The 'just getting by brigade' and universal basic income.
I'm a big fan of the idea of universal basic income; UBI. The ideology that welfare becomes a thing of the past, because people have enough to live on. Those who want more than 'just enough to live on' follow their heart doing something they love, and earning themselves a better standard of living. The money wasted on complex ESA, JSA assessments, enforcement and compliance is reinvested to support everyone, civil servants are sent home with their pockets lined with UBI instead. After a catastrophe a couple of years back, my wife and I have been supported with ESA, JSA, child tax credits and working tax credits (not all at the same time). My wife doesn't earn enough to pay tax, and I'm trying my best to establish myself as an entrepreneur.
Having UBI as a safety net wouldn't motivate me any less than I am now, I wouldn't give up, because I'm loving what I'm doing. But it would take a lot of the stress away. Stress that's increased do to the unexplained non payment this bank holiday weekend of our WTC. Which will mean more work for us and HMRC. Work that would be avoided, so we could both be more productive, if UBI was a thing.
To try and help make ends meet I've also taken an 8 hour weekend job (possibly why they've halted WTC, who knows, the rules are so complex?), not something that will hinder my self employment progress, but something that will keep me working with a team, get me up and doing something physical at the weekend and keep me sane by working as part of a bigger team. It can get lonely being self employed (whaah!) This is by no means enough to support a family on, as I'm sure you can appreciate (£7.50 x 8 hours a weekend) but it should help a little.
I've worked for big companies for the previous 20 years and going self employed has been something of an eye opener, and I believe it's the same over and over and could be where UBI is both beneficial, but also very risky for big business.
Corporations aren't great at treating people like individuals, or sometimes even humans. It's an easy place for paranoia and insecurities to blossom. Quite often, because of staffing cuts, or logistical limitations, pressure to perform is high, and the stress levels proportionate. It's rarely that rewarding either. How can it be? On the one hand you're a front line employee on close to minimum wage with high expectations, at best it's higher stress and responsibility for an adequate wage.
The profits that flow through the bigger machine, for the most part, end up in someone else's pocket.
Which is where UBI could both improve standards in employment, but also bring some companies to their knees.
Whilst it's not true in the place I'm working at the moment, previously, thinly veiled threats about job security were part of the unwritten management motivation pack. Many senior leaders lacked the people skills and intelligence to motivate people ethically or effectively. They couldn't inspire, or gain buy in, they couldn't form teams or motivate people to do their best. Had they tried, against the targets that most were missing, they'd have felt like failures themselves. So all they had left, in a desperate attempt to get people to deliver more than they were capable, was to threaten them with their job security. Hell, it was half true anyway, if we couldn't be better than our best, then they'd probably be put under pressure to find someone else to punish instead of us.
'You'll all have to update your Linkedin profile' said one hapless halfwit in a desperate attempt to motivate a group of managers at our monthly meeting.
'Gee, you my kinda manager' I didn't think.
Which begs the question 'is it worth it'?
If the options are, fulfil Maslov's basic needs and chill the fuck out. Or work your fingers to the bone so you can chill out somewhere abroad for a week, what is the point of working for that sort of business? With UBI to fall back on, there really wouldn't be any. Mass walkouts would be common. Big companies would fail to attract great people. Great, intelligent, people wouldn't put themselves through the stress. They'd stick two fingers up and say, it's just not worth the effort. Good luck and bye!
Companies like Apple, where they sell great products, value their people, don't mess about with sales figures, I reckon they'd do OK. Some of the others would be in serious trouble though.
Or; the Utopian vision, the companies would be forced to make the employment worthwhile. They'd have to create a workplace that is welcoming and supportive. Somewhere that it's actually fun to attend, that lines their own pockets by giving something fair and reasonable to the company. Not their dignity, respect and value of self worth.
As autonomy increases with the population, and welfare costs for the nation become a growing concern, something radical is going to have to be implemented to avoid a mass housing and unemployment crisis.
UBI over the coming years will be a hot topic, as a nation, and as a global village, I think we have some serious growing up to do.
Having UBI as a safety net wouldn't motivate me any less than I am now, I wouldn't give up, because I'm loving what I'm doing. But it would take a lot of the stress away. Stress that's increased do to the unexplained non payment this bank holiday weekend of our WTC. Which will mean more work for us and HMRC. Work that would be avoided, so we could both be more productive, if UBI was a thing.
To try and help make ends meet I've also taken an 8 hour weekend job (possibly why they've halted WTC, who knows, the rules are so complex?), not something that will hinder my self employment progress, but something that will keep me working with a team, get me up and doing something physical at the weekend and keep me sane by working as part of a bigger team. It can get lonely being self employed (whaah!) This is by no means enough to support a family on, as I'm sure you can appreciate (£7.50 x 8 hours a weekend) but it should help a little.
I've worked for big companies for the previous 20 years and going self employed has been something of an eye opener, and I believe it's the same over and over and could be where UBI is both beneficial, but also very risky for big business.
Corporations aren't great at treating people like individuals, or sometimes even humans. It's an easy place for paranoia and insecurities to blossom. Quite often, because of staffing cuts, or logistical limitations, pressure to perform is high, and the stress levels proportionate. It's rarely that rewarding either. How can it be? On the one hand you're a front line employee on close to minimum wage with high expectations, at best it's higher stress and responsibility for an adequate wage.
The profits that flow through the bigger machine, for the most part, end up in someone else's pocket.
Which is where UBI could both improve standards in employment, but also bring some companies to their knees.
Whilst it's not true in the place I'm working at the moment, previously, thinly veiled threats about job security were part of the unwritten management motivation pack. Many senior leaders lacked the people skills and intelligence to motivate people ethically or effectively. They couldn't inspire, or gain buy in, they couldn't form teams or motivate people to do their best. Had they tried, against the targets that most were missing, they'd have felt like failures themselves. So all they had left, in a desperate attempt to get people to deliver more than they were capable, was to threaten them with their job security. Hell, it was half true anyway, if we couldn't be better than our best, then they'd probably be put under pressure to find someone else to punish instead of us.
'You'll all have to update your Linkedin profile' said one hapless halfwit in a desperate attempt to motivate a group of managers at our monthly meeting.
'Gee, you my kinda manager' I didn't think.
Which begs the question 'is it worth it'?
If the options are, fulfil Maslov's basic needs and chill the fuck out. Or work your fingers to the bone so you can chill out somewhere abroad for a week, what is the point of working for that sort of business? With UBI to fall back on, there really wouldn't be any. Mass walkouts would be common. Big companies would fail to attract great people. Great, intelligent, people wouldn't put themselves through the stress. They'd stick two fingers up and say, it's just not worth the effort. Good luck and bye!
Companies like Apple, where they sell great products, value their people, don't mess about with sales figures, I reckon they'd do OK. Some of the others would be in serious trouble though.
Or; the Utopian vision, the companies would be forced to make the employment worthwhile. They'd have to create a workplace that is welcoming and supportive. Somewhere that it's actually fun to attend, that lines their own pockets by giving something fair and reasonable to the company. Not their dignity, respect and value of self worth.
As autonomy increases with the population, and welfare costs for the nation become a growing concern, something radical is going to have to be implemented to avoid a mass housing and unemployment crisis.
UBI over the coming years will be a hot topic, as a nation, and as a global village, I think we have some serious growing up to do.
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