The 40 Percent

On-call, part-time, provisional, and non-permanent workers, freelancers, temporary contract workers, independent contractors and consultants. Put them all together and you’ve got about 40 percent of America’s workers.

It breaks down like this:

Agency temps: 1.3%
On-call workers (work when needed): 3.5%
Contract company workers: 3.0%
Independent contractors: 12.9%
Self-employed workers (shop owners, etc.) 3.3%
Part-time workers: 16.2%

It’s possible to define this group down and pretend that many of these under-employed, under-paid workers are “independent small business owners,” but that doesn’t make their lives any less precarious. Many contingent workers in this “1099 Economy” are also contingent social service clients.

Re-Imagining Work

Dave Coplin, Chief Envisioning Officer at Microsoft, addressed the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), imagining how technology can empower an open, collaborative and flexible working culture. Video of his full lecture is here, but the short animated excerpt above is even more fun.

Illustrator: Andrew Park of Cognitive Media for RSA Animate.

Business Reimagined, Dave Coplin (Harriman House)

_____________

Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-huX

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

If You Sit Still For It, Your Job is Killing You.

“The average person now spends 9.3 hours a day sitting. People who sit for six or more hours per day are 40 per cent more likely to die within 15 years compared to someone who sits less than three hours a day, even if they exercise. Obese people sit 2½ hours more each day than people of normal weight, according to data compiled by Medical Billing and Coding, a U.S.-based organization.”

“People who jog for half an hour in the morning and then sit at a desk all day may be no better off than those who don’t go running.”

More:

“Is your office chair killing you?” Dave McGinn, Globe and Mail

___________________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-bNY

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Sarah Palin Tries Work, Doesn’t Like It

Former Alaska Temp-Governor Sarah Palin was a temp-waitress on her unreality TV show last week. Mrs. Palin waited tables at Peggy’s Airport Cafe in Anchorage (1675 E. Fifth Avenue, try the pies). She staged the event to show 9 year old daughter Piper “what it was like to be on your feet all day, work extremely hard and wait on people.” The presence of the professional video crew was purely coincidental.

Service was even slower than usual at Peggy’s that day, as Sarah the hard workin’ waitress spent all her time getting her picture taken with customers. Then again, Mrs. Palin’s whole career has been one long photo op. 

“Mom is doing horrible as a waitress,” said Piper. “I wouldn’t tip her because she spends too much time at the tables talking.” 

More:

“Sarah Palin: Candidate, patriot, waitress,” Francis Lam, Salon.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Distracted Flying

The pilots of Northwest flight 188 told the National Transportation Safety Board that they were so engrossed in their personal laptop computers they lost track of time and overshot Minneapolis airport. A flight attendant on the Airbus A320 finally got their attention an hour later.

Work can be so boring sometimes you’ve just gotta surf the Web.

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.