What are you guys paying for gas?

Something I think the future may hold: In the same way there are conceptual payroll models like differential pay for those who work nights, or hazard pay for those on the fireline, there could be something like Presence Pay - a per-hour increase in pay for those who physically must be at a work location.

I know it sounds silly to those in construction or other fields where remote work was never an option. Believe me, I am married to a nurse. That said, the shift in culture for those who sit in front of computers all day seems nearly absolute over the last two years.

$3.99 at Costco in Helena for regular fuel.
 
This is an interesting discussion.

Three things that concern me about the work-from-home revolution are A) downward salary pressure once market conditions change in favor of employers, B) what if “home” isn’t in the US? and C) if these jobs can be accomplished in just a few hours a day, companies may realize they have too many employees doing too little.
C is definitely real. Most people I know work from home and one of the reasons they don't want to go into the office is because they can get all their work done in 5-6 hours at home and don't want to just do busy work for a few hours a day in the office.
 
when I was "younger" I loved driving turbo diesel pickups, didn't matter what fuel cost as long as I was blowing black smoke, then around 50-55 somewhere I began driving F-150's, mileage wasn't much or sometimes any better but the ride was better .....
Yesterday I ordered a Subaru Forester (ya ya I know....), when I get it I'll add some suspension and tires and maybe one of those little aluminum trailers (also will tow the drift boat with it) for hauling elk quarters, since I am and plan on staying SEMI retired, when it's not
hunting season my Forester will have handyman tools in the back and there'll be an "older" 3/4T at home for any bigger jobs I might get talked into - It will seem alot nicer to get 30+ mpg mosty of the time than whatever I've had before ...... gradually (or abruptly) fuel prices ain't comin' back down over the
long run
 
C is definitely real. Most people I know work from home and one of the reasons they don't want to go into the office is because they can get all their work done in 5-6 hours at home and don't want to just do busy work for a few hours a day in the office.
Agreed, the 8 hour work day should be challenged.

Unfortunately in this country we ignore science, data, and reality.

European countries like Germany figured out quite a while ago that workers are more productive working shorter hours and weeks.

Busy work annoys people, and productivity suffers.
 
i think you're overthinking it.

it's a quality of life thing.

employee's want higher quality of life. employers want things to remain as they always have been. ergo the tension.

really not much more complicated than that.
That's one way to look at it. There are others. If those employees really want flexibility they should just work for themselves, but they don't want that responsibility.


What you see with people is they want the flexibility of being their own boss, flexibility, good pay, but they really don't want the responsibility or work hours involved with being self employed.

This is why Uber, Grub Hub, etc are so popular because people get the feeling of working for themselves, the flexibility, etc, but they can just turn the app off when they don't want the responsibility.

That's also what you see going on now. Lots of folks who want to be paid a full time wage but in reality only want to do a few hours of work from home each day so they can do whatever they want the rest of the day while the company pays them. They don't want the responsibility or long work hours, they just want the $. This is great if folks can find a small business who is willing to provide that kind of job flexibility, its' their $ so they can spend it how they want. But when it's a government job it's 'a different story as those are taxpayers dollars being wasted. In those situations where a job only requires a few hours of work there should likely be adjustments made so the jobs are full time to protect the taxpayers interest.

People will do the least amount of work possible in many cases. Finding those jobs where someone can do a few hours of work from home but still be paid as a full time employee are going to be what folks want. The challenge there is can an employer get enough value out of 2-3 hours of work to pay someone a full time wage. There may be people who can provide full time value for the company working 2-3 hours, but the reality is most people don't have the skills to bring $100-$200+ per hour of value to the company for that to pencil out.

I think most employees forget that the company has to be making enough $ from their work to pay them and still cover all the other costs of running a business and make a profit.
 
Very well put, Prairie Hunter. Employees, for the most part, want to make the most money for the least possible amount of work. Employers essentially want the opposite. Right now, the balance is tilted in the favor of employees but it won’t always be.
 
That's one way to look at it. There are others. If those employees really want flexibility they should just work for themselves, but they don't want that responsibility.


What you see with people is they want the flexibility of being their own boss, flexibility, good pay, but they really don't want the responsibility or work hours involved with being self employed.

This is why Uber, Grub Hub, etc are so popular because people get the feeling of working for themselves, the flexibility, etc, but they can just turn the app off when they don't want the responsibility.

That's also what you see going on now. Lots of folks who want to be paid a full time wage but in reality only want to do a few hours of work from home each day so they can do whatever they want the rest of the day while the company pays them. They don't want the responsibility or long work hours, they just want the $. This is great if folks can find a small business who is willing to provide that kind of job flexibility, its' their $ so they can spend it how they want. But when it's a government job it's 'a different story as those are taxpayers dollars being wasted. In those situations where a job only requires a few hours of work there should likely be adjustments made so the jobs are full time to protect the taxpayers interest.

People will do the least amount of work possible in many cases. Finding those jobs where someone can do a few hours of work from home but still be paid as a full time employee are going to be what folks want. The challenge there is can an employer get enough value out of 2-3 hours of work to pay someone a full time wage. There may be people who can provide full time value for the company working 2-3 hours, but the reality is most people don't have the skills to bring $100-$200+ per hour of value to the company for that to pencil out.

I think most employees forget that the company has to be making enough $ from their work to pay them and still cover all the other costs of running a business and make a profit.

no. i kinda just feel like you're looking at it through a biased lense of "people are lazy."

i would argue that if people want flexibility they should work for someone else, not themselves. i hardly know anyone with less free time than those i've met/know who start/own their own businesses. higher risk too, people typically don't want more risk.

it's the boomer mentality of "this is the way we've always done it."

when it becomes clear that certain paradigms are wasteful and actually counterproductive to society they need to change. and those that have been a part of the paradigm the longest are the most resistant to a new one. when millenials are of boomer age alot of us will be making the same mistake. i just hope i'm smart enough at the time to shut up and get out of the way of the younger, smarter, more ambitious ones.

gotta lose the bias and talk about it for what it is. has nothing to do with laziness.

in any event 90% of employees have only been bringing 4-6 hours of work to the table for decades, many decades. 4-6 hours at home or 4-6 hours at the office, tomayto/tomahto 🤷‍♂️

grubhub and uber are fools errands FWIW. i feel sorry for anyone who gets duped into that thnking they'll be their own boss and do anything but lose money and time.
 
C is definitely real. Most people I know work from home and one of the reasons they don't want to go into the office is because they can get all their work done in 5-6 hours at home and don't want to just do busy work for a few hours a day in the office.

There are some interesting studies showing that some people work more at home than they do in the office. You'll also see studies to the contrary.

I think it would be a mistake to generalize any group in this- from employees to generations. There are certainly lazy folks out there. One of the chief skills managers and business owners will have to develop, is how to hold people accountable and yet still offer flexibility. This isn't easy, and no one has perfectly figured it out, but be sure that old ways won't cut it.

And I think it is worth mentioning that everything hinges on businesses being successful - whether it is the business you own or work for, or the businesses and their employees that pay the taxes that fund your public sector gig. I believe this is the proper attitude to have within reason. In a very high level but real way all are on the same team.
 
no. i kinda just feel like you're looking at it through a biased lense of "people are lazy."

i would argue that if people want flexibility they should work for someone else, not themselves. i hardly know anyone with less free time than those i've met/know who start/own their own businesses. higher risk too, people typically don't want more risk.

it's the boomer mentality of "this is the way we've always done it."

when it becomes clear that certain paradigms are wasteful and actually counterproductive to society they need to change. and those that have been a part of the paradigm the longest are the most resistant to a new one. when millenials are of boomer age alot of us will be making the same mistake. i just hope i'm smart enough at the time to shut up and get out of the way of the younger, smarter, more ambitious ones.

gotta lose the bias and talk about it for what it is. has nothing to do with laziness.

in any event 90% of employees have only been bringing 4-6 hours of work to the table for decades, many decades. 4-6 hours at home or 4-6 hours at the office, tomayto/tomahto 🤷‍♂️

grubhub and uber are fools errands FWIW. i feel sorry for anyone who gets duped into that thnking they'll be their own boss and do anything but lose money and time.
Thanks for proving my point. As you said people don't want risk, they don't' want to work full time, they don't' want responsibility, they just want the $. Some may consider that lazy.
 
Thanks for proving my point. As you said people don't want risk, they don't' want to work full time, they don't' want responsibility, they just want the $. Some may consider that lazy.
You're old school...that model isn't going to work for the modern worker.

Adapt or die or have a bunch of culls punching in 8 hours trying to look busy...or hire people that are good at their job and quit worrying about when, where, and how they do it.

Give them the work and leave them alone...if it takes them 4 hours a day and 20 hours a week, great. If they want to work 10 hours a day and takes them 50 hours, great.

As long as the work is done, who cares?
 
This outside my expertise, but I believe we domestically produce the oil that is used to make gasoline. The oil from keystone or that which we important is necessary to run the refinery but not create gasoline.

The syncrude that is the product of the tar sands is indeed turned into gasoline, diesel, etc. Every crude produces different ratios of various products, but if they don't yield gasoline and diesel, a refinery would have no interest in refining it.
 
no. i kinda just feel like you're looking at it through a biased lense of "people are lazy."

i would argue that if people want flexibility they should work for someone else, not themselves. i hardly know anyone with less free time than those i've met/know who start/own their own businesses. higher risk too, people typically don't want more risk.

it's the boomer mentality of "this is the way we've always done it."

when it becomes clear that certain paradigms are wasteful and actually counterproductive to society they need to change. and those that have been a part of the paradigm the longest are the most resistant to a new one. when millenials are of boomer age alot of us will be making the same mistake. i just hope i'm smart enough at the time to shut up and get out of the way of the younger, smarter, more ambitious ones.

gotta lose the bias and talk about it for what it is. has nothing to do with laziness.

in any event 90% of employees have only been bringing 4-6 hours of work to the table for decades, many decades. 4-6 hours at home or 4-6 hours at the office, tomayto/tomahto 🤷‍♂️

grubhub and uber are fools errands FWIW. i feel sorry for anyone who gets duped into that thnking they'll be their own boss and do anything but lose money and time.

Watching porn, having sex... whatever the salacious headline of @PrairieHunter article said, from a productivity and widgets perspective no difference than Mr. Gibbons here.



i would argue that if people want flexibility they should work for someone else, not themselves. i hardly know anyone with less free time than those i've met/know who start/own their own businesses. higher risk too, people typically don't want more risk.

Hard to argue MDs are lazy.

 
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