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Is my advice too mercenary?

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Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#141

Post by dragonwriter »

brimble wrote: post #112
dragonwriter wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Last I checked, pretty much the entire rest of the OECD was between 40% and 70% of US per-capita spending on healthcare. Per capita numbers can be misleading on healthcare as health is labor intensive, so countries with higher wages will have higher per capita costs with otherwise similar systems. OTOH, the US spends the second highest share of GDP on healthcare, globally, behind Tuvalu, and about a time and half t…

Yeah, like part of the reason Taiwan, say, is so much cheaper, is that wages are lower across the board. Canada? Switzerland? Germany? Yes they pay a lot worse for some jobs (software developer, and, more relevantly, doctor) but ordinary fully-loaded employee costs aren't that different from the US. Admittedly, the countries more comparable to the US tend to be more in the 60-70%-of-US-spending range, than on the low…

I was recognizing the potential problem with per capita numbers only for the purpose of specifically pointing out that they aren't misleading in this case because the same thing is there in the per-GDP numbers.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#142

Post by eropple »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #89
idiotsecant wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you should probably tell that to the entire rest of the civilized world where state insurance seems to work quite well.

I have no problem believing that other nations governments do a great job. I also do not live there nor am I a citizen of those countries. American government is a uniquely incompetent form of government. Despite being one of the largest & most expensive governments it gets little to nothing done. Anything that is 'done' is often done far over the original projected budget.

> American government is a uniquely incompetent form of government.

Objectively untrue by any serious metric you'd like to go for, and in particular government-run health insurance programs (Medicare chief among them, but also the VA) are notably well-run and have low incidence of fraud while maintaining remarkably low overhead.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#143

Post by wnolens »

If you don't like something about your job/org, speak up and let management know.

If nothing happens, try to spearhead some change. It's your job! Sometimes the lower levels can see value that upper levels can't.

If you can't change it, cope.

If you can't cope, then leave.

Anything you want to say in an exit interview, you should have spoken up about already in step 1.

If there's something you haven't spoken up about, then it's probably for a reason. Just leave it. No need to be a martyr for your ex-colleagues, as it's only perceived. You have no idea the complexities of running a multi billion dollar tech organization.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#145

Post by drewcoo »

AYBABTME wrote: post #10
fellowniusmonk wrote: post #5

It truly is shocking that health insurance is tied to employment status. I really think this is a large part of the trend towards overt ruthlessness in the USA, no one has their back so they have no ones back, as people age and experience medical bankruptcy (or narrowly avoid it at great cost) they are realizing this ruthlessness in our system.

I'm assuming this is by design to keep the US population "on their toes" and at work doing productive things. Otherwise why would it be tied to employment?

It happened because under FDR there was a wage freeze. That's one of the tools a President has to fight inflation, last used by Nixon.

Companies had to include extra benefits beyond wages to compete on hiring. One of those extras was health care.

That's the original "design."

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/469739-the-employer-h...

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#146

Post by uoaei »

kansface wrote: post #69
uoaei wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not GP, but: historically Protestant work ethic + unrestrained pursuit of profit + weak labor protections and domination of corporate interests in the halls of legislation = predictable outcome.

This is not historically accurate. Insurance through employers came out of the federally mandated price controls during WW2, and was later solidified by massive tax breaks for corporations for providing said insurance (under the eager endorsement by unions among others). Changing the system would require changing the tax incentive. Changing the deduction to apply to individuals could be a path forward.

Federal mandates and tax incentives are created in the halls of legislation. This was mentioned above, albeit concisely. You even mention "massive tax breaks for corporations" which really only happens with intense pressure (backchannel or otherwise) on Congress. We call that "corporate lobbying" today, just as we called it back then.

Recall the intense pressures on FDR from both sides. Eventually the unions won some important concessions, but the corporations still had sufficient representation to ensure the system calcified into one that continues to funnel capital upward.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#147

Post by croutonwagon »

tomerv wrote: post #120
noncoml wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experiences while at Cisco about 4-5 years ago: 1st experience: Told my boss I am leaving. My boss’s boss calls me in a room , tells me he has some great projects for me and that we will work together on them. I agree. Turns out it was his last day! 2nd experience: Similar situation, told my boss I am going to a startup. Boss’s boss calls me and gives me a lecture about how it is a bad idea to go to a startup. I l…

I can't imagine what would cause a person to act like that, and on his last day/week of work! Some kind of psycopathy?

Yeah I am manager. I am pretty honest with my employees. One of my normal sayings is "you have to look out for #1 " (#1 = yourself its not a Star Trek reference)

That said i never say things like that on comms. And usually preclude them with things like "this conversation never happened" etc.

But i feel like part of my job is to give them career and life advancement advice and if that means leaving my team...so be it. That said ive made it pretty clear my style (on a few fronts, this being one of them) may not be all that common. Things like encouraging people to use their PTO, even for mental health days to prevent burnout etc. I do find that style engenders more trust and generally a less combative interaction. I have even had some tell me when they are looking for jobs. I usually tell them not to make a habit of telling someone at work that type of thing.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#148

Post by engineer_22 »

kbenson wrote: post #126
rmason wrote: post #91

There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…

How is that any different than some fiefdom ruled over by some noble? The whole point of democracy and elective government is that you can't rely on a system like that to be consistently good, whether it's the Duke's son squandering all the wealth and not listening to the people or a shift in management at the company. Just because sometimes there were benevolent companies that decided to contribute to their communit…

The counter argument, is that relying on benevolent government to ensure a desired outcome is just as naive. In both cases, the holders of power are people. You're just trading one person for another.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#150

Post by ghaff »

randrews wrote: post #119
ghaff wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. Things you say probably fall into a few categories. -- "So and so is toxic." Maybe they are. But this is the last sort of thing I'm going to get into during an exit interview because this is the sort of thing that could actually come back to bite you. -- "The company has gotten so big and bureaucratic/isn't doing well/etc." Don't you think they probably know? -- "I don't agree with the strategy any longer." Wel…

Just come up with a socially-acceptable, PR-reason for leaving. Probably whatever you told the new job in their interview: "I'm leaving because of the commute," or "not enough potential for advancement," or something. The goal should be for you to part on good terms, not to take a last shot at them, which will only make them hate you.

Or just some variant of "time for a change and this opportunity came along." Which whether or not it's the case with you, holds true for a lot of people who have been at a place for a while.

>The goal should be for you to part on good terms, not to take a last shot at them, which will only make them hate you.

Absolutely. Any satisfaction from bomb tossing in an exit interview or twitter thread is short-lived and the consequences may not be.

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