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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

#171

Post by Spooky23 »

ag_camel wrote: post #108
enraged_camel wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>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.

And other paces dont? Almost every country has severe issues related to all the above. In the US, we have litigation everywhere, you fall and slip in a supermarket? Lawsuit! You tripped over a pothole? Lawsuit! Heck, lawyers advertise to do this...

Because nobody wants to be caught holding the bag. I went to the ER once because of a bad reaction to a burrito. (Serious pain and my fiancé made me go)

When I needed back surgery a few years later, I attracted the attention of my insurer’s subrogation team, who tried on several occasions to get me to state that I was in a car accident during the burrito incident.

You get hurt in a big way, your insurer will make you sue.

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

#172

Post by ghettoimp »

kolpa wrote: post #147
btilly wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. My understanding of primitive agrarian societies are that they have hard work, hard lives, poor diet, and a population that is generally at the edge of starvation. (In good times, population grows. In bad times...) You might want to read Guns, Germs and Steel as an example of a reference backing this view up. Or read through random snippets of history like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_o…

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_w... "Pre-industrial workers had a shorter workweek than today's"

Nine inch nails. “We think we’ve climbed so far, on all the backs we’ve come down...”

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

#173

Post by ghettoimp »

dizzystar wrote: post #120
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.

“Only” work 9 to 5?

Don’t forget your commute. And you’ll still need your wife to get the kids to school and pick them up. Hope you earn enough for that and she’s happy st home. And you should help out with dinner and the lunches and homework. And when you get the kids to bed it’s 8 and you’re exhausted.

Enjoy your weekend.

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

#174

Post by bmpafa »

vageli wrote: post #161
phkahler wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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 p…

^ this. also, there's an entire family of laws[1] designed to protect people from certain risks they take on when they decide to help someone in dire need.

These are all extreme examples, but I think the parent post example (not giving feedback b/c of liability issues) is cut from the same cloth.

Businesses take liability risks day in & day out. For some, the calculus concludes that (practically) selfless gestures, like giving applicants feedback, aren't worth that risk. That, imo, is a shame.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan_law

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

#176

Post by throwaway84742 »

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…

I can name at least two established companies (FB and SpaceX) that will tell you why you were rejected. I 100% respect when companies are willing to do difficult, potentially perilous stuff like this.

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

#177

Post by mathgladiator »

vageli wrote: post #159
phkahler wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is exactly it. The thirst for the dollar makes us more willing to swallow bullshit with a (feigned) smile. But what can we do about it? That's the worst part. To dismantle the machine requires the coordination of a significant number of cogs.

First, stop the thirst within. I am going to try an experiment and live in nature on land that I buy. Why do we need so much junk?

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

#178

Post by mathgladiator »

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.

I create random small jobs, and I risk a bit of money in hopes of getting what I want. I don't need to, but I get a joy from creating opportunities.

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

#179

Post by derrekl »

I'm a CTO at a YC grad Care Revolutions. There's a lot of comments on what kind of work environment is bad. What do y'all suggest a startup with limited resources do to be an incredible place to work for while also being a highly productive environment? I'm especially interested in suggestions as it relates to your health both physically and mentally!

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

#180

Post by mathgladiator »

Spooky23 wrote: post #167
jriot wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Wait, now I have to Google protected substance abuse issues. How is this a thing?
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