Sounds like outdated businesses need to adapt.

Naw, screaming no one wants to work anymore should get wait staff back for sure.  These lazy people just need to learn to enjoy working for subminimum wages and stop being so entitled to thinking they even deserve minimum wages for their talentless work anyone can do.

Solution has to be banning that marxism they are teaching in schools these days that people deserve jobs that can pay their bills.

Plus isn't dine in mostly for boomers and large family get togethers anyway? Figured younger generation prefer fast casual.

Hilarious news that hybrid work is going to be the norm now for businesses that can do it. Executives noticed that employees were taking well to being forced back to the office but being managed by people working remotely, so they read the room and compromised forcing everyone back for three days a week, with the other two being remote.

Few holdouts on both sides, but most companies that can are moving to three day in office work weeks.

House GOP of course trying to pass a law banning work from home, but not likely to become lawm at least for now.

I thought hybrid working was normal in every job where available. Most companies in the UK have a hybrid model, either that or fully remote. Three days in the office is standard.

US have a lot of people screaming that remote work is making everyone lazy and entitled and pushing to end it entirely.

Still a lot of large groups forcing full time work in office work, with remote management, based on the belief that normal workers working from home are less productive, despite research finding the opposite.

May 31, 2023 15:25:56 GMT Emperor said:

I thought hybrid working was normal in every job where available. Most companies in the UK have a hybrid model, either that or fully remote. Three days in the office is standard.

I'm supposed to be in the office 2-3 times a week.  I am in the office maybe once a week. Yesterday it ended up being a whole 2 hours because I got there and someone had taken my keyboard and mouse so I attended my meeting, struggle around a bit on my laptop and headed back to my home office. 

May 31, 2023 15:28:52 GMT c said:

US have a lot of people screaming that remote work is making everyone lazy and entitled and pushing to end it entirely.

Still a lot of large groups forcing full time work in office work, with remote management, based on the belief that normal workers working from home are less productive, despite research finding the opposite.

I think it really depends on the individual. For instance, some days at home I'm more productive and some days less, but I think that's the same at the office. I sometimes work my own hours if I'm less productive in a day so I make that up during off hours, but sometimes that bites me as vendors and site work during the day. 

I think a remote office gives people freedom, but in some cases too much freedom. I know for sure there is one of my team members that fully takes advantage of working from home in that she can answer her phone and emails remotely and even work from anywhere so she'll go shopping, have people over, go over to other people's houses, garden etc. during company hours. Now a case could be made that so long as any urgent orders and requests are handled that technically it shouldn't matter her working hours so long as she works the 8 hours she'd billing for.  On the other hand, our business hours (are supposed to be) Mon-Fri 8am-5pm. Is she (or even I) providing the same QUALITY of work we would be in a forced office environment during those office hours that our vendors and field workers are working? I think that's the issue. 

People who do other things while working from home are the same that would be playing around on the internet all day at the office. Generally it is a matter of work load and oversight, not where exactly they are working.

May 31, 2023 16:55:36 GMT c said:

People who do other things while working from home are the same that would be playing around on the internet all day at the office. Generally it is a matter of work load and oversight, not where exactly they are working.

That's the most common sense you've shown on this subject in months. We are making progress. That's a compliment.

The tide is turning with business owners, but giving workers a taste of freedom then asking them to wear their chains again is not going to go well.

For what it's worth I'm reasonably anti the work from home thing. What you lose is the casual interactions at the coffee machine and elevators, while they seem pointless to some, it is how a lot of innovations happens.
Some jobs it works for in certain specific industries...

But the flip side as I keep pointing out, is that if you prove your job can be done from anywhere, why not Manilla or Mumbai.

That's one thing I've always been concerned about with working from home, jobs that are fully remote can probably just be outsourced eventually or combined together with several other positions. And sure there's slight bitterness to never been in a luxurious position to have the opportunity...

Jun 1, 2023 21:53:43 GMT @ness said:

That's one thing I've always been concerned about with working from home, jobs that are fully remote can probably just be outsourced eventually or combined together with several other positions. And sure there's slight bitterness to never been in a luxurious position to have the opportunity...

There's a range of workers like you @ness and I work in manufacturing where the bulk of the work revolves around a site and doing things. In this case is it fair that some of the functions which can be done remotely when the lowest paid workers role up onsite every day? A decision above my paygrade....

But...

If you have a business that revolves around the production of X it is a fair request that all workers revolve around X that it in front of them every day and becomes part of their DNA.
Anecdotally I watched one of the biggest companies in my industry tank their market position, around the same time they moved their HQ into the city and I to swish corporate suites where they could have been an insurance company... Did they die because they moved their HQ? No but because they lost the manufacturing out of their DNA which is why they moved their HQ out of a manufacturing site.

I sympathise with people wanting to work from home, but it is going to make companies generic and bland. What is a company without a culture and an identity?

Seeing rumblings that a rural mail carrier shortage is growing. They were already working extremely short, then a new system to determine their pay was put into place giving 66% of them pay cuts, with many reporting it is about 25%. So they are walking as were already fed of the low pay and insane amount scanning and logging they have to do. For many going to Amazon is a pay increase, and less stressful.

Rural peeps gonna soon have to start picking up their own mail if this keeps up. Or they will have to contract out to Amazon, which they already do in many places for Sunday mail.

Also looks like TSMC may not be able to last in the US market. They are a Taiwan chip company trying to compete with Intel in the US by running things like a Chinese corporation. They expect employees to work 2 to 4 hours a day off the clock, US management cannot speak with upper management and they demand 18 months overseas training. All for 60k with a master degree, 35k without. Seeing a 20% turnover rate and are one of the lowest rated companies on Glassdoor right now. For the same jobs, intel pays 25% more for a 40 hour week.

Likely the company if it survives the labor law violations, will collapse from mismanagement in the US. They wanted to train up 2000 people by now, so far they only did 600, many of which already quit. They started the cycle of complaining that no one they try to recruit wants to work, and there is no talent in the US to support this plant. Intel is facing neither of those problems.

The thing to remember about Amazon is those Amazon drivers don't actually work for Amazon, they are all contractors who can and will be fired at a moment's notice if they don't meet their metrics. Very clever union busting technique because even if every DSP unionizes and Amazon boots them all, no problem because USPS is always the last line of defense. Amazon delivers their own... until they don't. We have an amazon warehouse on the SAME STREET as our PO and we still do all the amazon deliveries because we're considered rural. And if I've learned anything working here is that rural delivery is unprofitable and private industry will not touch it like we do. Without the PO a lot of those communities would simply be told to get fucked. If places like UPS and Amazon did do it on a large scale, it would be massively expensive to make it worthwhile.

Dejoy wants to change the game (I dunno if it's his idea to pay out his XPO buddies or if it was already happening) and immitate the amazon game with giant warehouses instead of smaller local PO. Right now they're trying to send carriers to these warehouses to save on fuel and truck costs. In some ways it makes sense as a test market because there are admittedly a lot of little POs close by. But whatever fuel you save... is eaten up when a mailman has to drive an hour away to start his route LOL. Our area keeps expanding and when it expands it means MORE Amazon crap, not first class mail so buildings need to be spacious. That makes sense for larger warehouses, but it's not a 1 stop for all postal needs. Probably why it's merely being tested at the moment.

The rural side is just so fucked up. I think they need to just go hourly and merge with the city carriers. A larger single union would do better than 2 little ones. City wants it, but rural higher ups do not... but stuff has to change because things are held up by tape right now. PO works simply because they find a way. Cross crafts, stolen work that doesn't get grieved... somehow the work gets done. If rural carriers start walking enmasse (which isn't hard to do if you're not about to retire) it's gonna snowball to the city side who might also walk because of overwork.

"The mail never stops"

Hell we've been delivering Amazon on Sundays for a decade now. I really don't think people outside understand how much volume we get and how much subsidizing we do/did for Amazon. So when people say "Amazon delivers it all". Not even close. And with their similar "churn and burn" model... it's unsustainable on many levels. Hell it was reported (maybe even this year) that places like Walmart and Amazon have run out of potential new hires, having gone through them all. We have a similar turnover rate but the only reason we might not have hit everyone yet is our hiring process is ridiculously slow. If the end of the tunnel was a sweet government pension it might be worth it, but you still have to pay dues as a temporary employee until you earn a spot. The spot? Same pay and little benefits like Amazon and Walmart so people just quit in short order. If we hired anyone right away... we'd hit the same wall. If it's all the same... might as well work for a DSP because at least you can pay your bills NOW not 6 months from now. It makes no sense why it takes so long with our turnover. Wasted time and resources.

But I'm just a lowly grunt, what do I know about running a service business?

I think what will happened is likely the opposite. Instead of merging with city carriers, rural people will be told to get fucked and forced to fund their own post offices. GOP wants rural mail privatized and many of the idiots are for it, not realizing it will mean they have to pay for mail delivery, either outright or in steep tax increases.

Merge with city carriers and everyone goes down though.

In a lot of places Amazon is shifting to their own fleet of carriers as well and ditching USPS and UPS. Thinking they are planning on taking on UPS and FexEx in the future. And yup, they are all independent contractors so Amazon is not liable for injuries.

A generation from now if we haven't been privitized completely I could see a complete reimagining of what the mail even is. I really see post-boomers that regular letters are only sent for special occasions. It won't be cheap stamps and junk mail anymore. Parcels and court summons only.

Really feel like the only reason we operate at a loss (cost of doing business really) for so long is the government likes having access to all the population with our every door every day guarantee. Plus they like sending out free political ads.

Weird how corporations insist on mailing us shit, but also do not want to pay to support the mail system.

Within the next decade basic mail will likely be done via drones. Zipline tech is already doing deliveries in parts of the US. Others are trying to enter the market, but Zipline is far ahead having already solved a lot of design problems before opening in the US at all.

I'm pretty convinced based on the conversations I have with the boomers at my work that they just like going to the office because they don't really like their families. So because they've run out of things to talk to their partners about the rest of us are stuck commuting.

I've put together probably the best crew I've worked on as a carpenter in close to 20 years(2005?), me and 4 guys so 5 total. One guy in particular jumped in with me with no experience in October 2021 and has done nothing but giant mammoth houses with me, 31 years old really small guy like 125 pounds but he's turned into a real bad ass. It's been awesome to see the kid's confidence grow and really makes me wish my older son would have stuck it out with me through the last couple years. Another guy I hired around the same time has also learned a lot but is super unreliable, misses a day a week guaranteed and hasn't learned as much as the other guy. But still a good part of the family and is really good at specific tasks that I have trained him to focus on. I hired 2 of their friends a few months ago and it's a great group, great synergy on the job. My throat muscles were sore last week from laughing so much. It's been fun.

My main two guys have come a very long way and without my brothers around I have been able to really shine as a leader. We are set to get this house decked(the roof plywood on) this week its only our 5th week and it's a big one. I'm paying my top guy $18 an hour, my other guys $16 and the newest guy doesn't have nail bags and wears flip flops(can't get on the roof) I pay $13 an hour(he seems happy with it). Seems really low I'm sure but I don't make much more than that and barely cover nails(prices have doubled on those). While my guys have gotten a lot better I still have to get hands on and do practically everything all day. Not many guys that write the checks do stuff that I do on the job(I'll be the one pulling up and slamming every sheet of plywood next week). But I really do love it and it really makes me feel healthy and happy. We've come a long way guys.

When we started the house I put up marker/paper now hiring signs around the town where I'm building the house, had 4 guys come out and drop off after a day or so. All they did was drink all of my water and hound me on friday for a one day check for watching me and the guys work. I've been blessed for the 4 guys that I got, I've adapted a more laid back Al Davis/John Madden approach and definitely got like a 70s Raiders vibes going. I even pointed it out on the job Friday how similar everybody looked the older guy(3 years older than me) looks like Ken "The Snake" Stabler, my main guy the little dude is like Fred Biletnikoff, my guy that misses every week is Bo Jackson part time after baseball season motherfucker, and the new guy big jacked up dude in flip flops is Howie Long looking motherfucker. It's on man, hopefully everybody shows up tomorrow haha. 

Jun 5, 2023 0:40:14 GMT @admin said:

I'm pretty convinced based on the conversations I have with the boomers at my work that they just like going to the office because they don't really like their families. So because they've run out of things to talk to their partners about the rest of us are stuck commuting.

Boomers (despite now likely having adult kids) Gen Xers and Millennials that have kids will tell you, work is a break from home. 

And there's nothing wrong with that.

The funny thing with boomers is the sole thing that is allowing them to remain employed in the US is labor laws they passed prevents them from being fired or discriminated against in terms of pay raises. Otherwise most would have been fired by now as their cognitive decline started as they are high pay / low productivity on average. And they will not retire as they do not want to be home, or think they will be bored without work since they have no hobbies and do not know where to start getting them.

Most companies have several they want to leave but will not remove because it is cheaper to pay them, than risk a lawsuit from them. At the aerospace plant I worked at one guy clearly had dementia but they still let him work, and just assigned someone else to review everything he did. Had another one that sent us work requests that were told not to fill anything someone came down and verified them as he would request parts we did not have for jobs we did not do.

At the supermarket was a guy I worked with that barely knew what was going on and we had to constantly apology for as he would make really dated comments to women. Nothing over the line, but like shit a grandfather would say that inches towards that line in regards to what they were wearing. He could not carts, the bottle room or returns. He only bagged, and even then mostly others helped him.

Jun 5, 2023 3:41:29 GMT Neo Zeed said:

I've put together probably the best crew I've worked on as a carpenter in close to 20 years(2005?), me and 4 guys so 5 total. One guy in particular jumped in with me with no experience in October 2021 and has done nothing but giant mammoth houses with me, 31 years old really small guy like 125 pounds but he's turned into a real bad ass. It's been awesome to see the kid's confidence grow and really makes me wish my older son would have stuck it out with me through the last couple years. Another guy I hired around the same time has also learned a lot but is super unreliable, misses a day a week guaranteed and hasn't learned as much as the other guy. But still a good part of the family and is really good at specific tasks that I have trained him to focus on. I hired 2 of their friends a few months ago and it's a great group, great synergy on the job. My throat muscles were sore last week from laughing so much. It's been fun.

My main two guys have come a very long way and without my brothers around I have been able to really shine as a leader. We are set to get this house decked(the roof plywood on) this week its only our 5th week and it's a big one. I'm paying my top guy $18 an hour, my other guys $16 and the newest guy doesn't have nail bags and wears flip flops(can't get on the roof) I pay $13 an hour(he seems happy with it). Seems really low I'm sure but I don't make much more than that and barely cover nails(prices have doubled on those). While my guys have gotten a lot better I still have to get hands on and do practically everything all day. Not many guys that write the checks do stuff that I do on the job(I'll be the one pulling up and slamming every sheet of plywood next week). But I really do love it and it really makes me feel healthy and happy. We've come a long way guys.

When we started the house I put up marker/paper now hiring signs around the town where I'm building the house, had 4 guys come out and drop off after a day or so. All they did was drink all of my water and hound me on friday for a one day check for watching me and the guys work. I've been blessed for the 4 guys that I got, I've adapted a more laid back Al Davis/John Madden approach and definitely got like a 70s Raiders vibes going. I even pointed it out on the job Friday how similar everybody looked the older guy(3 years older than me) looks like Ken "The Snake" Stabler, my main guy the little dude is like Fred Biletnikoff, my guy that misses every week is Bo Jackson part time after baseball season motherfucker, and the new guy big jacked up dude in flip flops is Howie Long looking motherfucker. It's on man, hopefully everybody shows up tomorrow haha. 

Dude THIS is what PW needs man. Tales from roofing man.

"Smoked a bowl and the guys totally ribbed me by taking away the ladder. Swanton'd off the gutters onto the nearby trampoline. Hurt like a bitch still but no sold it to work the boys"

Imagine having the stones to drink the water, depleting resources from the ones doing the actual job... and still expecting a check. Then again least they didn't wear flip flops I guess WTF. Nobi is like the perpetual leader of this wrestling stable. Influx of talent, some show promise but ultimately there's only one star. It's now no longer a stable, it's just Nobi as a Heenan style manager for tons of scrubs trying to get over.

Dude I wish I could hear tales about the craft of it. Nobi giving that HHH Tough Enough speech every morning.

This is the work related content PW needs.

It is unreal how many different groups are on strike right now. Everyday reading about another group striking. Hollywood on strike. Journalists on strike. Ports on strike. Civil servants on strike. People at smaller companies striking with a new strike starting almost daily.

Seems people are once against discovering the power of unions and this will be the decade of workers. And this is a bell that will not be easily unrung, as the striking workers are routinely seeing success, leading more to unionize.

And talk of trying a general strike is starting again, but unlike in the past, many are taking it seriously as now it is feasible.  Not happened in 100 years, but occured in very similar times.

Jun 6, 2023 4:13:11 GMT c said:

It is unreal how many different groups are on strike right now. Everyday reading about another group striking. Hollywood on strike. Journalists on strike. Ports on strike. Civil servants on strike. People at smaller companies striking with a new strike starting almost daily.

Seems people are once against discovering the power of unions and this will be the decade of workers. And this is a bell that will not be easily unrung, as the striking workers are routinely seeing success, leading more to unionize.

And talk of trying a general strike is starting again, but unlike in the past, many are taking it seriously as now it is feasible.  Not happened in 100 years, but occured in very similar times.

This is how we go from pull to push inflation.
Everyone wants more money and cheaper prices.... Which is like wanting to eat more cake and weigh less.

Our minimum wage just got put up this week:

www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/news/awr-2023

the National Minimum Wage will be increased to $882.80 per week or $23.23 per hour


That was announced last week and this week the RBA put interest rates up another 0.25%

It is getting ugly pretty quickly here....

That is funny as construction will be one of the first fields taken over by AI robotics.

Not in our lifetimes.

I got to start saving now so I can buy a few AI robots helpers in the future, maybe I will be able to control them via neurolink to build a house. That does sound way safer and actually bad ass. It will probably have a catch though, you’ll have to pay annual subscription for the robot instead of outright buying them one time, like the programs on my laptop.