it's always funny how managers are obsessed with efficiency for the front line, yet waste months and years in the corporate office. Half of white collar workers do jack shit, yet they attempt to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of the real workers.
Anyway, gotta get to work, where I'll spend the majority of it on Substack, Reddit, and Youtube.
That was a great essay, and I enjoyed your two additions to Graeber’s taxonomy. I was a high school teacher many years ago, and there were so many senseless meetings and other tasks we had to perform because of “tradition keepers.” And I love that after Adrian left there was a whole category of work that no longer got performed, and no one missed it!
I like roundabouts! Here’s my state’s helpful instruction guide on how to use them: https://wsdot.wa.gov/travel/traffic-safety-methods/roundabouts Says here they reduce injury and fatality collisions by huge amounts, I think because they prevent t-bone collisions and control speed.
And great great points re: workers’ rights, especially letting them sit. I’ve been angry about it since I lived a year in Germany and realized it wasn’t a disability accommodation for this one cashier - they just get to do it!!
I also agree about chairs at the supermarket, we have that in the UK also.
I had never heard about “just in time” scheduling, that is barbaric! Right now my job is in a slow phase. I am using the time to catch up on things I didn’t get to during last year, and getting ready for what I know will be an insane time, only 2 months from now! The US has a lot to learn from industrial practices in Europe. Giving adequate time off does not hurt a business!
Finally back to traffic, it took me a while to get used to it but I do like turn right on red, but please do not institute that in the UK!!!!
A funny story from my trip to New Zealand in 2017, they, like the UK drive on the left. That was not an issue for me but for some reason the turn signal control was swapped with the windscreen wiper control. It became a running joke that when I wanted to turn right or left I would show this by cleaning the windscreen! After 2 weeks in NZ I then did the exact same thing on my return to the US having just learned how to do it right in NZ!!!!
I love the story about the mixed-up turn signal! And yes, I agree that we are actually more productive and better at our jobs when we’re not ground down to abject, exhausted misery. Hopefully one day just-in-time scheduling will go the way of other workplace abuses and become unacceptable.
Here's a practice in Switzerland that I absolutely wish we had in my current workplace.
First, all companies must record the working hours of their employees, and compensate any overtime either with extra pay or extra paid holiday. None of the "we pay you minimum wage for 35 hours, but actually you work 55" kind of thing you see in the service industry over here.
Secondly, you cannot make employees work more than 45 (or 50, depending on job type) hours a week, even if you pay them overtime. (There are some reasonable exceptions in the law, but it's for a lot more than just "business needs".)
Of course, clocking in and out might not work for people in higher management roles with a lot of autonomy but a need to step in when there's a crisis - even if that means cutting short a booked holiday. But some employers abused that ruling in the past, I think in one case declaring their cleaners as having "cleaning management responsibilities". So, since 2016, the law is that you can only exempt someone from the strict overtime rules if they have significant responsibilities and you pay them 120'000 CHF a year. You need your programmers to work weekends to hit deadlines and come in on call at night if the server goes down? No problem, just pay them 120k a year OR ELSE.
That money won't stretch to a yacht on the lake of Zurich, or even to owning your own house in the city centre. But it is more than enough to comfortably live off.
Thank you so much for this comment and for the link. I know the Swiss rules about overtime well, because my husband has several direct reports, and he is careful never to send work emails over the weekend, because he doesn’t want his colleagues to think it’s ok to work on the weekend. (He often writes them on the weekend, but he sets them to send at 6am Monday.) Another Swiss practice I love is that everybody takes a real lunch. Many businesses even close for 90 minutes around lunchtime, as I’m sure you know. It’s so much more humane!
My daughter Miranda loves Aldi, and one of the reasons why is that the cashiers get to sit down. When I worked in the hospital as a nurse, we had chairs that were the right height for our computer carts. Occasionally someone talked about eliminating them because they were a fire hazard, or some such nonsense. I think we all would have walked off the job if they had gotten rid of our chairs. Finally, just-in-time scheduling is evil. It's so disrespectful of workers. I really feel American capitalism has gone off the rails. Corporatization means that management doesn't want to pay their workers even though their business wouldn't last without workers. That way of thinking is so unrealistic and dumb, and yet, employers keep trying to pay less and less for labor. I've been thinking about these issues a lot lately because of how bad the health care environment is. Make the bosses work one day without breaks or chairs and see how they feel. Or, pass laws to protect workers.
It would be insane to deny nurses a couple of moments here and there to sit down, given how physically exhausting the job is! It’s all part of the same issue: employers have decided that they can make more money if they make life as miserable as possible for workers, even if that means higher worker turnover. It is, as you rightly say, “unrealistic and dumb.”
Oh wonders, there actually IS one right turn-off lane in Bern that I know of (I don't have a car, so there may be more...), namely coming down the hill from the Paul Klee Museum, crossing of Schosshaldenstrasse and Laubeggstrasse.
I have never lived anywhere but the US, but I like the idea of allowing cashiers to sit, and making sure everyone has a predictable schedule and adequate vacation and sick time.
Not a fan of traffic circles, though, mainly because in my region they are a relatively new thing, and people can't seem to navigate them safely. In places where they are familiar, they can be fine, but where I live, the traffic circles are a menace.
As always, I learn so much and am given much food for thought from your articles. I do need to comment about traffic circles. Traffic circles used to abound in NJ, where I have lived for 77 years. Many have been changed to other traffic patterns. However, we do travel around 2 when we drive from our home here in Little Egg to Medford, NJ. And there is a huge problem, not with the basic concept of traffic circles, but with the drivers. I know the following sentence is a broad generalization, but here goes…Many, many drivers do NOT follow the rules, thereby, making the circles dangerous.
I have wondered about the standing. I've never explored it. Thank you. Good way to start the day thinking about these basic human needs and how badly we serve them in U.S. workplaces.
it's always funny how managers are obsessed with efficiency for the front line, yet waste months and years in the corporate office. Half of white collar workers do jack shit, yet they attempt to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of the real workers.
Anyway, gotta get to work, where I'll spend the majority of it on Substack, Reddit, and Youtube.
I’m assuming you’ve read Bullshit Jobs, by David Graeber? It was eye-opening for me!
Literally my fave. Also recommend the book Fake Work.
https://klauskinski.substack.com/p/data-analytics-in-the-world-of-bullshit?s=w
That was a great essay, and I enjoyed your two additions to Graeber’s taxonomy. I was a high school teacher many years ago, and there were so many senseless meetings and other tasks we had to perform because of “tradition keepers.” And I love that after Adrian left there was a whole category of work that no longer got performed, and no one missed it!
Yup, no one even knows why people still do it, just that we've always done it.
I worked with one executive you used to say "X is standard for the industry." Like, dude, you're keeping someone else's tradition!
Klaus speaks highly of that book!
Let them sit! Costanza would be proud.
I like roundabouts! Here’s my state’s helpful instruction guide on how to use them: https://wsdot.wa.gov/travel/traffic-safety-methods/roundabouts Says here they reduce injury and fatality collisions by huge amounts, I think because they prevent t-bone collisions and control speed.
And great great points re: workers’ rights, especially letting them sit. I’ve been angry about it since I lived a year in Germany and realized it wasn’t a disability accommodation for this one cashier - they just get to do it!!
Yay! Team roundabout!
100% agree about roundabouts! This is the one I learned to drive on in my home town Swindon, England: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+magic+roundabout+swindon&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:b75a9e13,vid:6OGvj7GZSIo,st:0
I also agree about chairs at the supermarket, we have that in the UK also.
I had never heard about “just in time” scheduling, that is barbaric! Right now my job is in a slow phase. I am using the time to catch up on things I didn’t get to during last year, and getting ready for what I know will be an insane time, only 2 months from now! The US has a lot to learn from industrial practices in Europe. Giving adequate time off does not hurt a business!
Finally back to traffic, it took me a while to get used to it but I do like turn right on red, but please do not institute that in the UK!!!!
A funny story from my trip to New Zealand in 2017, they, like the UK drive on the left. That was not an issue for me but for some reason the turn signal control was swapped with the windscreen wiper control. It became a running joke that when I wanted to turn right or left I would show this by cleaning the windscreen! After 2 weeks in NZ I then did the exact same thing on my return to the US having just learned how to do it right in NZ!!!!
I love the story about the mixed-up turn signal! And yes, I agree that we are actually more productive and better at our jobs when we’re not ground down to abject, exhausted misery. Hopefully one day just-in-time scheduling will go the way of other workplace abuses and become unacceptable.
Here's a practice in Switzerland that I absolutely wish we had in my current workplace.
First, all companies must record the working hours of their employees, and compensate any overtime either with extra pay or extra paid holiday. None of the "we pay you minimum wage for 35 hours, but actually you work 55" kind of thing you see in the service industry over here.
Secondly, you cannot make employees work more than 45 (or 50, depending on job type) hours a week, even if you pay them overtime. (There are some reasonable exceptions in the law, but it's for a lot more than just "business needs".)
Of course, clocking in and out might not work for people in higher management roles with a lot of autonomy but a need to step in when there's a crisis - even if that means cutting short a booked holiday. But some employers abused that ruling in the past, I think in one case declaring their cleaners as having "cleaning management responsibilities". So, since 2016, the law is that you can only exempt someone from the strict overtime rules if they have significant responsibilities and you pay them 120'000 CHF a year. You need your programmers to work weekends to hit deadlines and come in on call at night if the server goes down? No problem, just pay them 120k a year OR ELSE.
That money won't stretch to a yacht on the lake of Zurich, or even to owning your own house in the city centre. But it is more than enough to comfortably live off.
(reference, by the way: https://www.seco.admin.ch/seco/de/home/Arbeit/Arbeitsbedingungen/Arbeitnehmerschutz/Arbeits-und-Ruhezeiten/Arbeitszeiterfassung.html and you can switch the page to English if you like)
Thank you so much for this comment and for the link. I know the Swiss rules about overtime well, because my husband has several direct reports, and he is careful never to send work emails over the weekend, because he doesn’t want his colleagues to think it’s ok to work on the weekend. (He often writes them on the weekend, but he sets them to send at 6am Monday.) Another Swiss practice I love is that everybody takes a real lunch. Many businesses even close for 90 minutes around lunchtime, as I’m sure you know. It’s so much more humane!
My daughter Miranda loves Aldi, and one of the reasons why is that the cashiers get to sit down. When I worked in the hospital as a nurse, we had chairs that were the right height for our computer carts. Occasionally someone talked about eliminating them because they were a fire hazard, or some such nonsense. I think we all would have walked off the job if they had gotten rid of our chairs. Finally, just-in-time scheduling is evil. It's so disrespectful of workers. I really feel American capitalism has gone off the rails. Corporatization means that management doesn't want to pay their workers even though their business wouldn't last without workers. That way of thinking is so unrealistic and dumb, and yet, employers keep trying to pay less and less for labor. I've been thinking about these issues a lot lately because of how bad the health care environment is. Make the bosses work one day without breaks or chairs and see how they feel. Or, pass laws to protect workers.
It would be insane to deny nurses a couple of moments here and there to sit down, given how physically exhausting the job is! It’s all part of the same issue: employers have decided that they can make more money if they make life as miserable as possible for workers, even if that means higher worker turnover. It is, as you rightly say, “unrealistic and dumb.”
In the US cashiers at Aldi get to sit. Because Aldi is European!
Whoo hoo Aldi!
Oh wonders, there actually IS one right turn-off lane in Bern that I know of (I don't have a car, so there may be more...), namely coming down the hill from the Paul Klee Museum, crossing of Schosshaldenstrasse and Laubeggstrasse.
Aha! You are right! I have waited at that stoplight many times, on foot, and have observed the cars turning!
I have never lived anywhere but the US, but I like the idea of allowing cashiers to sit, and making sure everyone has a predictable schedule and adequate vacation and sick time.
Not a fan of traffic circles, though, mainly because in my region they are a relatively new thing, and people can't seem to navigate them safely. In places where they are familiar, they can be fine, but where I live, the traffic circles are a menace.
I think traffic circles only work if everyone understands the concept. Otherwise, they can be chaotic.
As always, I learn so much and am given much food for thought from your articles. I do need to comment about traffic circles. Traffic circles used to abound in NJ, where I have lived for 77 years. Many have been changed to other traffic patterns. However, we do travel around 2 when we drive from our home here in Little Egg to Medford, NJ. And there is a huge problem, not with the basic concept of traffic circles, but with the drivers. I know the following sentence is a broad generalization, but here goes…Many, many drivers do NOT follow the rules, thereby, making the circles dangerous.
This is a good point. It is true that traffic circles work so well in Switzerland because everybody, and I mean everybody, follows the rules.
You know mom sometimes you make me question why I wanted to go to college in the US so bad
But your college is so wonderful!
I have wondered about the standing. I've never explored it. Thank you. Good way to start the day thinking about these basic human needs and how badly we serve them in U.S. workplaces.
Yes! Being able to sit down just seems so basic.