commonsofus

[commonsofus]

I have mixed feelings about HR, Human Resources, as much as I feel like they are important to both employers and employees there are also a lot of things done wrong with them. First off employees are supposed to feel like they can talk to the HR employee and should feel like HR has their back but in actuality HR has the company’s back. They are there to make sure nothing negatively effects the company so it’s hard for them to have the employees back if they are really just watching out for the company. Another issues with HR is that a lot of the time from experience most HR employees are not the warm and fuzzy hearted people that they are supposed to be. There are some HR employees that actually speak down to employees, say things that are not appropriate towards the employees, and use their position to protect themselves. I still think HR Is important I just feel like those who are HR need to be monitored more and also I think employees should be more aware of Human Resources actual purpose which is to protect the company.

[commonsofus]

Just how schools have counselers (or therapist) I believe that work places, definitely those that corporate, should have counselers available to meet with employees. It would be a good moral booster for employees because sometimes work and life will not mix well together and it would be good for employees to have someone to talk to (not HR) that has their well-being in mind. Sometimes just having someone to vent to about life and work can help people destress and other times they need more than venting but that’s why it would be good to have counselers for employees because it could help them in the long run.

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One issue that is common in a lot of work places is that of overworking their employees. They either give them way too much to do with only a small allotted amount of time or sometimes they don’t even give them breaks. The place I work for definitely does give its employees an overextended list of tasks they need to complete but they at least require their employees to take a break. Which is good because with someone like me I would try to work through my breaks and end up overextending myself on my own. Though there are places that don’t require that their employees take a break or if they do they don’t enforce. The serving industry is big on that; a lot of servers in the food industry don’t take any breaks even if they are working more than 8 hours because of how busy it can be or they might be serving a table through their break. I think more employers need to make it a requirement that employees take their breaks and that enforce it also because employees are over working themselves and breaking down their bodies by not taking breaks.

[commonsofus]

COMMUTING! Something that most employees dread thinking of, definitely that morning commute. Some people, like myself, are lucky enough to find a place to work that is near by to where they live but there are others who are not as lucky that have to travel far and wide to get their place of employeement. I have multiple peers that have to drive an hour to work and hour back to home each day and that doesn’t include driving during rush hour which sometimes doubles their commute. My brother while he was teaching actually had to drive 2 and a half to 3 hours just to get to his job in another city and then take the same amount to ride back. Some people don’t mind the commute but I know I would. That’s why the car pool lane is a cool idea for those who have other people to commute with because it can make the ride faster for them.

[commonsofus]

Something that hits home with me is student workers. Those who work and go to school at the same time. I personally go to school full-time and also work full-time as a manager. Balancing between the two is tough because as much as I want to focus on school and graduate, at the end of the day I would choose getting what I need done at work over going to class or getting an assignment done. I am stuck in this mind set that how my employers see me at work is more important than how I and my professors see me at school. 95% of the time that I will skip a class is because of work. Either they are offering overtime or we have a huge corporate visit. But in the long wrong it’s more harmful for me to think that way because I need a education and degree to further my development into my career. Another struggle of working and going to school full time is the lack of diversity of class times. I wish the school would offer more class times to accommodate to a students busy work schedule. Night classes are always a good option to go with.

[commonsofus]

One aspect of jobs that infuriate me is the dreaded...CLOPEN. For those who do not know what that means to clopen is to close and then to open the next day. Normally when people clopen they are lucky to have even 7 hours in between their shifts. For me personally working in retail has meant I’ve had to be a victim of clopening a lot. On a normal closing shift for me we’d leave the store from 12:30AM to 1AM then have to be back at 7:30AM or 8AM. Clopening isn’t something that most office workers living the 9-5 life have to worry about. It’s all those part-timers that work in the food industry or retail that mainly have to deal with clopening. So those that are heavily based in customer service have to be expected to have a smile and be cheery off of 5 to 6 hours of sleep. Clopening isn’t the worst part of the workforce but it definitely does not make people’s job any easier.

[commonsofus]

I think another important aspect of the workplace that many people over look is providing food for those who are employees. Even if it’s just providing ingredients to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or just a simple cup of ramen noodles, having those can make a big difference for certain employees. Those who don’t have time in their daily lives to make lunch for their work day or those who are going through financial difficulty and they are low on money for grocery’s. Just by adding these low cost foods can help employees feel more valued and give them the opportunity to save more money instead of the other alternative of going without eating lunch which is something that I have done before and my peers have done before because they don’t have the money to spend on food. I think it’s important for employers to provide their employees with at least low cost food.

[commonsofus]

I couldn’t make a blog about the workplace without talking about The Office. It actually may have been one of the top reasons why I chose to write about the workplace. So for those of you who don’t know The Office is a fictional comedy TV show that uses a documentary type of format that follows the lives of Office workers at a paper company. The employees at Duner Mifflin are far from employees of the month. There’s the boss of the branch who in real life would have already been fired or arrested for his over the top inappropriate behavior. Then there’s the extreme kiss ass, who takes his job very seriously and has a very eccentric personality. Then there is the loveable employee who ruthlessly bullies the kiss ass but no one seems to question it because of his charismatic personality. The Office has a lot of questionable characters but each of these character’s bring up important issues that arise in the workplace. Such as bosses like Michael getting away with inappropriate behavior because of his position as the boss or like how Oscar was a closeted character until outted by his boss, Michael. Then his peers made rude comments to him because of his sexuality and was publically humiliated by his boss. Or how favortism is often presented by Michael favoring Jim, Ryan, or Dwight. These are all real issues in the work place that The Office uses humor to address. If you been blessed by The Office yet I suggest you start binging on Netflix right away; it’ll make your day 👨‍💻👩‍💼💼📂

[commonsofus]

Maternity Leave

It’s hard to talk about the rights of workers without addressing maternity leave. You would think that paid maternity leave would be something guaranteed to new mothers and fathers definitely in such a fast paced and work filled society that the United States of America is. Who could actually take care of a newborn child when most full time employees work over 40 hours a week and about 10 hour work days? And even if new parents were given unpaid leave with how high the cost of living is in most cities who could afford to take that much time off of work? The United States of America is one the worst countries when it comes to taking care of new mothers and fathers; it doesn’t even guarantee unpaid maternity/paternity leave.  One of my close friends if currently a victim to the United State’s inability to take care of it’s new parents. My friend just gave birth a few days ago, she’s a single mother who gave a premature birth. Her child is in the NICU for an unknown amount of time; she was not given more than two weeks of paid leave; so she’ll have to go back to work without having the opportunity to bond with her new born child because she can’t afford to take an unpaid leave. I personally believe new mothers and fathers should have the right to paid leave so that they have the time to learn how to be parents and bond with their children. 

[commonsofus]

Hi. Thanks for checking out my blog! This blog will be focusing on the common good of the work place and exploring how we can better where we work by improving certain  conditions that will help the common good of the workplace. I’m assuming the majority of you that are reading this are currently employed or have worked in the past and with that assumption i’m sure you all have aspects of you current or past jobs that you would like to change that you think would not only help you but help the rest of your peers. Work in general is never easy but we can try to make it more bearable by improving working conditions.