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What I Know About Being Sick at Work (2018)

blog.bonnieeisenman.com

81–90 of 132 posts

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

#81
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

It's a supply side issue. I guess we could take steps to start forcing people's career choices?

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

#82
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I appreciate your comment about accommodations that should be offered to everyone, and for which it turned out one time you too needed but did not get in time. That's upsetting and should not have happened. And I understand your skepticism of when a company says something isn't possible.) But for the hypothetical, in an HN discussion, of when it's truly not possible to offer the thing to everyone... you can't answer…

If you give a list of examples I can tell you how I would feel about them...

That seems a valid way to help figure out the full nature of how people in an organization feel about things (identify hidden contributing factors), but I'm going to need to apply for research funding at this point. :)

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

#83
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the push-up/plank thing if you want to speak. This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Do you get to talk over someone out of turn by doing a harder plank variation? I kind of wish you hadn't said this. Somewhere someone is reading this and thinking it's actually not a bad idea.

Now we know why software is, as a rule, crap. Can you imagine a team of chemical engineers designing a plant, there are sub-teams for the different subsystems, and during an integration meeting, whenever someone raises a points or has concerns about this or that working nice with the rest of the design, they have to drop to the floor and give ten so that the meeting is over faster! We wouldn't tolerate bridges and se…

Software was, as a rule, crap long before this ridiculous fad.

Most standups I've participated in (four orgs now) have been ICs giving daily status reports for the benefit of the manager in the room. People making up silly rules to hurry through the thing (like, say, "we all have to stand for this meeting") makes more sense in that context.

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

#84
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to plank while speaking, in order to motivate people to speak succinctly. Obviously disadvantages people who aren’t physically fit as they literally don’t get to contribute as much!

Sorry, just to be clear. Everyone stands around in a circle and one person drops down on the floor in a plank to talk? Maybe it's just me but I'd have a hard time taking this seriously.

This isn't a thing. It may have happened, especially if it's some fitness startup or something, but this seems like just a piece of outrage bait.

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

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? It's not self-evident that as far as is necessary is the correct answer here. If the costs are far outstripping the value delivered by the employee, then at the very least it's become a question of disabled rights, and not a business decision. There's clearly a limit to the reasonable accommodations we can expect of an employer.

I don't know if you realize what you've done here. They said accommodate as far as is necessary . Necessary literally means that it is needed . There is a statement of correctness built into the word. And you are objecting that necessary is needed? As in, wait wait a moment here. I think we should do less than necessary. Arguing where to draw that line is one thing. But as worded, you appear to be advocating below mi…

You've misread me.

The question is as follows: how much accommodation should be made for an employee with a disability?

The answer is clearly not As much as is necessary to enable the employment of that person, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

pjc50 appeared to be suggesting exactly this answer, hence my reply.

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

#86
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In one case, I have seen similar issue dealt by home office most of days. It worked remarkably well.

If I worked there and did not receive similar home office treatment I would leave... Edit I would do so quietly without making a fuss about it. You would probably not even realise that was the reason for me leaving. Basically if I see the rules of my workplace as unfair and arbitrary I will leave.

Is that the best approach, though? You might not be the only one who feels like the practices are harmful, and by speaking up could help the people around you.

You can also just leave without quitting. Tell your manager that you are unable to work in the current workspace, and walk out the door no matter what time it is. If you still get your work done and your co-workers catch on, you can help to improve the culture without needing to stick around in unreasonable conditions.

Management might not be thrilled, but if your plan was to quit anyways and you are professional and honest, where's the harm?

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

#87
post #58
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…

> they do the push-up/plank thing if you want to speak Is this punishment for having standup? Fine, let's get rid of it. Instead, let's have a team meeting over coffee for 15min every morning where we discuss our challenges from yesterday, and what we think we'll do today, and anything keeping us from working.

I always read it as a kind of pushback against the meeting; the engineers saying "fuck this" to the project manager. But, I agree, whether it's self-inflicted masochism or basic corporate sadism, it's stupid either way.

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

#88
post #64
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.

No. You're going to have to expand on that. Active noise cancelling means there is less sound reaching your ears. It works by -- quite literally -- cancelling the sound waves.

Insert "now you're thinking" meme image:

Sound can't hurt your ears

If it doesn't exist

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

#89
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…

> they do the push-up/plank thing if you want to speak It never ceases to amaze me that businesses do this kind of thing (and many more besides) and still succeed. The induced drag from from stupid management practices is not that different from using crappy technology.

[deleted]

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

#90
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Your position patronizes young adults. Most 22 year olds, regardless of gender, would not accept this unless their job depending on it, in which case it’s your employer abusing you. You should work with more 22 year olds, they are actually adults, you know...?
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