Kinja reply list

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Goozled-comJay Hathaway
4/10/14 1:00pm
Dear France,

We Americans would like to swap our politicians for yours so we can come up with sensible workplace solutions such as this one.
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  toothpetardGoozled-com
  4/10/14 1:10pm
  Maybe they'll invade and liberate us.
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  sanjurokurosawaGoozled-com
  4/10/14 1:32pm
  Good luck writing your email on a French computer. Because the laptops and smart phones we use today were made by workaholics.
  
  Just put it on paper and the French mail system should have it there in 5 weeks.
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nopunin10didJay Hathaway
4/10/14 1:00pm
Uh, how is this going to work for IT? Servers in a datacenter don't always care what time it is.
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  kristinbytesnopunin10did
  4/10/14 1:07pm
  I'm sure there are specific work rules for the various situations. Perhaps you have to hire different people to cover those shifts instead of having a bunch of poor bastards who are always on call. Of course, many in America will argue that this will lower wages. Except in America, work hours keep increasing while wages are flat or decreasing - it's corporate profits that are up.
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  nopunin10didkristinbytes
  4/10/14 1:18pm
  I could see having other shifts of people on call, but you might still need the advice of the day-shift developers. Maybe they should consider rules on overtime pay for the workers who normally end their days at 6 PM but might still be needed after in emergencies.
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phunkshunJay Hathaway
4/10/14 12:55pm
Good. I like it when labor wins. It's funny..you know..it takes a bunch of proles to show that there's more to life than killing yourself for money.
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  HypnoCatphunkshun
  4/10/14 12:59pm
  Agreed. I am old enough to remember a time when after 5:30 on a Friday, you really didn't expect to get a response from someone until Monday morning. Or when they were on vacation.
  
  I know, I'm dating myself.
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  HermanCushyHypnoCat
  4/10/14 1:06pm
  Ugh me too. I think people were just as productive.
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MuscatoJay Hathaway
4/10/14 1:06pm
Very good. I wish we could do the same. The idea that everybody's work needs to be a 24/7 commitment is poisoning American society. It's certainly making me crazy.

I work for a very large organization, in which a lot of our work is time-sensitive, deadline-driven, and in general high pressure. In the last year, I've changed positions to lead a unit in which that isn't the case. Our work is important, of high quality, and highly valued, but it can and should be accomplished in at most a 40-ish hour week. And yet I still have to sometimes go around and shovel colleagues away from the desks an hour or even two after the business day ends, negatively task them not to complete projects overnight or on the weekends, and frequently remind them that our leadership has explicitly given us the mandate to work in a way that allows for careful study, deliberation, and a balance with our private lives that keeps us alert and focused on our larger goals. And still I have people begging to have a BlackBerry and setting themselves lunatic deadlines. Americans are gluttons for punishment!
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  toothpetardMuscato
  4/10/14 1:08pm
  I'm going to hold down this chair and leave at noon, because I have a poor attitude. But I will have a pretty good afternoon in which I will buy no products nor absorb programming from sponsors.
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  StenchofaburnerMuscato
  4/10/14 1:18pm
  Americans are gluttons for punishment!
  
  I think it's fear (and well founded fear, in many cases I might add). I certainly experienced it when I worked for an American corporation (in the US and abroad). The fear is that if you don't do it, someone else will and then that someone else will get the promotions, perks, salary increases, etc. There was no need in my job for anyone to work more than 40 hours per week. Yet, everyone was emailing after hours and during weekends. We even had a specific manager that would be upset if we didn't respond on a Sunday. So, guess what happened? Everyone was emailing and connected in excess of 80 hours a week, even if it was just to keep the pretense of availability going and nothing was time sensitive.
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toothpetardJay Hathaway
4/10/14 12:59pm
35 hour hour work week!? How dare they not give all available hours to their Job Creators?
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  cheerful_exgirlfriendtoothpetard
  4/10/14 1:45pm
  I know! Last I checked there were 168 hours in a week, it's pretty thankless to give so little to the providers!
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  toothpetardcheerful_exgirlfriend
  4/10/14 1:51pm
  I do most of my emailing while I sleep, this allows me more time to affect Merit during the day.
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KarenDelaneyWalkerJay Hathaway
4/10/14 1:17pm
I overheard our supervisor saying that the only way to get ahead was how he did it, which is to work tons of overtime (lunches, nights, and weekends) without asking for compensation. 1. I think he is overestimating how much overtime he worked, and 2. That shouldn't be the only way to get ahead.

FYI - I work for the federal government.
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  foolyooKarenDelaneyWalker
  4/10/14 1:23pm
  so colluding on the breaking of federal laws regarding overtime compensation?
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  KarenDelaneyWalkerfoolyoo
  4/10/14 1:27pm
  Pretty much. He would never tell us we have to work overtime but not ask for compensation to our faces, but - particularly with all the budget issues - it is assumed that since some of our work is very time sensitive that we'll get it done regardless of what it takes.
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klemjohansenJay Hathaway
4/10/14 1:02pm
This reminds me a little of a theory a friend of mine had years ago: very often, a person who uses the word "overachiever" as a negative adjective has very achieved very little themselves.
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  toothpetardklemjohansen
  4/10/14 1:11pm
  Right? Did you see what I achieved with that LA Gear contract? BAM! Right out of the park.
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  TomSpanks12klemjohansen
  4/10/14 1:35pm
  I'm assuming by "friend of mine," you mean "father" or "sixth-grade gym teacher."
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Jay HathawayJay Hathaway
4/10/14 5:37pm
Turns out that although the unions involved represent nearly 1 million employees, only 250,000 or so will actually be affected by the new rule. Also, the employees affected by the agreement already tend to work longer than 35 hours, so although they won't have to answer email outside of work, 6.p.m. isn't a specific cutoff time.
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not sure if seriousJay Hathaway
4/10/14 1:07pm
Wow. I still get phone calls, texts and emails from a job I left seven months ago. Most of the time I ignore it. Guess they shouldn't have assumed I was bluffing and did the right thing when I left is my attitude.
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  Muscatonot sure if serious
  4/10/14 2:06pm
  When I left my last job, I made it clear I would be happy to assist them after my departure. And that $xxx.00 was my consulting rate, with a three-hour minimum. Worked like a charm.
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ArkJay Hathaway
4/10/14 2:03pm
Why can't the US be as enlightened, too? "Work yourself to death for pennies" Protestant work ethic is bullshit.

Healthcare paid for, good wages, good working hours and conditions...sounds like paradise to me. What's the downside? No billionaires? Cry me a river...
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  thehoopoe3Ark
  4/10/14 2:48pm
  20% structural unemployment for young people is the downside.
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  TheRealThangArk
  4/10/14 2:58pm
  "Protestant work ethic is bullshit."
  
  works fine for the job creaturs and how dare you talk about the work ethuc of my pursonal Lord and Saveour Jesus Christ.
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