I wrote this a year ago and find myself thinking of it often:
Time is Money, and Employees Know it, Too.
Now that I work in a law firm, this takes on a slightly different perspective.
Welcome to this week’s collection of thought-provoking things. Each week, I’ll share information about careers and workplace culture, mental health in the workplace, talent development, and important information about privacy, security, and legal tech.
You can find out all about me here - Mike McBride Online.
These bits are still something I firmly believe:
Time is money, indeed. Increasingly, that means that the time spent commuting is being viewed as time employers demand that we aren’t getting paid for, that we could be getting paid for from freelance efforts if we didn’t have to commute.
We could say the same for time spent traveling for work, working late, hitting the “not required – but kind of required” happy hour gatherings, etc. That’s all the time that my salary doesn’t cover. Let’s not include extra gas costs, extended childcare, etc. That’s also something that we require.
It’s not just that time could be spent on a side hustle where we could make money. I don’t have a side hustle, for example. When I drove to an office every day, which was a round trip that took about an hour and fifteen minutes, five days a week, that was a time not spent with family and friends, not spent on hobbies, not spent reading, not spent in nature, just time in my car—over six hours per week. (6:15 technically – only for commuting, I won’t even get into working late.)
Multiply that by, let’s argue, 48 weeks per year to account for holidays and PTO, and we’re talking about 300 hours yearly.
If we wasted 300 hours per year, plenty of employers would point out how much money that “cost” them. It’s only fair that workers do the same when the commute to the office is a waste of time, too.
Careers and the Workplace
The Royal Family Provides an Example of What Happens When People Are Left Without Information
The people who follow the Royal Family were left without further information about Kate after her original surgery. We can argue about what information they were entitled to, and I'd agree they weren't entitled to any. Still, we saw a large group of people filling in the blanks with some of the wildest conspiracy theories we've seen anywhere when no information was forthcoming.
Imagine what happens on Teams or Slack about your company when information is unavailable.
Similarly, employees and employers agree that AI will impact their work, but over half don’t know what their company plans to do with AI. - Transparency Is an Important Part of the Employee Experience.
Training and Development
While we are talking about AI, here’s another way to consider being part of helping people learn - Curation – the Human Meaning behind the AI Facts.
If you’ve got time to read, this might interest you - 2024 Workplace Learning Report.
Mental Health in the Workplace
This is undoubtedly true - Depression and Job Hunting Can be a Vicious Combination.
Workers with job flexibility and security have better mental health. We shouldn’t be surprised by this. We shouldn’t be making workers less secure, yet here we are.
I am not saying up and quit your job if you are feeling burnt out. Make a few conscious efforts to try and make your environment work for you. If you have tried everything and you still feel like you are not in a growth environment, then change your employment. Quit if it is bad for your mental or physical health. Quit if it is a toxic environment. Quit if something better aligns with your values. Changing jobs for me has been the best thing for my mental health and that is something within my control to help.
Privacy, Security, and Legal Tech
Doug is probably right. The trick will be to get there with the technology without making it too expensive for many to be involved in litigation. Treating Hyperlinked Files as Modern Attachments Will Happen. Here's Why.
This is fine, everything’s fine - Gen AI uses huge amounts of water resources.
There are plenty of reasons to be fearful beyond the environmental concerns - Why Are People Scared Of Generative AI?
That’s all, folks. If you found something interesting in this week’s newsletter, please share it with your friends. It’s the best way to help support the effort I put in each week to share this with you.