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> Mayor Parker has cited the many thousands of city employees — sanitation workers, social workers, the water department — who never had the ability to work fro

> Mayor Parker has cited the many thousands of city employees — sanitation workers, social workers, the water department — who never had the ability to work from home. Of all of the flimsy, illogical and back-ass-wards excuses I've heard for returning to offices, this might be the flimsiest, most illogical, and most profound 180 from asswards I have heard. Of course some classifications of workers can't work from home. One cannot remotely pick up garbage, or service sewers from the comfort of their own sofa. What on earth does that have to do with all the kinds of workers who can? This will impact public institutions the same way it has been private ones. Those with options, the best workers, will leave, likely in droves, because they have seen what is possible and are no longer prepared to settle for what is expedient. The brain-drain is going to get quite real quite soon. Work from home is a boon to everyone in our society except commercial real estate investors and pushy middle-managers, it just is, whether you as a leader choose to recognize the benefits you reap from it or not, you are reaping them. Productivity goes up, carbon emissions go down, morale goes up, people have an easier time just... living in our modern world with a flexible schedule, saving money on eating out less, saving money on buying less gas and running cars into the ground much slower, on, and on, and on. This is a rare instance where basically everyone wins and paradoxically, that seems to be driving the leadership of some places even more insane. They just can not fucking deal with seeing their workers lives improve. It's hard to not reach for my tinfoil hat to explain this. I cannot fathom what the issue is, beyond the fact that workers are less stressed, less busy, and therefore consuming less... everything. Wasting less food, using less gas, buying fewer cars, etc. and like, I don't really think there's a shadowy room somewhere where the owner of the local gas stations is slamming his fist on the table about his sales being down, and the mayor promising to get people back to their commutes soon, but like... it's hard to see it as anything else than a deliberate middle finger to every WFH worker. "Yeah we know this works better for you and a ton of other people, but the downtown businesses are making less money and we can't have that. Go drive 90 minutes every day."

toomuchtodo 2y ago
If you can't beat 'em, interview elsewhere and flee low quality, malevolent employers. Mayor Parker controls her employees without caring about their wellbeing, and frankly, they have options. Unemployment is low, interest rate cuts are coming (which is going to fire the economy back up), and the federal government is always hiring remote [1]. Mayor Adams in NYC had to learn this the hard way as well [2] [3] [4]. These people always need to learn the hard way, because they're used to being in control, and no one gives up control willingly. "I'm the boss" mental model. "What Can NYC Do The City should take steps to modernize its hiring and retention practices, by implementing recommendations in the Comptroller’s office’s Title Vacant and the 5BORO Institute’s Solving the Staffing Crisis. Both of those reports recommend expediting hiring, allowing hybrid work for appropriate positions, reconsidering compensation levels for key hard-to-recruit slots, and designating Chief Talent/Recruitment/Retention Officer(s) to drive this work. In the recently-announced tentative agreement between the NYC Office of Labor Relations and DC 37 (the City’s largest municipal labor union), the parties agreed to establish a “Flexible Work Committee” to discuss options to provider greater flexibility and enhance employee morale, including remote work, compressed and flexible work schedules, and improve transit benefits. The parties’ goal is to begin a pilot program that includes remote work no later than June 1, 2023." [2] Note the union support in NYC; Philly's union is trying to fight Parker on the return to office mandate, but that will take time. Faster to bounce from the city for individual optimization. [1] https://www.usajobs.gov/search/results/?rmi=true https://www.usajobs.gov/search/results/?rmi=true [2] https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/understaffed-underserved/ https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/understaffed-underserved... [3] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/nyregion/nyc-workers-hiring-vacancies.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/nyregion/nyc-workers-hiri... [4] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/13/nyregion/labor-shortage-nyc-jobs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/13/nyregion/labor-shortage-n...
heraldgeezer 2y ago
Yea, with WTF It's less garbage on the streets, less commuting cars, less pollution.

toomuchtodo 2y ago

If you can't beat 'em, interview elsewhere and flee low quality, malevolent employers. Mayor Parker controls her employees without caring about their wellbeing, and frankly, they have options. Unemployment is low, interest rate cuts are coming (which is going to fire the economy back up), and the federal government is always hiring remote [1]. Mayor Adams in NYC had to learn this the hard way as well [2] [3] [4]. These people always need to learn the hard way, because they're used to being in control, and no one gives up control willingly. "I'm the boss" mental model. "What Can NYC Do The City should take steps to modernize its hiring and retention practices, by implementing recommendations in the Comptroller’s office’s Title Vacant and the 5BORO Institute’s Solving the Staffing Crisis. Both of those reports recommend expediting hiring, allowing hybrid work for appropriate positions, reconsidering compensation levels for key hard-to-recruit slots, and designating Chief Talent/Recruitment/Retention Officer(s) to drive this work. In the recently-announced tentative agreement between the NYC Office of Labor Relations and DC 37 (the City’s largest municipal labor union), the parties agreed to establish a “Flexible Work Committee” to discuss options to provider greater flexibility and enhance employee morale, including remote work, compressed and flexible work schedules, and improve transit benefits. The parties’ goal is to begin a pilot program that includes remote work no later than June 1, 2023." [2] Note the union support in NYC; Philly's union is trying to fight Parker on the return to office mandate, but that will take time. Faster to bounce from the city for individual optimization. [1] https://www.usajobs.gov/search/results/?rmi=true https://www.usajobs.gov/search/results/?rmi=true [2] https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/understaffed-underserved/ https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/understaffed-underserved... [3] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/nyregion/nyc-workers-hiring-vacancies.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/nyregion/nyc-workers-hiri... [4] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/13/nyregion/labor-shortage-nyc-jobs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/13/nyregion/labor-shortage-n...

heraldgeezer 2y ago

Yea, with WTF It's less garbage on the streets, less commuting cars, less pollution.