What is Digg?6 Comments
- mcla007, on 07/30/2008, -0/+5I had never thought if it from this angle: "The labor contract is incomplete because it is impossible for a contract to specify, ahead of time, the exact levels of effort and standards of performance expected of workers...The worker has every bit as much of a right to attempt to minimize his effort per dollar of wages as the boss has to attempt to maximize it."
I always assumed a worker promises in a job-contract to maximize shareholder value. He doesn't; he merely promises to be available for so many hours a day.
(Looks like my browsing on company-time has a rational basis after all :p ) - syadasti, on 07/30/2008, -0/+4Splendid essay.
- mcla007, on 07/30/2008, -0/+4"if everyone worked more the company would have more money and would be able to pay its workers more."
This might be true for a small company, as you say, which is struggling to retain its employees. In companies like mine, which employs 100,000 people, there is little correlation between increased profits and higher benefits. The company chooses to pay "competitive wages" irrespective of how much it is able to pay.
"you are not being payed to play minesweeper."
Sure, but it's also not clear what exactly I am paid for. I am frequently reminded that I am paid to maximize shareholder value (or rather maximize the management bonuses), but it didn't strike me till recently, why the hell should I? I should work to increase shareholder value insofar as it also maximizes my utility from the job. If (and this is only an example) my maximum utility is in playing minesweeper, that's the rational thing for me to do. - bradspangler, on 07/30/2008, -0/+4FTA: "Labor needs to reconsider its strategy, and in particular to take a new look at the asymmetric warfare techniques it has abandoned for so long."
- Paulish, on 07/30/2008, -0/+3I suppose it depends how much of an impact it has on you. In a smaller company your minimized productivity could harm you. No, your wage wouldn't go down perhaps, but if everyone worked more the company would have more money and would be able to pay its workers more. I'm not saying you should become a corporate slave and devote yourself to the company you work for, I am just saying you are not being payed to play minesweeper.
- clore, on 08/03/2008, -0/+1Kevin Carson is one of the best libertarian writers around.
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