Posted on 09/07/2009 2:00:35 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Happy Labor Day, hope you got the day off because chances are, you've really earned it. Productivity, the amount of output per hours worked is at a six-year high in America--it was up 6.6% in the second quarter and shows no signs of abating. It's the direct result of all the cost-cutting that brought the pleasant earnings news and helped fuel the summer's low-volume stock rally. Profits are up because companies have cut jobs, and for those who remain employed, wages have fallen.
Sometimes productivity comes from technology, and sometimes it comes from clever new management techniques that help people produce more and better products with less time and effort. This time it's the result of an ancient Viking management technique called "whipping the galley slaves." Step one, whip galley slaves. Step two, imply further whipping of galley slaves. Step three, boat goes faster.
The problem with the Viking method is that galley slaves eventually pass out or die and need to be replaced or the boat stops. The modern American manager has a more sinister technique: Fire some workers and give their work to whomever remains. The truly clever modern Viking will give the left-over worker a fancy new title so that the whole exchange seems like a promotion and hey, promotions usually come with added responsibilities, don't they? They also usually come with raises, but those are off the table as unemployment approaches 10%, and those with jobs rightly feel lucky to have them. "That Viking must think I'm very good at rowing," the contemporary oarsman thinks, "Why else would he dump four people into the frigid ocean while leaving me in charge of the whole side of the ship?"
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Or you could just lay off the least productive workers and let those remaining do the same amount of work. Productivity would still rise.
I wonder if any company actually does “more with less” in the long run. I suspect most end up doing less with less, and work quality, customer satisfaction, etc., go down.
The Viking method instigates “hope” and “change” in politics, and the bosses’ wives and daughters in government and academic jobs don’t mind that at all. ;-)
Us rowers...? We just watch the rest of the proceedings from the ocean. ...water’s not so bad, for those of us who know better than wimpy, “professional” “Galt” how to survive.
Well, that not very Union-Like of you...
"...unemployment approaches 10%, and those with jobs rightly feel lucky to have them."
Sounds bad, but if you look at it another way, 9 out 10 people who want jobs have them. Not bad in the worst recession since 1929.
"...the hard-working American, the true hero of the financial crisis, has had to endure "jobless recoveries" after every recession since 1991."
Ah, that old jobless recovery chestnut. Unemployment has been as low as 4.6% in the period he speaks of, so this is bunk.
Then there's this gem:
"Here's the dirty secret about unemployment: It's at 10% for the entire population, but it's at only 5% amongst the top 10% of our nation's workers by salary. The more you make, the less likely you are to be unemployed."
The other dirty little secret is that unemployment among teenagers, whose only qualifications are that they have plenty of tattoos and body piercings, is over 20%.
Does it take a genius to understand that top executives, even if unemployed, would never actually stand in line and file for unemployment, therefore can't be counted, so the rate as calculated by the Gov't should be zero, so I think this cat made up the 5% statistic.
To the bottom of the parrot cage with this entire article, I say.
I’m surprised at this tidbit from the article :
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that “Americans don’t work as hard anymore.” The numbers don’t support it. We are, it turns out, a bit less productive per hour than French workers, but we make up for it by hanging around the office more.
Does hanging around the workplace more count for productivity ?
That's just the author's slick literary style. But then, I haven't worked in an office for a very long time and some of those corporate cuties may well be worth hanging around for.
“Does hanging around the workplace more count for productivity ?”
What they mean is we get less done per hour, but put more
hours in. French get a mandatory month off in summer. We are work workaholics in comparison. I think the sentence may be badly phrased.
My sister suffered in the last downturn. Then she bailed -- early retirement looked so much better. They were left with nobody to do the work.
In the long run, no they don’t, but in the short term there is a spurt in productivity. Like all affects that are based on fear it eventually fails, of course.
I think he means Americans dont work quite as hard per hour as the French, but tend to work for longer, which more than makes up for it.
The Vikings never used Galley Slaves. Neither did the Greeks. The Romans did. Oh, and the followers of the Prophet did too (what a surprise).
Good article, very informative.
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