Notes #76

Notes #76

A New Work Model?

I was talking with the secretary at my place of employment, where I still work several times a week and was surprised to learn that a number of people who previously worked at the office were still at home doing Zoom calls. They preferred working from home and it seems this phenomenon has caught on in many workplaces

I had worked for well over a year at home and enjoyed that experience 
a lot - at first. I have been back in the office since April 2022. Seeing clients, particularly couples, over Zoom was not working for me. It was primarily because of the lack of spontaneity, mostly on my part, and those small communication pieces that are lost with the camera, (body posture, eyes, tone not picked up by the camera/sound equipment). 

Many still enjoy the benefits of working full-time at home, but many aren't finding it as fulfilling as it was in the beginning. Managers have found that working at home while trying to maintain contact and keep productivity up with their people has been quite stressful. Over 50 percent of managers claimed that they had, or are presently experiencing, burnout. For the rest of the work population, however, the greatest stressor is the lack of social contact/support. 

I guess as much as we complain about certain factors in having to go into "the office" we still need human contact. Just like our kids need to interact and socialize at school to be healthy, adults too need that stimulation. Without that contact, there could be serious long-term mental health effects.

There certainly is not a total agreement on this issue of work at home versus work at the office. Since COVID, there have been many conflicting thoughts and studies about the benefits of working full-time at home or full-time at the office. However, where there doesn't seem to be a downside is working part-time at both places - home and the office. "A whopping 87 percent of those who reported a hybrid work arrangement (home and office) had good or excellent mental health" (Kiffer George Card)

It seems that for those whose employers will allow them to work at home, this new style of work week (part-time home/workplace) just might become the new work norm. 
What are your thoughts/experiences regarding this issue?  
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Golf is the answer! Doesn't matter what the question is! 
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I came across these letter(s), there are three of them, from Jolly Old England, and I wondered if they should be shared with some Canadian politicians.

Pt.1 Letter to Britain's Chief Economic Advisor

Sir

Please find below our suggestion for fixing England's economy.
Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the
money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. 
You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:
 
There are about 10 million people over 50 in the workforce. Pay them 
£ 1 million each severance for early retirement with the following
stipulations:

1) They MUST retire - ten million job openings - unemployment fixed
2) They MUST buy a new British car. Ten million cars ordered - car
Industry fixed
3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - housing
crisis fixed
4) They MUST send their kids/grandkids to school/college/university -
Crime rate fixed
5) They MUST buy £100 WORTH of alcohol/tobacco a week...and there's
your money back in duty/tax etc
6) Instead of stuffing around with the carbon emissions trading schemes that make us pay for the major polluters, tell the greedy bastards to reduce their pollution emissions by 75% within 5 years or we shut them down.

     It can't get any easier than that.
    And if more money is needed, have all members of parliament pay back
    their falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances.

(See Letters 2 & 3 next Notes)
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Marriage 
A man is getting married and is standing by his bride in the church. 
Next to him is his bag of golf clubs. 
His bride whispers, "What are your golf clubs doing here?" 
The man replies, "This is not going to take all day, is it?"

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Here is what Lindsey Tanner of the Associated Press has to say about mindfulness:

 Mindfulness is a form of meditation that emphasizes focusing only on what's happening at the moment and dismissing intrusive thoughts.

Mindfulness sessions often start with breathing exercises. Next, it might be body scans-you think about each body part systematically, head to toe. When worried thoughts intrude, participants learn to briefly acknowledge them but then dismiss them.
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Reader Response

I found your experience with the border guard very interesting as we were at the Randy Bachman concert last week and he told a similar story:

Back in the day, the guys in The Guess Who would travel far and wide just to get a gig for any type of exposure. Their standard earnings were $400 a show and often this did not even cover their costs of getting to and from the venue. Such was the case when they had an opportunity to play in Texas and were informed by the border guard that, given they had green cards which permitted them to work in the states, it also made them eligible for compulsory military service and potential deployment to Viet Nam. They were instructed to report to the recruiting office upon arrival at their destination in Texas.

This did not sit well with the bunch of musicians, so they acknowledged the instructions and used the first opportunity to return to Canada via an alternate border crossing. Hoping not to waste the time and travel already expended, they contacted an agent they had worked with in the past and asked if he had any new gigs available. After he came back to the phone, he told them that the singer in a band due to perform in Kitchener the next day got laryngitis and had to cancel, so if they could get there by the next evening, they could have the slot. Driving straight through got them there on time.

In the middle of their performance, Randy broke a guitar string, and without an entourage of roadies (no surprise at $400 a pop), changing the string was quite a production. Once resolved, he was strumming a riff in an attempt to tune to Cummings' keyboard and the audience seemed to get into it. He told Cummings to make up some words to go along with it so that they could take maximum advantage of the audience's enthusiasm.
Around this time, groupies fawned over the guys in bands (except for Bachman who was married), and Cummings was (believe it or not) getting tired of it. This background, along with the recent incident (and scare) at the border, inspired "American Woman" which they played for the first time that night in Kitchener. As we all know, it became a tremendous success, and overnight $400 a show morphed into $10,000.
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If I can continue to figure out how to send you Notes, I just might make a habit of it!

Hands up-how many are happy to receive Notes once again?

Have a great week and enjoy the weather.