EV's in deep freeze

[ThatRobGuy]

I'm more interested in seeing electric motorcycles and e-Bikes, as far as battery vehicles go. It seems like a more sustainable use of battery technology. A move towards less cars would also have long-term positive impacts on American society.

That and getting some of the more stubborn "hold-out" companies to embrace "work-at-home".
(that wouldn't necessarily eliminate the need for a car, but it would reduce the necessary amount of driving it)

Companies that implemented WAH did it just fine during covid (and even saw productivity increases of around 13%), yet a large majority of them decided to implement "return to office" policies.


I suspect I know the reasons for that (and they're rooted in the fact that most people are more confident and assertive at a keyboard than they are in face to face confrontations, and bosses don't tend to like that, nor do they like the fact that they lost the leverage of being able to pop in on someone and look over their shoulder that gives them a sense of power lol)

My company entertained the idea of making us all go back, but when enough people said "well, if you do that, I'm out", they switched course and made WAH permanent and sold the building the we used to go to and we're going on 4 years now and still doing fine.

 

[FireDragon76]

That and getting some of the more stubborn "hold-out" companies to embrace "work-at-home".
(that wouldn't necessarily eliminate the need for a car, but it would reduce the necessary amount of driving it)

Companies that implemented WAH did it just fine during covid (and even saw productivity increases of around 13%), yet a large majority of them decided to implement "return to office" policies.


I suspect I know the reasons for that (and they're rooted in the fact that most people are more confident and assertive at a keyboard than they are in face to face confrontations, and bosses don't tend to like that, nor do they like the fact that they lost the leverage of being able to pop in on someone and look over their shoulder that gives them a sense of power lol)

My company entertained the idea of making us all go back, but when enough people said "well, if you do that, I'm out", they switched course and made WAH permanent and sold the building the we used to go to and we're going on 4 years now and still doing fine.

While I'm all for more worker autonomy and flexibility, we need to be moving to a society where people maintain more face-to-face social contacts (as was recently discussed by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy), and that requires better mobility solutions that everybody can access. Working from home isn't a holistic solution to the lack of social and physical activity Americans deal with, as a result of our built environment (if Americans could get just 3,000 more steps per day, we'ld actually be getting a decent level of physical activity, enough to significantly reduce the incidence and morbidity of many diseases).

 

[ThatRobGuy]

While I'm all for more worker autonomy and flexibility, we need to be moving to a society where people maintain more face-to-face social contacts (as was recently discussed by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy), and that requires better mobility solutions that everybody can access. Working from home isn't a holistic solution to the lack of social and physical activity Americans deal with, as a result of our built environment (if Americans could get just 3,000 more steps per day, we'ld actually be getting a decent level of physical activity, enough to significantly reduce the incidence and morbidity of many diseases).

I'd agree on the lack of mobility thing (I, for one, set reminders on my phone to get up and move every 45 mins or so)...so despite working remotely, I still average about 6,000 steps per day on a work day, and then I do long hikes on the weekends in whatever city I happen to be in)

The lack of social activity is one where I think people are barking up the wrong tree if they're looking for workplace acquaintances to fill that void.

The people at my company who I enjoy spending time with, I'm already friends with and hang out with them off hours in non-work environments.

I'd go out on a limb and say that the reason people got more productive from home is specifically because some people were socializing quite a bit at work (instead of actually working). I'm sure we've all worked with a few of those types...the ones who spend 1-2 hours of the work day hanging out by the coffee machine or walking up and down the aisles trying to make small talk with random people.

I'd say a better solution to the "lack of social interaction" issue would be some sort of model in which, since people are more productive from home, move to a 4-day work week instead of 5 so that people have 3 days to go out and spend time with the people they actually enjoy hanging out with instead of just the 2...

And per CNBC polling:
90% of Americans have co-workers they don't like, and 57% of people have considered quitting, or left their jobs, because of an annoying co-worker.

 

[FireDragon76]

I'd agree on the lack of mobility thing (I, for one, set reminders on my phone to get up and move every 45 mins or so)...so despite working remotely, I still average about 6,000 steps per day on a work day, and then I do long hikes on the weekends in whatever city I happen to be in)

The lack of social activity is one where I think people are barking up the wrong tree if they're looking for workplace acquaintances to fill that void.

People can benefit from more than close friendships, though. Just having some human contact can be beneficial at times. Between work at home, home delivery of groceries and takeout, there's less and less impetus for some people to make any real human contact. And that could have negative consequences, both for personal health, but also the wider society.

And per CNBC polling:
90% of Americans have co-workers they don't like, and 57% of people have considered quitting, or left their jobs, because of an annoying co-worker.

Sometimes it's the people that we don't like, that aren't our friends, that help us grow and develop character, though.

 

[Laodicean60]

I'm sorry for interrupting this interesting conversation about EVs but If you are interested Pete Zehan is talking about natural gas globally what I found interesting is the situation in Russia and they are soon to come offline due to the war and ignorance.