The workers behind the unionization efforts at Google are expanding to take on the whole Alphabet, the parent company of Google. They’ve formed Alpha Global to be a common voice for issues facing Google workers around the world and for people who are being negatively impacted by the actions of
Continue readingTag: Work
Things Are Good: Google Workers Create Union
Unions are a reaction to poor working conditions, and it’s clear that some Silicon Valley companies have created the need for unions. Google, which has been actively suppressing workers who stand up against injustices are now seeing their workers unionize. This is a symbolic victory for the labour movement in
Continue readingThings Are Good: Stop Interrupting People to Lower Stress
If you want to be a good boss please don’t interrupt your workers. If you are coworkers, please don’t interrupt each other. A recent study has shown that we physically react to stress in the workplace cause by interruptions. We can use this nugget of knowledge to create workplaces which
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for Canada
The economy isn’t performing too well right now thanks to years of thoughtless growth followed by the hit of COVID-19. The people most hurt by the COVID-19 crisis are the most vulnerable. It’s been widely reported on how women have lost a lot of gains made in the workplace as
Continue readingThings Are Good: Collision: Shaquille O’Neal Wants Your Life to be Steady
“Invest in things that are going to change people’s lives” – @JeffBezos advice to @SHAQ & why he invested in @thesteadyapp #CollisionfromHome #SteadyApp pic.twitter.com/I1yG2RNWtp — Aoileann Ní Chuilleanáin (@Aoils) June 23, 2020 Today at Collision conference Shaquille O’Neal made an appearance to promote Steady, a company that wants to help
Continue readingThings Are Good: Working Less is What We can do to Repair the Economy
Before the pandemic too many people spent too much of the time working instead of living. Now, the opposite is true with employers in North America firing people left and right because companies didn’t save a rainy day fund. Indeed, some companies aren’t paying rent and getting away with it
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Work and Workaholism: Puritanism, and A Day Off
This morning when I got up, feeling exhausted again from the on-going 30-year stint of sleeplessness and insomnia, I thought, I should take a day off – considering I pretty much never take a day off. (Some people imagine that writers and philosophers sit around all day staring at their
Continue readingThings Are Good: Unions Bring Big Benefits to California
If you work in a unionized environment you’re likely doing better than a person in a non-union environment according to a study done in California. You’re also less likely to make use of the state’s welfare system. What’s more this means that the whole state benefits from unions as more
Continue readingThings Are Good: This Company Pays Everyone 70k and it’s Thriving
A few years ago the CEO of Gravity Payments, Dan Price, decided to change the pay structure at his company to ensure a better and happier workplace. He decided to make the base salary $70,000 and it changed the lives of all employees for the better. The company has tippled
Continue readingThings Are Good: Successful People are “Lazy”
It’s ok to be lazy. In fact, incorporating come lazy behaviours into your work might make you more productive. As counter-intuitive as that sounds, it’s true. There are certain tricks that you can easily incorporate into your day to day at work to enhance what you do, even though others
Continue readingThings Are Good: Run a More Innovative Company Through Suggestions
To make a company more efficient and innovative all that’s needed is a suggestion box. It turns out that listening to employees can increase the effectiveness of a company no matter how you do it. So if a suggestion box is too old school you can use a Slack channel
Continue readingThings Are Good: Inspiration from the Past: Be Less Productive
The last century witnessed multiple calls for shorter work days (8 hours!) and more vacation time; this century we’ve been focussed on helping companies make more money. We presently live in a culture that values “productivity” over all else and many take it as a point of pride that they
Continue readingThings Are Good: It’s Time the Gig Economy Paid
Foodora workers are looking for justice for the way they have been ripped off and poorly treated by Foodora. Foodora is like any other gig economy company insofar that it takes an existing business model but places the operating costs onto independent contractors. Due to legal loopholes Foodora workers are
Continue readingThings Are Good: Work Less to Save the Planet
You already know you’re working too many hours, so let’s change that and save the planet in the process. Economic growth has physical limits and we’re hitting those already as we run out of finite resources, or those resources are getting harder and harder to reach like oil. So to
Continue readingThings Are Good: Four Day Work Weeks Increase Productivity, Decrease Stress
Working a job that is free of stress is rare, however there’s an easy way to make your current job less stressful: work four days instead of five. This is obvious, but what might not be obvious to some is that a four day work week is just as productive
Continue readingThings Are Good: Sick Days are Worth it
Showing up to your workplace sick isn’t good for anyone, yet people do it anyway. Obviously, the sick person would rather stay home to heal and feel better (nobody plans on getting their peers ill). Why is it then that we all go to work when we should stay at
Continue readingThings Are Good: “Hustle Porn” Losing its Appeal
The term “hustle porn” covers all those ridiculous Youtube videos about get-rich schemes and stories by so-called hard-workers making tons of money because they “work hard”. In practice these people are selling ideological snake oil and it’s hurting vulnerable individuals. They argue that hustling all the time will automatically lead
Continue readingThings Are Good: There are Benefits to Long Commutes
Long commutes feel like a slog, but there are benefits to sitting on a train and staring out the window everyday. Londoners have some of the longest commutes in Europe which has led to some neat research into the benefits of these long and regular journeys. On the way to
Continue readingThings Are Good: Want to Impress Your Colleagues? Be Honest With Yourself
Many people want to change how their coworkers or their boss views them in the workplace, and no matter the reason for wanting a change there are tons of suggestions on how to do so. Indeed the self help industry in the USA is worth $10 billion dollars! That’s a
Continue readingThings Are Good: Economists: Improve the Economy by Empowering Workers
Attacks on unions isn’t anything new, even when workers are asking for safer conditions or a little job security. What is new is that economists are starting to realize that we need stronger worker groups to advocate for labour or the economy as a whole suffers. Over the last few
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