Overworking managers, underpaid workers?

It was announced this week that 90% of managers continue their duties outside office hours with up to 13% racking up a whole two days' worth of work per week, which of course is unpaid.

The rapid rise of technology not only means that emails and phone calls can be dealt with at home or on the move, but also a whole host of other tasks, such as research, planning or simply anything computer-based, can be performed whenever necessary. This includes at 10pm on a Tuesday evening, or on a supposedly lazy Sunday afternoon. Even worse whilst on holiday.

This isn't to say that it's only managers who are affected. Many workers will do overtime, pass up lunch breaks or see their weekends vanish before them in an attempt not just to meet deadlines and keep clients happy but also to go above and beyond what's expected in order to impress their seniors.

The question that has to be asked revolves around whether this is fair or not. Seemingly the traditional 9-5 job no longer exists - just ask a teacher how much marking, planning and preparation they are required to do once the school day ends. Should employees and managers alike be filling in timesheets to note every minute of work out of office, or would this just take up more time unnecessarily? Should smartphones be switched off and laptops be shut down at 5:30pm sharp, and remain so until 9am the next working day? Or, on the other hand, should workers continue how they currently are, but then they be entitled to extra days of holiday each year?

These are valid points that companies will need to address at some point in the future. Happy and healthy staff are invariably more motivated, positive and efficient; overworked people less so, and are more prone to stress problems and work-life balance issues.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28220312

The Existential Question of Hand Drying

In life there are some pretty important questions: why are we here? Is there a god? How did the earth start?

Well, new evidence was recently discovered to support the Big Bang Theory which, although far from conclusive, may lead to the further unraveling of this conundrum.

However, I'd like to focus on an issue much closer to our hearts, minds and more precisely hands. In an attempt to protect the environment and stop the poor polar bears from being stranded on their ever smaller blocks of ice, sanitary companies have invented high-powered super-efficient hand dryers. "Fantastic!" I hear you say. Not only do they vastly reduce paper waste, they also dry your hands more quickly. They are great, and save us the need to sprinkle the floor with drips and then finish off the drying process on our jeans.

Phoebe the Polar Bear's future has therefore been safeguarded. But hold on. Why is there a blue LED light shining on my hands? Do I not know they are there? Can I not feel the hot air on my hands, and perceive when they are dry already? I do not need a 'visible indication of the drying zone' as one manufacturer kindly points out, to undertake this exercise satisfactorily.

Admittedly LEDs use very little energy, but why not go the whole hog and remove them, potentially saving a huge quantity of watts?

Even more radically, do away with hand dryers completely and we can all revert to wiping our paws on our jeans to protect Phoebe. Although, dry cleaners' ecological footprints (and revenue) might rocket up...



Image from http://www.jetdryer.com.au/jetlite-jet-dryer/