What if we looked at an ideal Work/Life balance like Engineers look an airplane, bridge, or Rocket? How would this change our vision of our perfect workplace and life?
What is Reverse Engineering you say? – Read along and let's see.
Community building in a remote state in an ever changing work environment is anything but easy in our post CoVid world. However, if we look for other community and workplace models, perhaps we can reverse engineer a better work/life balance based on how many relationships our brain can effectively handle.
Most of us spend our days working and living in a framework that others have built carefully for us. In short, we are reacting instead of planning and building our communities and futures. For roughly 80 years, that framework provided everything workers needed, and the balance between worker and executive was equitable. Since 1979, however, those balances have been sufficiently upended. Reverse engineering may be our best bet at building a sustainable workforce for the next 40 years.
So, what is reverse engineering?
Reverse engineering is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accomplishes a task with very little insight into exactly how it does so.
In layman's terms, it's sitting down, looking at what others have created, and taking those elements into your own design. Let's take a look at what reverse engineering entails in three aspects of work life and community.
Why start with the end in sight?
“Any idiot can build a bridge that stands, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that barely stands.” - anonymous
In labor terms, anyone can go out and apply for a job. But does that job REALLY support you in the long run, or will it just get you across that road for the short term at a massive cost in time, energy, and bandwidth. Furthermore, will that bridge you build only support someone else getting where they want to go, leaving you on low land when the Absorokas let loose and flood your town? The bridge may even seem like a great idea, a new chance in life to try something novel and exciting. After all, variety and change are "the spice of life".
However, these instant gratifications come at long term costs to living a quality life. Spending time right now to analyze your workplace and those around you, looking at what others have done, and planning for action are the only sure fire ways to ensure a life is not wasted in toil with the expectation that you boss or company will actually care.
Key element number 1: Time
You only get one life to live, and spending it on someone else's bridge, laboring all day in a beautiful place that you never get to truly enjoy with any sense of peace of mind that bills will be paid, is not an effective use of the precious time we all have in this beautiful state. In labor terms, this comes with the elements of how much true time off is built into the bargaining agreement.
Another aspect of time off is whether or not you are "on call" and must show up to work at the drop of a hat like BNSF and other railways expected for the years leading up to the current collective bargaining agreement. When you start thinking about how much time off you get, think about the quality of that time. You want time off that doesn't involve a phone call in the middle of the night -- tied to the expectation that you'll be at the worksite within a half hour at 3 AM.
Is that time off paid? Ever since the 1980's things workers took for granted like sick pay and paid time off (PTO) have decreased to the point that workers entering the workforce don't even know what they are! You need to know what these items are and how they can play into your happiness.
Key Element 2: Relationships
Montanans and Americans in general, more than any other country, build our relationships around the workplace. This incredibly dangerous and deceptive practice has led to the façade that our employers will actually take care of us when the cards are down.
Good small family business owners, of which there are many in Montana, physically see many of their workers every day. The connection to the workers is easily managed and feelings can be readily seen. If the family business is caring, they will evaluate each situation with workers and, if it works out, react accordingly. If the finances aren't available but there is room for trade, like many of us did in rural areas, then we traded for services or parts.
In larger businesses and projects, however, labor is a commodity and, much like cement to be poured in a footing, it is planned for and managed from afar with little regard to personality. Within a larger workplace, having the bandwidth to actually care about each other and our fellow workers is integral to a better life for all of us.
Key Element 3: Money
The cost of living in Montana has gone up significantly over the last year and a half, but one thing that hasn't followed suit -- wages and benefits. The poverty wage level has increased drastically, and if you don't want to fall behind you need to start planning yesterday for how your future will look.
Large multibillion dollar companies buying up Montana are well versed in manipulating workers to work for low wages. If you don't have a solid plan for how much you need to make, they will certainly fill in that plan for you.
Long story short, we can get by on a day to day basis if we're all in the fight together, but none of us can do it alone. Relying on our employer to care about us is about as reliable as putting your trust in that thin sheet of ice to hold you on a Spring day. It may hold for minute, but when the cracks start you're likely to find yourself left sopping wet out in the cold -- without a towel or a helping hand.
Working together to form a collective bargaining unit has proven to be the only sure fire way to guarantee a secure future. We want to help you before you fall through the ice. Check out our Start a Union page to get the ball rolling on your better life.
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