{"id":1974257,"date":"2023-07-16T05:20:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-16T09:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/when-office-perks-become-perils\/"},"modified":"2023-07-16T05:24:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T09:24:34","slug":"when-office-perks-become-perils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/when-office-perks-become-perils\/","title":{"rendered":"Office perks can turn into dangers."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhen-office-perks-become-perils%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1974257&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The\u2064 Downside of\ud834\udd7a Seeing Work\u200c as a &#8220;Calling&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>If you want \u200bto\u200b understand\u200d the\u2064 downside \u200bof seeing \u200cyour\u2064 work as a \u2063&#8221;calling,&#8221; just look at zookeepers.\u2064 In his book, <i>The Good Enough Job<\/i>,\u2063 Simone Stolzoff \u2064writes: &#8220;It&#8217;s a job where \u2063the money \u2062is short \u200band the \u2063hours are long. The\u2062 majority \u200bof zookeepers have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joe-biden-public-colleges-and-universities-are-going-to-be-tuition-free-for-families-earning-less-than-125000-video\/\" title=\"Joe Biden: \u201cPublic Colleges and Universities Are Going to be Tuition-Free For Families Earning Less Than 5,000\u201d (VIDEO)\">college degrees<\/a>\u2062 but the annual salary is \u200cless than $40,000 a \u200cyear.&#8221; \u200bHow \u2062has this happened? Researchers have \u2062found that &#8220;many zookeepers framed their work \u2062as \u2063a\ud834\udd7a duty,&#8221; \ud834\udd7awhich \u200b&#8221;exposed zookeepers to exploitation.&#8221; As\u200c Stolzoff \u2064notes,\ud834\udd7a &#8220;Low\u2063 pay, unfavorable\u200c benefits, and poor working\u2062 conditions\u200c are often the sacrifices workers\u200c across\u2064 industries must make\u2062 for\u200c the privilege \u2063of following\ud834\udd7a their passion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n\u200c  \u200d<\/p>\n<p>Stolzoff, a\ud834\udd7a refugee from Silicon \u200bValley who has\u200d found \u2063his way\u200d into some amalgam\u2064 of journalism and self-help, \u2064acknowledges that &#8220;a job \u200bwill \u2062first and foremost \u2063be \u200can economic relationship.&#8221; But he does\u200b not seem to \u2063grasp the finer \u200bpoints\u2062 of supply and \u200cdemand. The supply of people \u200cwho want to be zookeepers\u2014because\u2063 they\ud834\udd7a like animals or they think the \u2062job \u2062will \u200bbe\ud834\udd7a fun or at\u2064 least more fun \u200bthan\u2063 delivering \ud834\udd7aAmazon\u200d packages\u2014is \u200dlarge enough \u2064that zoos \u2062can afford to pay people\u200d less than\u200b a\u200d UPS driver. In \ud834\udd7aother \u2064words, being a \u200dzookeeper is one of \ud834\udd7athe\u2062 perks of being a zookeeper,\ud834\udd7a and people will \u200baccept less money to do\ud834\udd7a a job\u2062 they\u2063 love.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>The\u2064 Culture\ud834\udd7a of &#8220;Workism&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>This is\u200c not to \u200bsay \u2064that Stolzoff\u2063 doesn&#8217;t have some interesting thoughts \ud834\udd7aabout\u200b the \u2062culture\u2063 of &#8220;workism&#8221;\u2063 in\u2064 America\u200d today\u200c and\u2062 the \u200dway\u2062 that employers are\u2062 encouraging workers to think\u2063 about their \u2064jobs. Before \u2063the\u2063 folks\u2063 at Google \u200dand Microsoft \u2064developed campuses \u2063with\u200d gourmet cafeterias, pods to nap in,\u2064 and yoga studios, \ud834\udd7ainvestment\u2062 banks figured out that \u2064the \u2064key to\u200b getting \ud834\udd7aemployees to work long \u2062hours \u200bwas\ud834\udd7a to offer them dinner and a ride \u2063home. If they worked past\u2062 7 p.m., they could expense \ud834\udd7atheir takeout, and after 9 p.m., the \u2064company\u2064 would \u2063give them\ud834\udd7a a car service ride \u2064home. Even \u2064the \u2063BlackBerry,\u2062 which\u200d was initially considered \u200ba \u200dworkplace \u2064perk, was \u2063really a device to tether \u200cpeople \u200cto\u2062 the office.<\/p>\n<p>Stolzoff warns \u2062that\u2064 it \u200bis\u2064 not only these material benefits that get \u200bemployees \u200dto center \u200cmore of their \u2064lives on \u200dwork. It is\ud834\udd7a also\u2064 the creation of \ud834\udd7aa workplace \u200dculture. The\u200d proliferation of companies that say \u200dthey are\u200b not \u200cin it just for the profit\u2014the\u200d B\u2062 corporations whose leaders \u2064promise to consider the social or environmental impact of \u2064their\u2064 decisions\u2014seem to \u2064have persuaded young people \u200cthat they \u2063are not real companies.<\/p>\n<p>Take Taylor, for instance, who \ud834\udd7ajoined\u2063 Kickstarter as a\u2062 receptionist\u200c in 2012:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Once\u200b a week, Taylor\u200b started \u200ba happy hour\u200c tab with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/government-contractors-charged-with-making-illegal-donations-to-pro-susan-collins-super-pac\/\" title=\"Government Contractors Charged With Making Illegal Donations To Pro-Susan Collins Super PAC\">company credit card<\/a> at a local bar. \u2062He \u200bhosted a midnight \ud834\udd7amovie\u200b club at the \u2062office where employees sipped negronis and watched cult\u2064 classics. He \u200cplayed\u200b in \u200ca weekly\u2064 Dungeons and Dragons game \u200cwhich \u2026 two of the company&#8217;s founders regularly\u200c attended. Kickstarter \u200bbecame\u2062 the center of Taylor&#8217;s social \u2063scene. \u2064Coworkers weren&#8217;t just colleagues;\u200c they were friends and bandmates, romantic partners, and political \u200ccomrades.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>These \u200bcorporations refer \u2063to themselves as a \ud834\udd7a&#8221;fampany&#8221; \u2064or,\u200c in \u200cthe case\u2064 of AirBNB, \u200cas an &#8220;Airfam.&#8221;\ud834\udd7a But\u200b as\u200d Stolzoff correctly \ud834\udd7anotes,\ud834\udd7a &#8220;families\u2063 and\u200d businesses have \u200cfundamentally different \u200dgoals.&#8221; So when Kickstarter started making \u2064decisions \u200dthat Taylor and \u200chis colleague disagreed with, \ud834\udd7athey \u2063were\u200c shocked. And \u200bwhen \u200cthey decided\u200c to \u200dform\u2062 a union to push back \u200dagainst those decisions, \u2063the employees also seemed shocked that \u2064the leaders \ud834\udd7awere \u200bhostile \u2063to the\u200b idea. &#8220;Never before \u2062had\u200d the divide between workers and management been \u200cso\u200c apparent.&#8221; Things were \u2064a lot\u200d more \u2064clear \u2063when workers were\ud834\udd7a mining coal\u200d or assembling \u2064cars\u200d on a factory\u2063 line and \u2063management were the ones whose \u2063clothes \u200ddidn&#8217;t \ud834\udd7aget dirty.<\/p>\n<h3>The Value\u2062 of Time<\/h3>\n<p>Companies \u200bwant\u2064 productive workers, and the research suggests that people who are happier at\u200d work \u200cwill want to \u200bspend\u200d more time \u200cat work, and they\u2062 will be\u200b more productive. \u200cBut\ud834\udd7a that may not \u2064be entirely \u2062true. Stolzoff\u2062 cites \u2062a number of studies suggesting\u200d that\u200c reducing hours \u2064can boost productivity. A\ud834\udd7a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flashback-2018-video-shows-public-health-expert-admitting-masks-only-work-to-cause-alarm\/\" title=\"Flashback: 2018 Video Shows \u2018Public Health Expert\u2019 Admitting Masks Only Work To \u2018Cause Alarm\u2019\">large-scale study<\/a>\u200b in\u2062 Iceland, for \u200binstance, found\u200d that when workers&#8217; \u2063hours were \u2063reduced\u200c from 40 to 36 hours \u2063a\ud834\udd7a week, they \u200cwere more \u200cproductive across a\ud834\udd7a wide number of industries. Other \u2064studies\ud834\udd7a have suggested that after 50 \ud834\udd7ahours \u200dor so of working,\u2064 there\u200c is limited marginal benefit\u200c to working more.<\/p>\n<p>Time \u2063at work, in\u2062 other words, doesn&#8217;t\u200d equal working more. Indeed, it&#8217;s possible that all\u2063 the distractions of the modern workplace\u2014the meals,\u2063 the exercise studios, the\u2063 wellness \u2062seminars\u2014may in fact be \u200dtaking away from actual work. And what about when \ud834\udd7awork is \u200cactually\u200b at \u200bhome? \u200cThe \ud834\udd7arevolution in remote\u2063 working\ud834\udd7a over\u200b the\u200d past\u200c couple of years has\u200b confused people even \u200cmore\u2014both employees and employers. \u200bNeither is really \u200bsure when\u200b real\ud834\udd7a work\u2062 is \u200dbeing done. Work goes on \u2062at all hours,\u200d but\u2063 productivity may be\ud834\udd7a even \u200cmore rare.<\/p>\n<p>But this \u2063is the \u200dtradeoff \u2062that\u200b many of us are\u2062 willing to make. As someone\u200b who was working from home long before \ud834\udd7athe pandemic,\u200b I can\u200b say\u200d those tradeoffs are \u2064clear. Yes,\u2063 you can\u200d go to the supermarket\u200d when it&#8217;s not\u200d busy; you can\u200b exercise\u200c when there is daylight. \ud834\udd7aYou\ud834\udd7a can work after everyone has \u200dgone\ud834\udd7a to \u2064bed \u2064or before everyone has woken up. And \u200dyou can attend\ud834\udd7a all \u200bof \u200byour kids&#8217; \u200bschool \u200cevents or\u200c be home \u200bwhen \u200bthey are \u200bsick. \ud834\udd7a(More about\u2063 them in \u2064a minute.) But you \u200doften \u200chave a\u200d feeling that you&#8217;re \u2062not where you\u2019re supposed to\u200b be. Or \ud834\udd7athat you&#8217;re pretending\u2062 to\u200b do something that\u2064 you&#8217;re \u200dnot actually doing.<\/p>\n<p>Some \u2063of Stolzoff&#8217;s solutions\u2062 to the problem of \ud834\udd7aworkism \u2064feel,\u2063 well, performative. \u2062Yes, \u200cof course, we\u200c could \u200cgive people a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elon-musk-i-got-a-covid-test-four-times-in-one-day-two-came-back-negative-two-came-back-positive-the-daily-wire\/\" title=\"Elon Musk: I Got A COVID Test Four Times In One Day. \u2018Two Came Back Negative, Two Came Back Positive.\u2019 | The Daily Wire\">universal basic income<\/a> or forgive\u200d student loans.\u2062 But \u2062the truth is that if their economic\u2064 calculus \u2063were different, \ud834\udd7amost\u200c people wouldn&#8217;t\u200d end\u2063 up working less. \u200cIn \u200cfact, they might end \u200dup working more. Student \u2064loan forgiveness\u200c would free up more\u2063 people to \u200cgo into\u200b the kinds of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/when-office-perks-become-perils\/\" title=\"Office perks can turn into dangers.\">low-earning\u200b public\u2063 service jobs<\/a> that Stolzoff tells us we should\u2064 be\u2062 wary of \u200cbecause \ud834\udd7aof the \ud834\udd7away\u200d they \u200bexploit their workers.<\/p>\n<p>Stolzoff&#8217;s advice that we\ud834\udd7a be more\u200c &#8220;clear-eyed&#8221; \u2063about \u2064work as an \ud834\udd7a&#8221;economic contract&#8221; is\u2062 well-taken. \u2062But\u2064 the problem with work is \u2062not \u200dactually work. It&#8217;s the rest of our \u2064lives. We do not \u200bvalue time \ud834\udd7aas much as\u200d we value \u2062money. The young \u200bpeople he\u2064 interviews who end \u2062up taking \u200ctime off from \u2063work don&#8217;t know what to do with it. They travel\u200c the world,\ud834\udd7a smoke pot, and \u200dthen \u2063end up coming\u200d up with\u200c ideas for \ud834\udd7anew projects or \u200cbooks. But\u2063 what \u200cmost\u200b of\u200d them have \u2064in common is\ud834\udd7a that\u200d they \u200cdon&#8217;t\u2062 have\u200b other obligations as strong as \u200btheir\u200d work obligations. They\u2062 are single or \u2064at least \u2063childless. \u200bNot only does\u2062 that mean that\u200b they are looking \u200bfor meaning and connection in their \ud834\udd7ajobs\u2062 that \u2064they are \u200bnot getting\u2063 elsewhere.\u200d It also means that there\u2063 is no one \u2064sitting there\u2062 demanding their attention \ud834\udd7ainstead of their \u2063bosses. Nothing\u2064 boosts \u200cefficiency\u200d like knowing\u200d a \u2063babysitter\u2064 is about\u200b to leave.<\/p>\n<p>Though \u2064Stolzoff \u200bwrites enviously\u2064 about \u2062other places and cultures where people \u200dseem to choose leisure over money, those\u200c people are\u2062 rarely choosing\u2064 to \ud834\udd7alie on a beach alone or \u2063take time to cook a meal for themselves. Rather, \u2062they are choosing time with family \ud834\udd7aor a religious community over \u200dwork. These other things\u2062 pull\ud834\udd7a at them as\u2062 strongly as \u2063work\ud834\udd7a does. Until younger Americans\u200b make \u2064those same kinds of\u200d commitments, \u200dthey\u2064 will \u2063be stuck playing\ud834\udd7a Dungeons \ud834\udd7aand Dragons\u2063 with their\ud834\udd7a fampanies.<\/p>\n<p><i>The \u2064Good Enough Job:\u2062 Reclaiming \u200dLife from Work<\/i><br \/> \ud834\udd7aby \ud834\udd7aSimone Stolzoff<br \/> Portfolio, 239 \u200bpp., $28<\/p>\n<p><i>Naomi \u2064Schaefer Riley,\u2063 a \u200dsenior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute\u200d and \u200bthe\u2063 Independent\ud834\udd7a Women&#8217;s Forum,\u2062 is the\u200c author \u200cof<\/i>\u00a0No Way \u2062to Treat a Child: How the\u200b Foster Care System, Family Courts, and\u200c Racial \u200dActivists Are\u200b Wrecking Young Lives<i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you view your work as a &#8220;calling,&#8221; consider zookeepers. Simone Stolzoff&#8217;s book, The Good Enough Job, highlights their plight: low pay, long hours. Despite having degrees, zookeepers earn less annually than expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":975,"featured_media":1974258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1974257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1974257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1974258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1974257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1974257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1974257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}