What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#61

Post by heymijo » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 2:43 PM UTC

This is a really thoughtful article.

Expectations and norms are what come to mind.

For orgs: expect that disabilities can be invisible and need accommodations

For individuals: expect that you will need to advocate for yourself (especially before awareness grows)

I think that's a good starting place (not an end point!) to get orgs to what Bonnie says:

> People take their cues from you, if you act like your accommodations are normal other people will tend to react similarly.

From there orgs can work to deliberately increase their awareness > understanding > and accommodation of disabilities any of their talent may have.

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#62

Post by hdfbdtbcdg » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 2:45 PM UTC

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #50

hdfbdtbcdg wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not unreasonable for someone to find another employer... I am pointing out that treating people differently damages teams.

"I am pointing out that treating people differently damages teams." Not really. Sing happy birthday quickly during a meeting for folks that enjoy it. Skip over for the folks that would really rather one didn't. Adjusting for a sickness or disability isn't any different. Most of the time, it boils down to things like giving the person with crutches a little extra time to use the toilet because it takes more time. I do…

> Most of the time, it boils down to things like giving the person with crutches a little extra time to use the toilet because it takes more time. I don't really understand why this would be an issue for you since, if you had crutches, you'd be treated similarly.

I am confused. Where did I say that would be a problem? I am very very OK with reasonable adjustments.

Sick leave is something I expect from a non broken society as well.

I object to unreasonable adjustments.

Edit Oh and if my employer times us on the toilet I am definitely looking for another job!

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#63

Post by delinka » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 2:49 PM UTC

bob33212 wrote: post #2

Very thoughtful author. I would like to get her thoughts on where a employeer should draw the line on staying that a disability cannot be accommodated. For example, someone who had a light sensitivity as well as PTSD may need to work in a dark quiet environment. How far does the company go to support that need?

In the USA, a company had best make as much accommodation as necessary for the specific illness/disability/challenge - no one wants the legal headaches associated with failing to give accommodation under ADA. That means providing a diagnosis to HR (or your equivalent) and discussing what's appropriate. If there's pushback from HR, and the employee feels they require certain accommodation, a note from the doctor works wonders.

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#64

Post by delinka » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 2:50 PM UTC

jchw wrote: post #52

hdfbdtbcdg wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well. Using headphones all day damages our hearing... We work better without constant distractions. We are pretty expensive to employ and then use at 50% potential.

1. Does using headphones damage our hearing? I am aware that using certain kinds of open earphones are associated with hearing loss but my understanding was that this had more to do with how high the volume needs to be to drown out the noise. Proper IEMs and noise cancelling headphones should definitely not suffer from that issue. 2. 50% potential is a bold claim, but even if that were true it may still be economical…

Active noise cancelling is bad. Headphones in general are not.

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#65

Post by llampx » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 2:53 PM UTC

nickpeterson wrote: post #54

neilv wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In such a software development organization, at the end of each meeting, everyone immediately has a moment of mindfulness, then pops another pill, shotguns a Red Bull, crushes the empty can on their forehead, shouts "Yo! Bro !", and crashes through the loft meeting room window, down to the open-plan work tables below. If you want to make a culture fit, you have to break a few eggs.

When an industry recruits 22 year old men, is it surprising when the workplace resembles a barracks?

What would the workplace resemble if they were hiring 22 year old females? Can you give an answer with a straight face that doesn't patronize 50+% of the world population?

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#66

Post by vxNsr » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 2:55 PM UTC

>One of my coworkers was really insistent on me going, so I finally snapped, “$NAME, I’ll go if you’ll push my wheelchair the whole day!” This was Very Awkward, but IMO I was just surfacing the existing awkwardness: my very well-meaning coworker was already making it awkward by not believing me about my own abilities. Sometimes a Bad Joke can snap people into realizing what they’re doing.

I would be totally down to push a coworker in a wheelchair if they really did want to go and this was the only thing preventing them from joining us. Like my response to that woulda been "sure"

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#67

Post by japhyr » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 3:10 PM UTC

delinka wrote: post #64

jchw wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Does using headphones damage our hearing? I am aware that using certain kinds of open earphones are associated with hearing loss but my understanding was that this had more to do with how high the volume needs to be to drown out the noise. Proper IEMs and noise cancelling headphones should definitely not suffer from that issue. 2. 50% potential is a bold claim, but even if that were true it may still be economical…

Active noise cancelling is bad. Headphones in general are not.

What makes you say noise cancelling headphones are bad? Are you talking about audio quality, or bad for your hearing?

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#68

Post by sopooneo » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 3:10 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #19

pridkett wrote: post #5

I really liked this article. A lot of the things mentioned seem to be necessary because the author has “passing privilege”, but some are necessary due to poor management practices. Stand ups and in person meetings are two spots where this frequently happens. I’ve inherited teams where everyone needs to stand during standup, or worse, where they do the push-up/plank thing if you want to speak. It shouldn’t take a grea…

> why are they there, how should they participate, and what should they take out of a meeting. Vital for any meeting, but so often forgotten. So many meetings with nebulous goals and zero takeaways.

I want to play the devil's advocate here, but one motivation for meetings generally, is a memory, in some managers head, of a three million dollar disaster that occured strictly because some trivial piece of understanding had not passed from one group to another. It was a piece of knowledge that the first team considered so obvious that it didn't even bear stating. But the second team had no idea.

"Jim", the CEO said to the manager after that incident, "you're a good person, so we want you to stay here. But if we lose another seven figures because the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing on your staff again, it's over."

But there are such better ways of solving that problem!!! Yes, probably, but we have to know that's a problem we're trying to solve.

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#69

Post by MaxBarraclough » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 3:20 PM UTC

__s wrote: post #59

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With respect, you're ignoring my point. There's value to team cohesion in having a team physically together. It won't be fatal to make an exception, and indeed it's possible run a company purely on remote working, but the point stands.

The thing about being able to have remote workers is that it works best when the company culture works in a way where everyone could be remote In fact, now a disabled person is going to likely be excluded from the team because they're working remotely. How do you include them? By making everyone remote. That way people don't rely on a culture where documentation is interrupting someone at their desk (ps they won't re…

> The thing about being able to have remote workers is that it works best when the company culture works in a way where everyone could be remote

Not really. It can make good sense for a company to generally insist on working from the office, but to make reasonable exceptions.

> How do you include them? By making everyone remote.

No, you just take reasonable steps.

> So now in order to accommodate someone you have to change the work environment for everyone

No, you don't.

Re: What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

#70

Post by asveikau » Sun, Jul 21, 2019, 3:39 PM UTC

nickpeterson wrote: post #54

neilv wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In such a software development organization, at the end of each meeting, everyone immediately has a moment of mindfulness, then pops another pill, shotguns a Red Bull, crushes the empty can on their forehead, shouts "Yo! Bro !", and crashes through the loft meeting room window, down to the open-plan work tables below. If you want to make a culture fit, you have to break a few eggs.

When an industry recruits 22 year old men, is it surprising when the workplace resembles a barracks?

It's been some time since I was 22, but I am fairly certain a number of 22 year old men would find this practice to be bullshit.

Though I do agree that people will tolerate more stupid things from their employer when they are younger. If they are at such a transitional phase of life and people that surround them demonstrate that something is normal, it will be easier to accept.