Maybe it’s because all the younger generations really are smarter than mine (boomer). For most of my 50 years in the workforce, I was told:
I was lucky to have a job (justification for low wages, small raises, and no raises)
I had to go along to get along (justification for shitty working conditions, some of which contravened labour law and safety regulations)
I had to work hard to get ahead (justification for perpetual short staffing, stupid shifts, and excessive overtime)
I had to prove myself to get promotions (actually do the work of the next level up without the next level pay)
Training and certifications were for my benefit or just the cost of getting in the door (justification for the gutting and even elimination of on-the-job and employer-sponsored training as well as not having higher pay to go with more training and education)
For most of my working life, I took my father’s advice to demand both my legal rights and my human dignity at great cost to my employment success. The 15 years I tried it “the right way” just left me exploited and burned out.
If falling productivity is a result of people finally demanding that laws and human dignity be not just respected but honoured and advanced, then I say let it fall.
I’ve heard people say that maybe it’s time to reset productivity expectations or even redefine what is meant by productivity.
I think they make good cases for those things, but maybe it’s time for, I don’t know, something so radical as to be unthinkable. Like maybe it’s time for the business community to look inward for the problem.
All your points I lost belief in early in my career. I’ve got no certs, just a little bit of college education. I think I’m considered a millennial. So far, I’ve been right. I have 2 jobs, one of them I make >130k a year and the other >40k. I’m not working that hard, if I’m being completely honest. I also have a lot of costs and it’s still only enough to live pay cheque to pay cheque.
170k and still living paycheque to paycheque? That truly sucks. Honestly, I can’t even imagine it. My heart goes out to you.
We live in rural Saskatchewan in a self-renovated 1968 mobile home on a leased lot. That is the single best decision we’ve ever made. If we had stayed in Saskatoon, we’d be either still be working, maybe full-time, or destitute. As it is, our annual rent and taxes is about the same as the monthly rent is in our old apartment. Some careful budgeting, a garden, and plenty of fish from the nearby lake means that we actually have a pretty decent lifestyle on <40k (combined income).
That’s impressive for less than 40k. I’m definitely in a more expensive area and have a mortgage and several dependants so all that’s working against me too. Got lucky with the housing situation though and my mortgage is actually quite small, by a lot, compared to anyone else where I’m at.
Maybe it’s because all the younger generations really are smarter than mine (boomer). For most of my 50 years in the workforce, I was told:
For most of my working life, I took my father’s advice to demand both my legal rights and my human dignity at great cost to my employment success. The 15 years I tried it “the right way” just left me exploited and burned out.
If falling productivity is a result of people finally demanding that laws and human dignity be not just respected but honoured and advanced, then I say let it fall.
I’ve heard people say that maybe it’s time to reset productivity expectations or even redefine what is meant by productivity.
I think they make good cases for those things, but maybe it’s time for, I don’t know, something so radical as to be unthinkable. Like maybe it’s time for the business community to look inward for the problem.
All your points I lost belief in early in my career. I’ve got no certs, just a little bit of college education. I think I’m considered a millennial. So far, I’ve been right. I have 2 jobs, one of them I make >130k a year and the other >40k. I’m not working that hard, if I’m being completely honest. I also have a lot of costs and it’s still only enough to live pay cheque to pay cheque.
170k and still living paycheque to paycheque? That truly sucks. Honestly, I can’t even imagine it. My heart goes out to you.
We live in rural Saskatchewan in a self-renovated 1968 mobile home on a leased lot. That is the single best decision we’ve ever made. If we had stayed in Saskatoon, we’d be either still be working, maybe full-time, or destitute. As it is, our annual rent and taxes is about the same as the monthly rent is in our old apartment. Some careful budgeting, a garden, and plenty of fish from the nearby lake means that we actually have a pretty decent lifestyle on <40k (combined income).
That’s impressive for less than 40k. I’m definitely in a more expensive area and have a mortgage and several dependants so all that’s working against me too. Got lucky with the housing situation though and my mortgage is actually quite small, by a lot, compared to anyone else where I’m at.