Although global warming has been in the news for decades now, let's not forget the countless lifes lost each winter due to extreme cold. I write this post because of what's happening at my workplace right now and what I guess is happening in many more places around the world in the northern hemisphere.
source: YouTube
During the pandemic most offices were closed and people whose work could be done from a laptop or computer at home had two years to get accustomed to working from home. That's me as well. Now that we're seeing an end to the pandemic, we're now working 50 percent in the office and 50 percent from home. Or at least I am, and I was under the impression that most of my colleagues did the same. I mean, personally I don't understand the need to go back to the office at all, except maybe once or twice a month to catch up with latest developments or do some work-related courses that can't be done from home. For two entire years us office workers have proved that it's unnecessary to be in the office. There was no loss of production, no loss in customer satisfaction, no loss in general performance indicators at all.
But our work-days became a lot shorter, not having to commute. Carbon output decreased significantly with mostly empty roads. Gone were the traffic-jams as well as the accompanying frustration and stress. That's all good news right? All I can think of is that the bosses simply don't trust their employees, even after two whole years of successfully working remote from home. When I say something about this at work, the usual response is some vague referral to "team-building" and that it's nice to have and maintain personal contact. Sure. Team-building when simultaneously pitting us against each other in the eternal incentives and rewards competition... I'd much rather do that from home, and I have friends and family with whom I want to maintain personal contact. I work for the customer and for my salary.
Anyhow, I recently promoted to another function with a lot less personal contact with our customers, solving more technically complicated problems. Because of that I had to go to the office every day these past few weeks, and I noticed something: a lot of my colleagues were already doing that voluntarily. When asked, a few of them indicated that they just like the office better than their own home. That's sad, if you ask me. Don't they have friends? Don't they have family? A lot of them don't. More gave a different answer: they said that they don't have to burn gas for the heating in their house when they're at the office. Energy prices have gone crazy and they just don't see how they're going to be able to pay the bills if they have the heating on the entire day.
With increasing frequency we get news that people have to choose between heat or food. In the same breath news is given that energy companies are making record profits. Inflation is skyrocketing, but employers will not raise wages to keep up. Employers who made a killing during the pandemic refuse to contribute to the well being of their employees in these extraordinary times. The pandemic has already accelerated the widening of the gap between rich and poor. People in the middle class who predominantly have office jobs, like myself, didn't lose their source of income as they got to keep their jobs and work from home. That is unless your boss is Elon Musk of course, who mandated his employees went to the office during the height of the pandemic.
These are crazy times. With every day, every minute, news releases that unmasks the capitalist political economy and reveals its true face; wealth is constantly being transferred from the poor to the rich. It's trickle up, not down... And I fear many will suffer or even lose their lifes simply because they can not afford to heat their homes.
Germany energy crisis: Prices soar in cold winter months
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