If business leaders actually cared about "inequality" they would slash their own compensation down closer to the people who work for them.
The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
161–170 of 209 posts
Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
#162Hbr worried about inequality, that's not common!
Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How many airplanes crashed due to The pilot being on drugs? This is an interesting question but not all drugs decrease performance. For instance, if a pilot responsibly takes some wakey meds before landing a long haul flight it may be a good thing. There’s a reason for the “I can’t function before the morning coffee” expression. I remember a documentary many years ago about long haul pilots who went partying HARD t…
In the film Flight it is implied the plane possibly does not crash because the pilot is on drugs.
The plane did crash. There was one fatality. That is because the pilot was skilled.
Unfortunately the pilot was also drunk. And he tried to shift the blame of the vodka bottle to the deceased person. There is no amount of technical skill that should permit someone like that behind a stick ever again.
Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
This comment betrays the old and persistent idea that lower status people are inherently shifty and lazy, while higher status people are inherently more virtuous. Let’s say for argument’s sake that truck drivers proportionally engage in more risky behavior. This can be either the use of stimulants or simply driving tired. Why is that? Drivers’ — like many low status workers — jobs security is more precarious and are…
This comment betrays the old and persistent idea that lower status people are inherently shifty and lazy, while higher status people are inherently more virtuous. I think this is because people are applying survivorship bias. It's really difficult to make it to those status levels while abusing drugs and alcohol. And even if you party hard at the top you must be able to "handle your shit". Success at the top is a car…
It’s not just that. It has puritan religous undertones. Work is virtuous, and god rewards those that have his favor. Therefore those that have less, are obviously outside of god’s favor. Why are they not rewarded? Because they aren’t virtuous, and since work is virtue, they must be shifty and lazy.
This is very deep seated idea in American culture. It manifests all sorts of ways. Deference to the rich, because clearly every rich person got and stayed rich through hard work and skill, instead of luck and family connections. Harsher penalities for poor people crimes, rather than rich people crimes. Constant monitoring for low wage workers, but no monitoring of high wage ones. Egregious hoops and monitoring for welfare, versus tax credits. Hell, even modern evangelical grifters leverage this idea with their prosperity gospel lies.
Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
#165The same inequality exists with drug testing too. A lot of low wage roles get drug tested on a regular basis while higher paying careers don’t. Outside the military, pilots rarely get tested despite the fact they’re responsible for many more lives than fork lift operators or truck drivers (who often do get tested). Doctors pretty much only get tested if they botch a surgery or someone reports them. Lawyers? Wallstree…
...I can guarantee you that most SpaceX workers are held to much higher standards, than their big boy CEO, when it comes to security clearance.
Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
This comment betrays the old and persistent idea that lower status people are inherently shifty and lazy, while higher status people are inherently more virtuous. Let’s say for argument’s sake that truck drivers proportionally engage in more risky behavior. This can be either the use of stimulants or simply driving tired. Why is that? Drivers’ — like many low status workers — jobs security is more precarious and are…
> idea that lower status people are inherently shifty and lazy, while higher status people are inherently more virtuous It's not about that. But also statistically on average that idea is accurate in this case at least. The qualifications and self-discipline required to become a pilot are significantly higher than for a driver. Your also surrounded by many other people all the time so it's much harder to not get noti…
>It's not about that. But also statistically on average that idea is accurate in this case at least.
lol. No. Not at all. There is nothing to support this widely held idea. This is the very bias I was talking about.
Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
#167Unsurprisingly, workers whose skills are in high demand and short supply (eg highly educated, highly experienced people) can demand better work conditions such as pay and commute flexibility.
Honestly a lot of the “low skill jobs” actually have a high skill threshold but we just arbitrarily decide to suppress them. Take somewhere like Starbucks. They pay them minimum wage, churn em constantly so they’re never trained and make them work arbitrary shifts like 4 hour -> 2 hour unpaid break -> additional 4 hours. Those staff end up “low skilled” but in reality someone who was treated fairly and respected woul…
My view is that many jobs in major chains (e.g. Starbucks, fast food, retail, etc) become low skill because any of the real thinking skills are pulled into separate corporate offices with totally different roles. Decisions like how much to advertise, what to stock, sourcing inventory etc. are totally removed from the workers who run the store. This puts a ceiling on the skill level needed for the job.
Sure you can operate the machines and make a good drink, but what good is that if you have minimal influence over the menu?
Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
#168The other day I phoned a service provider and the lady’s kid was babbling in the background and a children’s show was playing throughout the call. I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. Either invest in voice isolation or don’t work from home. Functionally this lady brought her kid to my home office and blasted a cartoon during our meeting. Is this harsh of me and an unpopular opinion? Yes. I agree that Human bein…
this is a cultural problem. in asia and africa people take their kids to work all the time. part of this is because parents can't afford childcare, but part of it is also: "why not?". i find our western attitude towards kids disturbing. after living 15 years in china i have come to realize that western, and even more so the european, and especially the german and austrian attitude towards work and school is much more…
Not everyone loves children, is the unspoken unpopular thing to say. Even more unpopular: dogs. These are things I wish not to see in an office, nor a bar environment. Actually see isn't the issue, it's the uncontrollable, but considered normal, noise that I find stressful.
Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Crab mentality is dangerous. It seems like a lot of people would rather pull others down to where they are than allow everyone to be lifted up to somewhere better.
Do crabs do that?
That's the idea anyway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality) but honestly I haven't observed nearly enough crabs in buckets to say with confidence that it's typical for the species. It's entirely possible that a few asshole crabs have given them all a bad reputation and that I'm just perpetuating an unfair stereotype.
If I get the chance to get to know more bucket crabs I'm perfectly willing to change my view of them if turns out that they're largely cooperative and helpful.
Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
this is a cultural problem. in asia and africa people take their kids to work all the time. part of this is because parents can't afford childcare, but part of it is also: "why not?". i find our western attitude towards kids disturbing. after living 15 years in china i have come to realize that western, and even more so the european, and especially the german and austrian attitude towards work and school is much more…
Not everyone loves children, is the unspoken unpopular thing to say. Even more unpopular: dogs. These are things I wish not to see in an office, nor a bar environment. Actually see isn't the issue, it's the uncontrollable, but considered normal, noise that I find stressful.
See I adore dogs and yet I can easily visualize and understand what your reaction would be like to having a dog around during your work day.
I find this or that sound a dog makes endearing- you find it annoying or worse. I find the mess a dog makes a mild inconvenience- you find it disgusting.
Instead of telling you you’re overreacting or that you’re being insensitive to people who are obligated for some reason to include their dog in your meeting with them, I can agree with you that you shouldn’t have to have dogs in your working life if you never chose this.
And it’s not me doing you a favor by accommodating your unique sensitivities; the default should be your version, not my version.