Morale at Work

[Davejam]

Morale is probably at a 4.
I feel like opinions on politics, vaccines, etc come in to play.
And frankly I don't care about people's opinions on those topics.

Also, those that were working from home are in some cases returning to the office.
They aren't that happy about that. But also the people that have been working the whole time don't want to hear their complaints.

Hiring difficulties and or self-inflicted freezes over the past few years have some people doing a brunt of the work.

All that aside, you need to put your head down and keep working at a high level.
How you perform and earn in times like these will set you apart.

 

[Job]

Morale must be pretty high at companies whose stock is through the roof and people bought the stock early. Not so high at minimum wage jobs when houses start at over a million, Silicon Valley.
I remember in 1974 with a new baby and good job looking at houses in Palo Alto for 30 k. Went to SanJose for 21k first. Anyway the moral of the story is how nice that was to have a dream to work towards achievable. Todays kids, a lot of them, are priced out of it. Nothing is more demoralizing than thinking your whole life is going to be work, struggle just to pay rent, die.
BTW there is nothing at all special about PalAlto and the surrounding area. There is a duck pond at the bay lands. Drive anywhere and the drive spoils the whole thing, for me anyway. It’s a town with houses and streets.

 

[nickaluch]

Morale must be pretty high at companies whose stock is through the roof and people bought the stock early. Not so high at minimum wage jobs when houses start at over a million, Silicon Valley.
I remember in 1974 with a new baby and good job looking at houses in Palo Alto for 30 k. Went to SanJose for 21k first. Anyway the moral of the story is how nice that was to have a dream to work towards achievable. Todays kids, a lot of them, are priced out of it. Nothing is more demoralizing than thinking your whole life is going to be work, struggle just to pay rent, die.
BTW there is nothing at all special about PalAlto and the surrounding area. There is a duck pond at the bay lands. Drive anywhere and the drive spoils the whole thing, for me anyway. It’s a town with houses and streets.

I feel bad for some of these kids. I saved and put my daughter's through private college and made sure they took the correct path to achieve success in the corporate world. So far so good. Education and guidance is from parents are key

 

[PandaBear]

DSOs are everywhere offering a large lump sum for you to get rid of the "headaches" of management. They'll give you a 7-figure sum up front and promise you that you can use all the same materials and do things your way. They take a % of your production forever which unless you are older (and in that case, the upfront sum is much smaller) completely wipes out the upfront $ and eventually they dictate everything about your practice from what materials you can use, to how you schedule, to the procedures you need to do.

Delta Dental, started by dentists in 1950's and historically very easy to work with is now run by savage MBA honeybadgers who ****. After 10 years of no to very minimal fee increases, they hatched a plan to decrease reimbursement 30% over the next 3-years which would put their fees at about Medicaid levels. They believe they can do this because they are typically the largest dental insurer in most states. With 55% overhead which is typical for a dental practice, you'd break even seeing DD patients. If your OH is higher you lose money. Of course, DD customers aren't seeing any savings and their premiums are going up too. Did I mention DD had record profits the last few years and their executives are now the highest paid in dental insurance?

DD HMO is the worst, they are no longer accepted by most dentists here and the ones who accept them would ask you to schedule 3 months ahead of time or they have 2 / 5 stars reviews due to some shady practices. Most often you would want to sign up for a PPO dental plan and pay more. Employers know this and they do offer PPO, just many people didn't know how bad DD HMO really is.

 

[PandaBear]

Fair enough, but where ever this stupid incentive plan came from, it's horrible to work under.

True, also forgot to mention that Japanese employment is temporary until you become full time (like the tenure in the US university professor's career). 1/3 of their employees are perpetual temps and some are still temps after working their jobs for 20 years. These guys can be easily laid off.

 

[PandaBear]

I feel bad for some of these kids. I saved and put my daughter's through private college and made sure they took the correct path to achieve success in the corporate world. So far so good. Education and guidance is from parents are key

It's not that "it requires" someone to work 60 hours a week to, "maintain a livable wage". Rather it's the fact many of today's young people are just plain stupid with their money. They want, and try to buy everything they see. And they save virtually nothing in the process.

They buy a $700.00 I-Phone, when they could get by with a $100.00 Motorola. They have to have a $55K SUV or pickup, instead of a $25K Toyota that gets twice the mileage. They whip out credit cards, instead of saving and paying cash. You are starting to see the result of these foolish personal economics. Most don't have a dime saved for any type of emergency.

When I worked overtime, (which was ALL THE TIME), I saved every penny of it, and easily lived on 40 hours. I didn't have a 2,700 sq. ft. house like people buy today. Instead it was barely 1,000 ft. It suited me just fine for over 9 years, until I paid it off. I've never had a mortgage since.

To this very day I have only owned 5 new cars in my entire life. (I just turned 69 last week). 3 of them I still own and drive. I've worked with people who were buying new cars even before they paid off the one they were driving. It's insane. They end up spending more than they earn. Most of it on depreciating assets. And this is becoming the norm in today's society.

People today don't realize that it's not what you make. But rather what you do with it AFTER you make it. Think of it as farming. A farmer buys seeds and plants them. After allowing those seeds to grow into crops, he then harvests that crop as a profitable gain. Today's young "farmers" eat those same seeds as soon as they get them. They have nothing to plant and grow. Most will be working until they drop... Assuming their bodies cooperate. I wish them luck.

$100 Motorola is not going to work for a lot of stuff, I would recommend at least something about $300 to be useful for most stuff these days (which is pretty much a $700 phone 3 years prior). I don't think too many young people I know buying $55k cars (not SUV here but Tesla), and those who do are usually mid-life crisis urban cowboys.

Still, a few k here and there is nothing compares to a few k a month rent, and they are a few k a month because of the local cost of living which is dictated by local income. The biggest driver of the cost of living in the home price, low-interest rate, stock gain, tech boom. What I'm getting at is, if your parents didn't bring you up valuing up and coming technologies and steer you into a good career path, pay for your college so you can focus on studying and get good grades in a top school, and give you an environment you feel secure and can focus in, you are likely going to be competing for the same cost of living expense with the top guys making top money.

I don't have a problem with people making their own choices, but I always take their advice with a grain of choice when they said "I did it back in the days and so can you" when they suggest asking kids to pay for their own colleges, work part-time during colleges, focus on being self-sufficient instead of doing well in school, go to trade school instead of a real college, and ask them to move out once they graduate high school and start working.

 

[Blagoje]

I handed in my keys and walked off my job today and I FEEL GREAT for doing that. I'm going to take some time off to visit my brother, SIL, and recently born nephew as well as visit other family and friends. I'll get back to work next month, thankfully I've got several entities contacting me every day wanting to interview or just outright offer me a position. I feel like I can pick and choose where I want to go and what I want to do which is nice. I will not settle for some job where I get paid and treated like like the one I just left.

 

[Dave Hess]

I handed in my keys and walked off my job today and I FEEL GREAT for doing that. I'm going to take some time off to visit my brother, SIL, and recently born nephew as well as visit other family and friends. I'll get back to work next month, thankfully I've got several entities contacting me every day wanting to interview or just outright offer me a position. I feel like I can pick and choose where I want to go and what I want to do which is nice. I will not settle for some job where I get paid and treated like like the one I just left.

Good for you. A better job can be found.

 

[Dave Hess]

$100 Motorola is not going to work for a lot of stuff, I would recommend at least something about $300 to be useful for most stuff these days (which is pretty much a $700 phone 3 years prior). I don't think too many young people I know buying $55k cars (not SUV here but Tesla), and those who do are usually mid-life crisis urban cowboys.

Still, a few k here and there is nothing compares to a few k a month rent, and they are a few k a month because of the local cost of living which is dictated by local income. The biggest driver of the cost of living in the home price, low-interest rate, stock gain, tech boom. What I'm getting at is, if your parents didn't bring you up valuing up and coming technologies and steer you into a good career path, pay for your college so you can focus on studying and get good grades in a top school, and give you an environment you feel secure and can focus in, you are likely going to be competing for the same cost of living expense with the top guys making top money.

I don't have a problem with people making their own choices, but I always take their advice with a grain of choice when they said "I did it back in the days and so can you" when they suggest asking kids to pay for their own colleges, work part-time during colleges, focus on being self-sufficient instead of doing well in school, go to trade school instead of a real college, and ask them to move out once they graduate high school and start working.

There was a time 40 years ago you could work your way through college and have a part time job.

Today it’s impossible to expect a person in early 20’s to do that..... even if it was a community college and working 30 hours making $15 an hour.

 

[Cujet]

I quit in 2017, mostly because 19 total days off in 2016, and 2017 was no better. Lots of promises kept me aboard....

2021 looks to mirror 2016. I have today off, first day in a month. I've had enough.

Pay is good. But I MUST have 2 homes (FL and PA) , pay my own travel, have 3 trucks, work at 5 airports, and none of it is deductible. The $60K/yr it now costs me is too much. When it was $40K, it was OK, but now I'm getting behind. Why do any of this? Just to be involved with cool aircraft?

I understand the owner's point of view too. This stuff ain't cheap and good management keeps it affordable. But at the price of my soul.

 

[bullwinkle]

Morale was pretty bad, about a 3; until, we lost half our field techs and the office had a panic attack, resulting in (I'm not kidding here) a roughly 33% raise! Guess it's more like a 7 now! I'll be at 25 years at my job early next month, and we've finally started to get some new guys in (because they've finally made pay competitive). At 57, I've worked enough OT & scrimped enough to get 401K/etc. over 7 figures-not that it's worth what it used to be, and will be worth less in the future at the rate things are going. Just hoping to live long enough to retire & get off the 55-70 hour/week treadmill...

 

[bullwinkle]

I quit in 2017, mostly because 19 total days off in 2016, and 2017 was no better. Lots of promises kept me aboard....

2021 looks to mirror 2016. I have today off, first day in a month. I've had enough.

Pay is good. But I MUST have 2 homes (FL and PA) , pay my own travel, have 3 trucks, work at 5 airports, and none of it is deductible. The $60K/yr it now costs me is too much. When it was $40K, it was OK, but now I'm getting behind. Why do any of this? Just to be involved with cool aircraft?

I understand the owner's point of view too. This stuff ain't cheap and good management keeps it affordable. But at the price of my soul.

I'm always amazed at the penny-pinching that goes on in aviation, both big airlines & small corp. jets-don't these people realize there are LIVES in their hands every time one flies?? At least my customers just have a stomachache or lost profits when something goes wrong!

 

[Barkleymut]

Morale at my company is a .01/10. Ownership is clueless of the tidal wave that is about to hit him (half of the wave has already hit). I report directly to the owner and used to feel valued, now he is much more concerned about fixing the parts that broke 6 months ago than the parts that are crumbling right in front of our eyes.
I wish he would listen, but I have given up. Now i honestly just stare at a computer screen 30 hours a week and work for 10 hours a week. Put in my first application yesterday to another company.

 

[JTK]

Morale was pretty bad, about a 3; until, we lost half our field techs and the office had a panic attack, resulting in (I'm not kidding here) a roughly 33% raise! Guess it's more like a 7 now! I'll be at 25 years at my job early next month, and we've finally started to get some new guys in (because they've finally made pay competitive). At 57, I've worked enough OT & scrimped enough to get 401K/etc. over 7 figures-not that it's worth what it used to be, and will be worth less in the future at the rate things are going. Just hoping to live long enough to retire & get off the 55-70 hour/week treadmill...

Same thing has happened twice with my employer over the past 4-5yrs. Panicking over lack of retention they re-evaluated compensation two times. Me having had ~20yrs with them at the time of the first one, and having earned a higher rate than most, I got skipped over the first time. For the most recent pay bump, they included me too. I'm 51 and just at the 7 fig point w/ 401 and still have a defined pension that anyone hired in the past 15yrs does not have.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

There was a time 40 years ago you could work your way through college and have a part time job.

Today it’s impossible to expect a person in early 20’s to do that..... even if it was a community college and working 30 hours making $15 an hour.

Agree.

The problem has nothing to do with $1000 cell phones. I can remember in the mid 90’s when I was in high school my parents spent $3300 (mid 90’s dollars) on a 386 computer to help with school. I also remember my graphing calculator, for one class, was $220. Now you can get infinitely more processing power for a fraction of the price of any of that.

The problem is the cost of living compared to wages. My parents for example bought their house in 1976 for $84k. That same house today is worth about $1.4-1.5 million. Wages haven’t exactly increased 18 times. Plus, cost of school has gone up, the cost of everything has gone up. A decent new car in the 90’s was what, 15k? Now more like 35k.

I really have no idea how a sixteen year old kid is supposed to make it in today’s world without being in a lot of debt for a long time, or a lot of help from their parents, or moving somewhere where the housing prices are lower but so are the career opportunities. The gap between the haves and have nots will only continue to grow.

 

[PandaBear]

Agree.

The problem has nothing to do with $1000 cell phones. I can remember in the mid 90’s when I was in high school my parents spent $3300 (mid 90’s dollars) on a 386 computer to help with school. I also remember my graphing calculator, for one class, was $220. Now you can get infinitely more processing power for a fraction of the price of any of that.

The problem is the cost of living compared to wages. My parents for example bought their house in 1976 for $84k. That same house today is worth about $1.4-1.5 million. Wages haven’t exactly increased 18 times. Plus, cost of school has gone up, the cost of everything has gone up. A decent new car in the 90’s was what, 15k? Now more like 35k.

I really have no idea how a sixteen year old kid is supposed to make it in today’s world without being in a lot of debt for a long time, or a lot of help from their parents, or moving somewhere where the housing prices are lower but so are the career opportunities. The gap between the haves and have nots will only continue to grow.

To be fair cars are cheap relatively speaking (i.e. a mid 90s Corolla for 15k is about 30k in pandemic, and prior to pandemic was about 22k), wages have gone up about that much.

The real problem is rent, college tuitions, health insurance. In theory you can waste money on play stations (say $500 for a console and $80 a game) and phones (say $700 every 3 years and 25 a month for cheap phone plan) and high speed internet (say 50 a month), but that's rounding error compare to rent (1-1.5k a month per person), tuition (30k a year), and health insurance (400 a month).

There is no such thing as used rent, used college education, or used medical insurance.

 

[PandaBear]

I'm always amazed at the penny-pinching that goes on in aviation, both big airlines & small corp. jets-don't these people realize there are LIVES in their hands every time one flies?? At least my customers just have a stomachache or lost profits when something goes wrong!

People take cheap flights for granted. I mean where in history do you expect a 1 hr flight to cost $100 before discount when driving can cost you at least half of that in gas? or does a bus that takes you the same route in 10 hours cost you at least half that? In the end, it is built on someone's back.

Same for Uber / Lyft. The only reason they are that cheap is that the corp is built on startup VC money (losing money to grow) and below cost drivers (you can work below min wage if you are self-employed), with no artificial supply limitation like Taxi medallions.

 

[Dave Hess]

Same thing has happened twice with my employer over the past 4-5yrs. Panicking over lack of retention they re-evaluated compensation two times. Me having had ~20yrs with them at the time of the first one, and having earned a higher rate than most, I got skipped over the first time. For the most recent pay bump, they included me too. I'm 51 and just at the 7 fig point w/ 401 and still have a defined pension that anyone hired in the past 15yrs does not have.

Same here. I have a pension and $1M+ 401K (not bragging) have been with my employer 33 years through good and bad times.

Seems like I’ve been there 25 years cause time flys when you are busy at work and constantly adapting to the constant changes within, rules, regulations, customer’s problems. Last 2 years was crazy with waves of Covid and ‘all hands on deck’ approach to the business.

Customers in desperate need and somehow we find a way to deliver. A critical need became a 5 alarm fire and do any and everything necessary to help a hospital.

 

[levi]

I quit in 2017, mostly because 19 total days off in 2016, and 2017 was no better. Lots of promises kept me aboard....

2021 looks to mirror 2016. I have today off, first day in a month. I've had enough.

Pay is good. But I MUST have 2 homes (FL and PA) , pay my own travel, have 3 trucks, work at 5 airports, and none of it is deductible. The $60K/yr it now costs me is too much. When it was $40K, it was OK, but now I'm getting behind. Why do any of this? Just to be involved with cool aircraft?

I understand the owner's point of view too. This stuff ain't cheap and good management keeps it affordable. But at the price of my soul.

Always remember - if you'll work cheap (saving them money), they'll let you. Doesn't matter the company.

 

[JTK]

Seems like I’ve been there 25 years cause time flys when you are busy at work and constantly adapting to the constant changes within, rules, regulations, customer’s problems. Last 2 years was crazy with waves of Covid and ‘all hands on deck’ approach to the business.

Customers in desperate need and somehow we find a way to deliver. A critical need became a 5 alarm fire and do any and everything necessary to help a hospital.

100% on all of that.

My 25yrs went by like a flash! There's times I'm physically and/or mentally worn out from the job, but when I do get frustrated, it never lasts long.

Management listens to me. If I suggest we need to stop production to make a repair, etc, we stop production. It's more work for me in those scenarios because it's my job to either isolate that part of the process or take the whole thing down, make it safe to work on, figure out how to test it and get it back online.