Why you should nurture your employees

I'm not saying the spectacular JetBlue flight attendant resignation was caused by this, but there are a few paragraphs in this USA Today article that should be an eye-opener to a lot of businesses:

It also casts a spotlight on a broader anger felt by many workers who are fed up with jobs in which pay raises, if they exist at all, are smaller or less frequent than they were a few years ago and with the threat of layoffs looming constantly, some workplace specialists say.

Slater did what many workers fantasize about and may do with increasing frequency — albeit with less showmanship — once the economy rebounds. "I don't think we should be surprised that once the economy starts ... picking up, there's a massive relocation of workers who want out as fast as they possibly can," says economist Joel Naroff, president and chief economist of Naroff Economic Advisors.

"That's the warning that I don't think businesses really recognize: You can pull this off now because there isn't really an option, but once there's an option, it's going to be payback time," Naroff says. "You're going to be losing some of your best people."

 
Obvious to most of us, but apparently news to the big corporations: You can't continue abusing your employees forever just to increase your share value. The moment the economy picks up you'll lose your best men. And women.

Restrictions, restrictions...

Politicians never get tired of trying to restrict people's freedom, in any way possible. The latest, and probably least serious although extremely annoying, pointless and unnecessary is banning smokeless tobacco, snus, for council workers during working hours. This has been introduced by a number of municipalities in Sweden lately.

I'm struggling to understand how these municipalities are justifying this completely pointless invasion of people's personal life.

• Snus doesn't make workers less productive, as they are able to continue working while using it. Also, the users' mental state isn't altered in any way that could possibly affect work.
• Snus doesn't bother any third parties, unless looking at a person with a snus under his or her lip bothers you (in which case you should have your head examined).
  
• Snus is a legal substance.

What will be next? Banning coffee during work? Banning looking through the window during work? You can't just go and ban something because you don't like it. Stupid, ignorant bastards.

Socialists don't work

Only 43% of socialist voters in Sweden feel the current politics are to their advantage, which leads me to the conclusion that most socialist voters don't like to work, they prefer to sit on their ass and cash in that social security check every month.

Of course it's upsetting for them to see people who actually make their own money getting to keep a bit more of their paycheck, while their own welfare benefits are shrinking and they are increasingly forced to get out into that cold, estranged world of work.

All work and no fun

Apparently the average monthly salary in Norway is 41.000 kronor, as opposed to the Swedish average of 27.100 kronor. And this figure is supposed to tempt Swedes into moving. First of all, I'm assuming the Norwegian numbers have been converted into Swedish kronor, which means the average salary in NOK is 32.800, far from as impressive.

Second, you're gonna need every little bit of those extra kronor living in Norway, where a car costs as much as a house, having a beer at a restaurant will set you back about 500 kronor, and a big old steak costs more or less an arm and a leg.

Sure, you can make a few more bucks working in Norway, but unless you're planning on living in a box and eating out of a dumpster that money will disappear before you can say "kjempemorsomt".

Sweden on top of the world

Congratulations fellow Swedes, by the beginning of 2010 we'll be the country in the world with the heaviest tax burden, with a marginal tax rate of a whopping 56,7 percent! Now that's really something. In fact only 5 other countries in the world are part of this exclusive "50%+" club.

Of course confiscating over half of people's income isn't enough for social democratic opposition leader Mona Sahlin, who has already promised she will continue increasing the income-, wealth- and housing taxes, all in the name of decreasing the differences between rich and poor. Sure, I get that. After all, why should a hard-working, tax-paying citizen have more money to spend than a person living on welfare? Why should it pay to work at all?

In fact, I can't see any reason to stop at 56,7 percent. It would probably be best just to confiscate 100 percent of people's income and then redistribute it equally so that no one is left behind.