Want happier employees?
No, not really.
- The owner class
Want happier employees? Start with a 32-hour workweek – and 4 weeks vacation.
Submitted 2 weeks ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to workreform@lemmy.world
Comments
MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
elvith@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
that’s a bit unrealistic. The expected answer is “will this make line go up?”
el_muerte@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
No. Happier employees almost always do make the line go up in the long term, but most employers don’t understand that, can’t look further ahead than the next quarter, and think of an employee is happy it’s a sign they must be slacking off.
refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
Nah. It’s “will this make line go up by next quarter?”
Short term profits are the only profits that matter to high frequency stock traders.
DarkFuture@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Lol. This country just voted to move in the opposite direction of this. We voted for less worker rights. Less power for the average person.
At this point, we’ll need to start utilizing our 2nd amendment right if we want to get anything better than what we have. People died to give us the 40 hour work week. Looks like that’s going to have to happen again for any further improvements.
Smarter countries did it without the bloodshed. America isn’t that smart.
Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
My dipshit coworkers think trump will actually be good for unions. Mfers.
I’d like to add that 32 hour weeks is pretty much purely something that works for white collar work. It’s considerably harder to implement in blue collar settings.
Formfiller@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not true. The electricians in my area work 7 hour days and the sheet metal workers get every other Friday off.
CompleteUnknown@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The mental gymnastics required to believe that hurt my brain.
Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
It’s not, really. It would be easy to implement at any company that makes a decent profit margin. Productivity goes up with shorter working hours, anyway.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
My dipshit coworkers think trump will actually be good for unions. Mfers.
Are y’all in a union? If so, you should see if you and your friends could maybe schedule an appointment with an organizer at your Local, who might be able to walk these chuds through it.
dogs0n@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Is the reason it wont work in blue collar settings that it’ll inflate prices of stuff too high? Possible making the country fall back in a global stance on pricing on exports, etc (not conpetitive)?
lime@feddit.nu 2 weeks ago
four weeks? hell no, i’d walk from any interview that attempted to strip two weeks of vacation from me.
Tja@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Exactly. The “wild fantasies” of Americans seem to be “below average” European.
Soulg@ani.social 2 weeks ago
Cuz we get so much less
Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
32hr workweek as a transition period down to 24 or even 20. 4 weeks PTO for new hires or something, add 2 weeks per year up to like 8 or 10, or even 12?
Fuck capitalism.
Wanpieserino@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
That’s how I sounded like before I got married and became a father. Now I want to be CFO instead. Funny how that goes.
Bless capitalism
10001110101@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
If you’re implying you want to spend as much time away from your family as possible, you could just get a divorce. Wouldn’t have to sell all your life to shareholders then.
GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
You know, you could just talk with your wife and/or find something more worthwhile to do than putting in the maximum physically possible hours at work.
Or just get a divorce, because that’s faster and cheaper than avoiding your family until your wife divorces you and your kids resent you, and has the same end result.
Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Man having a wife and kid made me want to be at home more, not less. I would leap at the opportunity to have 32 hour weeks and tons of vacation. I would even consider going into the office a second day of the week for that.
SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
I always wonder why people like this are on here.
LePoisson@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Sitting at home on my toilet married with a child. So I feel equally qualified to say this as you.
Fuck capitalism and that exploitation. What, you used to have empathy and care and now you’re a selfish asshole? How is that good, it’s definitely not funny, it’s just sad.
crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Lmao they don’t want happier employees they want more money
Therobohour@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Wait,you guys don’t get that? Shit I’m.here in Northern Ireland and that would be less than standard. That’s what we give teenagers,hell,most teens would not take that deal. When did America start treating the worker so bad? Like 1865?
ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
America was built on treating the worker badly. Most of the first people that came here were either slaves or indentured servants. Now we have prison slavery and wage servitude.
The only thing that has ever really improved in American labor is actual safety standards for work environments, equipment, etc. We do a great job of prioritizing that. But actual workers are viewed as expendable, and many of the largest employers are just meat grinders even if they offer half-decent benefits. Walmart is a good example of that
Therobohour@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s such a bummer when I hear about the burial lack of workers rights over there. How is there not mass migration to Europe?
Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
“But worker rights that is socialism! Socialism is evil because the soviets say they are that!”
Therobohour@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yea everyone knows how that great socialist state of ireland
NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
we never stopped. One week vacation per year is considered a perk at most jobs that offer it.
Therobohour@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
One week? Do you get like 46 days of bank holiday?
Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
You have 32h/week as a standard?
Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Yeah its slowly becoming the standard
Therobohour@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Well full time is 36plus i think
faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Legally, I get 1 hour of sick leave for every 40 hours worked. And this is a pro-worker state, most states don’t mandate any sick leave at all.
Therobohour@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
1 hour of sick a week ? That doesn’t make sense, you can’t plan being sick. How does that work? What if your sick fir one hour and ten minutes
insaneinthemembrane@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
32h work week?
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Want happier employees?
“No.”
WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 2 weeks ago
“If the have time to be happy, they have time to be more productive! Increase the targets and quotas!”
technomad@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
And also pay us a fucking livable wage that’s been adjusted for inflation and productivity gains over the years for fucks sake.
Wanpieserino@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
How are you alive without having livable wages
idiomaddict@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I rely on community support, like most people. That can be your spouse, parents, or government benefits, in addition to things like food donation programs.
danielquinn@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
4 weeks is still not on par with other civilised countries. Living here in the UK now, 5 weeks is standard. When I was in the Netherlands I was getting six.
DarkFuture@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Know what really hurts?
Running into foreigners in your own city who tell you about how they’re on a multi-week vacation to America and they’ll probably do it again to another country again next year. I’ve had that happen multiple times while out at bars in my city.
Meanwhile, I’ve barely crossed state lines in my entire adulthood because it’s hard to even get a 3-4 day extended weekend.
America sucks y’all.
Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Join a union. I work part time in America. After just one year of working I had 3 weeks of vacation. After 3 I now have 4 weeks and am taking my 2nd international trip of the year and 3rd vacation trip of the year.
Or better yet, unionize your own workplace with vacations as the primary demand
Professorozone@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Don’t forget the healthy dose of salary and humane treatment.
barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Your premise is flawed in the first sentence - “Want happier employees?” No American employer cares about that in the least. Being happy at being allowed to keep their job and keep showing up to collect your meager pay is about all you can expect.
glitchdx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
came in to comment effectively this., but you phrased it better than I would have.
“But happy employees naturally work harder” yeah, but so do desperate employees, and that also satisfies corpo desire for abusable slaves.
dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
I just want to say that I work for an amazing boss in the UK as a software developer and a few months ago we all got pay rises and a reduction in hours. We now work 33 hours a week instead of 37.5. We get 4 weeks holiday and an extra day added after each year of work up to a total of 25 days (five weeks).
We can be sick without being moaned at and they truly do put us first and the work second. I’ve had a lot of jobs before I sorted my life out (like 50+) and I swear I have PTSD from the old ones in that I can’t believe how nice my boss is as every other have been for corpos who somehow manage to get some other poor idiot to treat you like shit whilst paying you minimum wage and expecting maximum effort.
You can see that having 50 jobs meant I was not really one to take the bullshit and I would just lose the job for giving them my thoughts.
SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Incredibly relatable.
abff08f4813c@j4vcdedmiokf56h3ho4t62mlku.srv.us 2 weeks ago
Also worth mentioning from the article,
I work fully in the office. But I think remote work is better for work-life balance. I don't have the option to work remote
Well, why not? Covid showed how great this can work .. but so many companies went back to 20th century norms as soon as the pandemic ended*
- AS per https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/who-pandemic-not-emergency-1.6833321 the global emergency ended on May 2023 - almost two years ago to the day, but covid itself still circulates.
twice_hatch@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
Maybe he is a hardware toucher
jj4211@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
My experience is that in person and remote favors different sorts of tasks. For me I have both so I think hybrid is the most ‘productive’, though I’m much happier with the ‘remote’.
So on pure productivity, I could see some roles favor in-person.
But if you want to more cheaply recruit and retain, favoring remote is certainly going to help.
I really want a new normal of shorter hours, though that might be a trickier discussion so long as we have very highly utilized labor pool.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Productivity has been universally higher on every job that moved to remote, tracks those metrics and makes them public.
tauren@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
But companies don’t want happier employees. With that title this article will never break out of the echo chamber and reach employers.
Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I worked for an employee owned manufacturing company for near ten years. The philosophy of our company was, “the essence of life is relationships”.
The founder of the company was the only religious person I knew who actually followed it’s teachings, he sold his stock to the company for less than it was worth until we were 100% employee owned. The stock price then shot up from $200 a share to $6k a share in ten years.
The company understood the importance of working ideas from the bottom up, (involving the lowest ranking employees just as much as the highest ranking). We understood the importance of company culture, and even had teams of people to make sure the needs of our employees were being met.
We had a supervisor who by all accounts was a fine supervisor on paper, however he rubbed every single employee the wrong way, he was a cunt if i may. With the support of all of us, we were able to, I don’t want to say get rid of him, it sounds cold, but his name came up on our (truly anonymous) survey one year the company asked him to resign, and he did.
The owner passed away in 2018, and shit got squirrely from there, i left during the pandemic. CEO and highest ranking positions then changed hands to folks not there at the founding of the company, I felt the culture shifting and left due to personal reasons. The stock has since tanked.
I dont understand why these companies don’t see the importance of uplifting their workforce.
I’ll never find and employer like that again i think. It was a magical decade. Of course my stock is tanked now, im to be cashed out this year.
The ladder has been pulled right before my time my whole life so this osnt new. I went from having enough for a down payment on a house, and now i wont even beable to afford a car lmao.
Critical_Thinker@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
I’ve seen this happen to multiple people. Join a startup with good perks, listen to the siren song of “the stock price will go up!” while the owners are out getting offers for their shares, then the owners sell out or the company tanks and you’re left with nothing despite having millions just a couple years ago on paper.
The key is to sell out once you have enough that it makes enough to impact your life. 500k or more is enough to escape poverty for almost anybody for life.
Even if you just sold it as it vested you would probably be better off.
LePoisson@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Wow that’s absolutely fucked. But at least you had some nice years. Sorry to hear that about the stock.
Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Eh… They’d prefer to double down on the happiness beatings.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I would literally take a life for that work balance.
thatradomguy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Ikr. I can’t even find time to go to gym cuz of commute. That alone just drains whatever energy I had left from the day and so I just scrap by with the few things I can do later in the evening. Sucks man.
dogs0n@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
The next ad you see: “The only device that lets you work-out, on your way-out to work!”
A sad world indeed.
mrodri89@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
4 weeks vacation is too small.
Make it 8. Rest is fine.
match@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Do companies want happier employees?
lost_faith@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
If they ever figure out that happier employees are more productive therefore giving the co more money, but for that you need to look past the next quarter
Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Start paying people enough that they can actually live instead of struggling just to keep their heads above water.
queermunist@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Best I can do is a free slice of pizza for Employee Appreciation Day
nimble@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
You get pizza!? I get a very heartfelt email from our company president
lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 2 weeks ago
That goal is too modest. We shouldn’t settle until Keynes prediction of a 15-hour workweek is fulfilled.
UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Unfortunately the leading point of view from employers
Is that if an employee is happy with their job… THEY ARE NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH.
They feel that ONLY those who hate their jobs … are efficient
burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
i dont WANT happier employees i want MONEY!
rumba@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Pay enough for them to afford two kids, a house and a car without dual-income and don’t have them work so many hours they can’t enjoy them.
kandoh@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Okay i agree now what
robador51@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Want higher productivity? …
FTFY
MystValkyrie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
I deeply wish this would happen, but know it would never happen in my lifetime in my country.
I’ve been working full time, sometimes overtime, for almost five years out of college. I want to practice piano more. I’d love to volunteer. I want to go outside more. I’ve always wanted to spend a month backpacking in the Pacific Northwest. It’s been my lifelong dream to write a book.
I’m so exhausted after work every single day that I can only get myself to play piano for a half an hour, and then play video games or read until I pass out before my bedtime.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No matter how valid the premise is, the headline will have zero impact on anybody who makes business decisions. It should say, “Want More Productive Employees? Start with yada yada…”
shininghero@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
32 hour workweeks AND lower the overtime threshold to match. And that’s just using my office job as a basis.
The threshold from part-time to full-time will also need to be lowered accordingly
13igTyme@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Don’t forget keeping yearly salary the same.
TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No. American corporations absolutely do not care about how happy their employees are. They only care about maximizing profits, and the best way to do that is to squeeze as much productivity out of their workers while also paying those workers as little as possible.
They know the workers aren’t there to find fucking happiness. Few are so privileged. Most people go to work not because it makes them happy, but because they need the god damn money, to keep a roof over their head and to put food on the dinner table, and as everything gets more expensive, the workers need more and more money, to stave off homelessness and destitution. Happiness, Jesus Christ. What a luxury!
The purpose of capitalism isn’t to make people happy. It’s to make profit for owners. That’s it.
coaxil@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
It’s not even about max productivity, as it’s well established over long run you get better productivity in many jobs working 4 days and better vacation etc, the suffering is literally the point for many of these fucks. Whether they admit this outright or not
TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s hard to explain, but I have a hard time believing it’s just sadism. Maybe it has to do with the productivity gains from a four day work week taking time to realize. Like you said, over the long run you get better productivity, but maybe the corporations are just more interested in short term profits.