"Actually, every single cubicle has terrible Feng Shui. I checked."

[larryhammer]

Why a 40-hour work-week is not just a nice idea for worker happiness, but optimal for productivity. (via)

Retail stores with small sales staffs are not as profitable as stores with large, highly trained, well-paid staffs. (via)

Stop-motion live-actor corporate surrealism: Luminaris. (via lost in the browser tabs)

---L.

Comments

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

I figure if I'm dreaming about work - dreaming about problems, not nifty/elegant solutions - then I've been working too many hours. And with the type of work we're doing currently, that kicks in at about hour 45.

So I try to stay below 45 hours, knowing that I'll need to do some noticeable things somewhere in there to offset management's assumption that I "lack passion". I left my previous job when I became too wiped out to take it anymore; after six months of complete inactivity I still loathed my chosen profession, but the financial situation was getting grim. Since then, I've been slowly working toward a more sustainable outlook on the whole employment thing.

I did once mention to my manager that I felt overtime was unethical, and unproductive to boot; the response was dead silence, and I think that was only because I had a very good set of performance evals to lean on. Whatever their personal opinion might be, it's very hard to find someone in middle management who feels secure enough to even acknowledge such a position. In my experience.

Currently, management here is just as fried by overwork as everyone else, to the point where they can't make sound decisions anymore. And like the article said, when you're that tired you're just not aware of your own stupidity. So, things won't be changing anytime soon.

[larryhammer]

Same for me, about dreaming -- which kicks in a little above 45 hours. And yes, about sustainable pace.

---L.