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- Nice! These yoga exercises are not only relaxing through the promotion of better blood flow, but it also strengthens our bones. Highly recommended for everyone suffering from back tension.
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Carrie and Danielle
The go-to place for information, inspiration and how-to content on topics ranging from Beauty and Relationships to Wealth and Wellness.This Labor Day, how would you change our work culture?
Started by Daniel Gibbons · 9 måneder dage siden
In honor of Labor Day in North America, we turn to poet Kahlil Gibran who said, “Your work is your love made visible.” But somewhere between 9 to 5 and corporate policy the love is oh-so easy to lose.
Carrie says: Equal pay for equal work: SAME QUALIFICATIONS + ... Continue reading »
Carrie says: Equal pay for equal work: SAME QUALIFICATIONS + ... Continue reading »
10 måneder dage siden
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So employers need to think about more than the so-called 'bottom line' and remember that they employ human beings - flawed, imperfect, wonderfully unique human beings who need every aspect of themselves nourished. They need to provide wellness days rather than 'sick' days then many people wouldn't take days off when they simply need to sleep in for a while, lay in the sun, work in their garden, walk on the beach rather than 'pretend' they are sick in order to do any or all of these things.
We have bodies that need taking care of. We are NOT machines.
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Companies today see vacation time as a sign of weakness. We are made to feel guilty. I am going to take every hour afforded! It is part of my compensation!!!
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Move away from your desk, have a real meal, laugh and slow down. Get back to your job refreshed and refocused. Same time at work - more accomplished.
That's it. I'm starting a weekly lunch group.
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I have found everything my co-workers pine for in their work week is either within their control or available to them if they are willing to "pay the piper". As for the "maleness"and connotation of bitch if a shrewed business woman - I have found that language is mostly exacerbated by other women. Although I do know a few old boys here in the oil patch, they are becoming fossils.
(side note re: European holidays - there are more days but the cell phone goes with and the overall pay is less in terms of standard of living - I know - I am over here for a year; time off for child rearing is 4 months vs 12 for Canadians - may be slightly differnt for different countries but Canadians have it really nice in some respects)
I am definitely with Danielle on the abondonment of fluorescent lights and would like to throw out the "white noise" often piped in to offices as well.
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And I agree about the 4 day work week.
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Now I work in a smaller company (much closer to home which is the bonus) with very rigid rules. Two weeks vacation and you can't take it all at once; 9-5 in the office, no exceptions; and when you're needed, you are expected to work longer hours, no extra pay. However, when work is slow, you still have to be at your desk.
Unfortunately, I think for the most part, this is still the U.S. norm, and it doesn't make much sense. We shouldn't be living to work. We should be working to live.
If companies would consider their employees needs and adjust accordingly, they'd have much more productive, happier staffs.
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Most people that I talk to about this say "that won't work in my industry" but I think it could work in a number of industries - it just requires a complete reworking of our belief systems (i.e. we get paid for results not the hours we put at a desk).
I have to laugh at my union's employment agreement - 99% of it is focused on time and how to account for it and 1% on results. It really shows me why my workplace is so mediocre, when all anyone cares about is face time at a desk (doesn't matter what you're doing at the desk, you just have to be present).
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Why should I sit at work staring at the wall for 6 hours, if I'm done with all my work? I'm wasting the employers time as well as my time!!! AND we all know that TIME IS MONEY!!!!!!!!
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The other point is that based on the book"Go Put Your Strengths To WorK' - you'd be able to do what you do best and be able to say "You know - I'm weak at this skill - I'd rather not do it!" without fear of reproach or retaliation or being seen as lazy.
Ideal World: Seen as a strength to recognize and scknowledge what you are good at - what you "authentically" and intuitively are good at!
That would be heavenly and a relef..still looking for a boss who accepts this!?
Cheers
Mini!
10 måneder dage siden
We work way too much in this country, so first I would shorten the number of hour we work in a week to 35 hours. We also do not get as much time off as other countries so I would increase our vacation time to at least one entire month a year for every employee. People need additional time off during the year for any number of reasons, so I propose generous time off for maternity leaves (adoption included), sick leave and time off to take care of a sick member of your family,and bereavement leave.
I think businesses should be more sensitive to their employees needs such as healthcare, childcare and providing a place to exercise for their employees (an employee's gym). How can an employer provide all those things for their employees or why should they provide those added benefits? It is my belief that everyone would win in that kind of situation. Added production for the employer/company and peace of mind for the employees...a WIN/WIN proposition for all! Employees who have what they need to be happy and healthy are far more likely to stay with a company longer and work harder for that company as well. If companies would use the money they give their CEOs (huge salaries and bonuses) to pay for these beneficial changes for ALL employees they probably wouldn't have to find additional funding to implement these programs. And that is how I would begin to change our work culture!
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This, honestly, is a difficult answer to sum up. Outside of my current state of unemployment, I haven't taken a vacation from work for probably 3 years? Lunch breaks almost never happen until after I've been off of work. Or some 15 minute, suck-it-down attempt at "lunch". My last job had me working 50-60 hours a week for 40-hours of pay...and then tried to deny me pay when I became sick. I fought that one! I haven't had health insurance for years. Etc. So, as you can see, this is a loaded question for me.
At the very least, can we not all agree on some type of addition of a siesta culture? A little down time for some lovely lunch, chatting with friends or family, and maybe a glass of wine, would work wonders for my productivity.
Oh...and can we all stop feeling guilty for when we just do nothing?
Okay...I'll stop now. ;)
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If I could change our work culture, workplaces would be scattered throughout communities. People would have more ability to work from home and from community work centers (larger companies might have their own distributed work centers while employees of smaller companies could share).
If everyone worked from nearer to home a few days a week, it would cut down on traffic, we would be able to eat lunch with our families, and we would all be a lot less stressed. (Plus, we might have less pointless meetings if we only have face time a couple times a week.)
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That said, I do think being a stay at home mother should count towards acquiring social security benefits.
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1. Teach everyone that what you do is not who you are. It's ok not to love what you do if you can be grateful that you are providing for your family.
2. One year maternity leave + on-site child care.
3. Pay teachers more (see: www.theteachersalaryproject.org).
4. Get rid of the weird Social Security requirement that you can't work more than a certain # of hours while collecting benefits (otherwise you are hugely taxed), because our mature citizens have so much to offer society.
5. 35-hour work week, 4 weeks of vacation
6. Have high standards for what we do, yet be satisfied with doing less: "Quien mucho abarca, poco aprieta." (He who puts his arms around much squeezes little.)
7. Daily yoga classes. (hey, I can dream...)
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Danielle, I completely agree with your push for a 4 day work week. And I gave up pantyhose in the 70's (no one seemed to notice, and I was so much more comfortable), I fought the good fight against flourescents as well with a lot less success. When I worked in an office, I took a small desk lamp and turned off the overhead lights. That helped, but in the early 80's I started my own business work. Good decision, still working.
It's so reassuring to hear my younger sisters are keeping the second wave rolling,
Your organizationally-impaired sister in the march toward fair, healthy play in the workplace.
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On the idea of banning fluourescent lighting, I'd take it further. As an interior designer, I'm all for beautiful spaces, it enhances the soul, and I think, productivity. I have to laugh at myself when I get too carried away thinking about this, thinking of a comedy movie I once saw where Goldie Hawn played a socialite who felt her philanthropic contribution to society would be to decorate prisons. That was very funny to me, but isn't there some truth to this?
There are few things more depressing to me than poorly maintained cubicle-style workplaces, maybe something out of a non-descript town perhaps an insurance office, where workers sit like lemmings in dull gray lighting, with beige upon dingy beige partitions separating one worker from the next, who sit on cheap task chairs with maroon or teal colored fabric (why always these 2 hideous colors?). For this reason alone, I am unable to work in corporate America, my deathly fear of being relegated to a teal-colored task chair!
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That's the kind of world I want to live in.
When everyone can be supported to raise a family, be a valued member of society, take time out to rest and do work that is meaningful to them, imagine the kind of revolution that would occur! Imagine the energy as you walk through a crowd of people who are nurtured, fulfilled, relaxed and valued. Imagine the quality of relationships that might be possible in that world...
Then we could tell our children that they can be anything they want to be, and we would mean it, because we would be living it.
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May God be with you as you work the Twelve steps.
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We need to be more like the Europeans where most enjoy at least 4. Although i am a small business owner who can take as much vacation as i want, i can honestly say that i would work for the same money a salaried job would pay me, even LESS, to have time off when i need / want it. I could never go back to the work force simply for the fact that i may only get 2 weeks off per year.
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2. Pay a liveable wage to everyone - especially administrative workers, janitors, etc... who do so much, and get paid very little
3. 4 day work week - actually, this is quite easy to do; I work at a place where you work two extra hours each day during the week, and then you can take the 5th day off (I only participate in this during the summer months)
4. ban cubicles - I don't see how companies expect anyone to be really productive when you have no privacy and can hear everything happening around you - plus, as one person already stated, they are just plain ugly
5. invest in assessments that are designed to teach you what everyone does well, and then fashioning the work to capitalize on everyone's strengths
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