working for the ungrateful bastards who used to employ me and start making changes to my life, and the way I use of money, so I can live the remainder of my life on my own terms. I use to think wealth was having a huge amount of money. I think that point of view was wrong. Now I view wealth as having my income and outflow perfectly balanced so I can remain free of debt and corporate bondage.

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

#170

Post by avhon1 » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 1:18 AM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #23

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

Change styles, I guess. I switched to using large-muscle movements to control my mouse, for example, so even switching to a trackball would cause more RSI for me. And if I feel it coming on in my hands, and I cannot just walk away for the rest of the day, I switch to hunt and peck. Haven't had to do that in a while, but you're right, when it's your livelihood you find a way.

Have you looked at large, centered trackballs? A trackball the size of a billards ball under your palm is easy to control with your whole arm.