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Politics, politics, politics (so long and thanks for all the fish)

monkeybarry said:
I know what you mean.
But if you are in a position where you have the flexibility to buy or sell annual leave then you in a benefit credit when compared to the social baseline. You can't sell leave to a point where it's lower than the statutory minimum for leave - so all you doing is making a choice. That "generous" leave entitlement is nothing more than a salary reduction when a role is designed and costed.

You've just reminded me - I need to see how much it is to buy some annual leave. fudge working for a living.
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I think I grasp what the gist, the whole system is assuming that employers are doing things as they are meant to be done via the legislation but a lot of companies make it nigh impossible to book AL in a way that is viable - "Yes you can have this week off you've requested in ten months time, apart from the Tuesday and Friday" - Bang goes the weeks vacation wherever you wanted to go at the affordable price you found... It's flattering to a point if your boss / HR don't consider you being away for an actually useable amount of time but also part of that wave of chipping away at people's rights, kick up a fuss referring to the rules and regs and you are earmarked as troublesome.

On the last point, shut up and get back on the hamster wheel ;) I'm with Guy Garvey of Elbow, "I'm sick of working for a living, I'm just ticking off the days till I die"
 
spurspinter1 said:
I think I grasp what the gist, the whole system is assuming that employers are doing things as they are meant to be done via the legislation but a lot of companies make it nigh impossible to book AL in a way that is viable - "Yes you can have this week off you've requested in ten months time, apart from the Tuesday and Friday" - Bang goes the weeks vacation wherever you wanted to go at the affordable price you found... It's flattering to a point if your boss / HR don't consider you being away for an actually useable amount of time but also part of that wave of chipping away at people's rights, kick up a fuss referring to the rules and regs and you are earmarked as troublesome.

On the last point, shut up and get back on the hamster wheel ;) I'm with Guy Garvey of Elbow, "I'm sick of working for a living, I'm just ticking off the days till I die"
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No quite. I was saying that any annual leave given to an employee over the legal minimum is a benefit (in lieu of higher wage), so if you also have the ability to buy/sell, you have the option to take more control over your terms on employment and adapt them to your life. If you want/need less holiday to cover bills, you have that choice. If you want/need more time off, you have that choice. Either way, you still have the minimum that Government (well, the EU) deems is needed for rest and relaxation each year.

As far as employer's behaviour, yeah it's a pretty incompatible position. The next few years are going to be very interesting in shaping employer/employee relationships and power balance.

Funny you mention that! I recently got dumped by my gf, with whom I was expecting to grow old and grey.
I don't have, or want, kids. Life feels like it's set up to be constantly chasing something until you retire and die. So rather than working and enjoying 30/35 days a year to "holiday" around the needs of my employer, maybe it's time to hit the road and explore the world.
I'm 40. I could travel as much in the next year as I could in 10/12 years whilst working and renting.
 
monkeybarry said:
No quite. I was saying that any annual leave given to an employee over the legal minimum is a benefit (in lieu of higher wage), so if you also have the ability to buy/sell, you have the option to take more control over your terms on employment and adapt them to your life. If you want/need less holiday to cover bills, you have that choice. If you want/need more time off, you have that choice. Either way, you still have the minimum that Government (well, the EU) deems is needed for rest and relaxation each year.

As far as employer's behaviour, yeah it's a pretty incompatible position. The next few years are going to be very interesting in shaping employer/employee relationships and power balance.

Funny you mention that! I recently got dumped by my gf, with whom I was expecting to grow old and grey.
I don't have, or want, kids. Life feels like it's set up to be constantly chasing something until you retire and die. So rather than working and enjoying 30/35 days a year to "holiday" around the needs of my employer, maybe it's time to hit the road and explore the world.
I'm 40. I could travel as much in the next year as I could in 10/12 years whilst working and renting.
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I crossed a similar mental threshold there a few years back where I decided that having extra time off is more important than the money I lose by taking it, so I take an additional month off in the summer on top of the holidays I get anyway. I've been doing it for a few years now and it is one of the best decisions I've ever made.
 
Rorschach said:
I crossed a similar mental threshold there a few years back where I decided that having extra time off is more important than the money I lose by taking it, so I take an additional month off in the summer on top of the holidays I get anyway. I've been doing it for a few years now and it is one of the best decisions I've ever made.
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That is awesome.
Do you have that flexibility because you have a flexible employer?
Or because you do contract work?
 
monkeybarry said:
That is awesome.
Do you have that flexibility because you have a flexible employer?
Or because you do contract work?
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It is a flexible employer. I could actually take more time if I wanted to. And I can make up some or all of the lost money by doing a bit of consultancy on the side, which gives me more buck for my bang anyway. The plan is to keep nudging the needle that way more and more over the next few years.
 
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monkeybarry said:
No quite. I was saying that any annual leave given to an employee over the legal minimum is a benefit (in lieu of higher wage), so if you also have the ability to buy/sell, you have the option to take more control over your terms on employment and adapt them to your life. If you want/need less holiday to cover bills, you have that choice. If you want/need more time off, you have that choice. Either way, you still have the minimum that Government (well, the EU) deems is needed for rest and relaxation each year.

As far as employer's behaviour, yeah it's a pretty incompatible position. The next few years are going to be very interesting in shaping employer/employee relationships and power balance.

Funny you mention that! I recently got dumped by my gf, with whom I was expecting to grow old and grey.
I don't have, or want, kids. Life feels like it's set up to be constantly chasing something until you retire and die. So rather than working and enjoying 30/35 days a year to "holiday" around the needs of my employer, maybe it's time to hit the road and explore the world.
I'm 40. I could travel as much in the next year as I could in 10/12 years whilst working and renting.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the added explanation, it's excellent to have the option / flexibility but in an ideal world (yep I know...), there wouldn't be any kind of trade off needed when it comes to a work / life balance, just meaningful work and the pursuit of happiness / excellence.

In a sense I'm sorry to hear re the gf situation but looks like you have a good perspective on it, not to oversimplify it in to what could come off as a generic saying but when one door closes another one has a habit of opening - If that door leads you to see more of the world then happy days.
 
Glenda's Legs said:
Plus no indication of what shifts, hours, overtime etc. make up those earnings.
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Read what isn't said. He doesn't say salaries, he says earning.
No indication of what % of the workforce 900 people equates to (it'll be tiny).
Then in typical hatchet job style, a line that mentions the full name of the TSSA (when have you ever seen that?!) so it plants the "salary" seed after people have just read high figures.

I hate journos.
 
spurspinter1 said:
Thanks for the added explanation, it's excellent to have the option / flexibility but in an ideal world (yep I know...), there wouldn't be any kind of trade off needed when it comes to a work / life balance, just meaningful work and the pursuit of happiness / excellence.

In a sense I'm sorry to hear re the gf situation but looks like you have a good perspective on it, not to oversimplify it in to what could come off as a generic saying but when one door closes another one has a habit of opening - If that door leads you to see more of the world then happy days.
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Surely the pursuit of happiness has to contain trade offs within all the elements of the systems of life? Different people have different happiness needs, so the trade offs are what allow people the flexibility to get to where they want? (The current system is completely broken of course)

Thanks. Yeah it's a really odd situation. She literally flipped from being a well balanced, emotionally intelligent and thoughtful adult to dumping me by text whilst I was on holiday and being threatened by the existence of my female friends.
All very bizarre. I feel despondent about it. But not upset. More just frustrated and bemused. It is what it is - people are odd.
I'm going to wait until after Xmas and then reach out to her to suggest meeting for coffee and try an adult conversation - with no expectations.

But if nothing comes from that, I have a great opportunity to do something else.
I'm very lucky, I have a super power - I don't need anybody else in life. So anyone in my life are people I want in my life (ironically that includes all of you freaks) and add to it.
The only person I'm beholden to is myself.
 
spurspinter1 said:
Thanks for the added explanation, it's excellent to have the option / flexibility but in an ideal world (yep I know...), there wouldn't be any kind of trade off needed when it comes to a work / life balance, just meaningful work and the pursuit of happiness / excellence.

In a sense I'm sorry to hear re the gf situation but looks like you have a good perspective on it, not to oversimplify it in to what could come off as a generic saying but when one door closes another one has a habit of opening - If that door leads you to see more of the world then happy days.
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The purpose of work should be to satisfy need rather than want. Our failing as a species in one sentence
 
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Rorschach said:
I crossed a similar mental threshold there a few years back where I decided that having extra time off is more important than the money I lose by taking it, so I take an additional month off in the summer on top of the holidays I get anyway. I've been doing it for a few years now and it is one of the best decisions I've ever made.
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Especially if you have kids

Really you only get maybe 14 summers with your kids before they want nothing to do with you

So vital to spend as much time as you can with them in those periods
 
spurspinter1 said:
Thanks for the added explanation, it's excellent to have the option / flexibility but in an ideal world (yep I know...), there wouldn't be any kind of trade off needed when it comes to a work / life balance, just meaningful work and the pursuit of happiness / excellence.
Click to expand...

Maybe part of the reason Marx is still relevant today is that he was trying to deal with the same issue. He saw Communism as a system where you'd work half a day and then go fishing. Because you owned part of the factory, it would afford you more time to improve the quality of your life. Of course, Communism didn't shake down like that. It wasn't Marxism as he envisioned it.

But now, thanks to technology, you can work from anywhere in many fields. You can dictate the terms of your work too. I think ultimately it is about finding something you enjoy.
 
SpurMeUp said:
Maybe part of the reason Marx is still relevant today is that he was trying to deal with the same issue. He saw Communism as a system where you'd work half a day and then go fishing. Because you owned part of the factory, it would afford you more time to improve the quality of your life. Of course, Communism didn't shake down like that. It wasn't Marxism as he envisioned it.

But now, thanks to technology, you can work from anywhere in many fields. You can dictate the terms of your work too. I think ultimately it is about finding something you enjoy.
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What if you drop your phone when your fishing?

Take more then half a day getting it fixed.
 
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