This article describes the consequences of uncertain work hours resulting from what is described as just-in-time scheduling. The discussion is specific to retail industries that are using data analysis tools to predict the needs for staffing based on historical trends. These tools leads to more flexible employment contracts where the employee agrees to work…
This post is continuing my earlier contemplation of what may be behind lower labor force participation rates, using my perspective on the outside of the participation fence. But as with recent notes, I’m drawing on personal anecdotes rather than pretending to have some broader insight. Today’s topic is the apparent disconnect between getting through…
In the past day I have been thinking about my recent posts on diversity in the work place and how it ties back to my earlier posts on labor force participation and on education performance. In particular, I realized my formulation of diversity as a mutual respect for equal intelligence and intention of good…
In my previous post on diversity in the workplace, I described a difference of expectations for diversity. My view of diversity is to foster exchange of ideas that are relevant to advancing the mission of the team. The contrary view is that diversity encourages people to replace old forms of identity with an new…
I have been thinking about a work-place emphasis on promoting diversity. What is it that we should be aspiring to achieve? When we get the occasional updates for diversity sensitivity training, it seems always to be presented as some new never-before attempted initiative. I realize that the training audience needs to include first-year…
There is common sense, and then there is a common sense. For this post, I have in mind an idea of unsophisticated sense. That quality of an person’s inherent capacities prior to training or education. This is a sense of being able to confront novelty and conceive a plan of action that is…
I’m taking my afternoon break from piano practice. After all these years, I’m still struggling with simple exercises. I admit to being a slow learner. Lately I have been practicing without a teacher. I’ve had teachers before so I know pretty much what they would say on my weekly progress so I can emulate their…
This post is a followup on yesterday’s post on the declining value of work and its possible impact on motivating people to participate in labor. The primary motivation for today’s post was the popular urban legend of the expense report with the attached note “find the hat” as described here, although this account is…
This is continuing my thoughts on possibly overlooked influences that could contribute to a decades-long trend of declining labor participation rates among working age adults. I’m considering this from my data science point of view of using data to discover new hypothesis. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to big data so I use what…
A couple years ago I finally ready Moby Dick after successfully managing to avoid it until I was over 50 years old. I’m glad I did because its value would have been lost to me as a younger reader. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading it even at the time of the…
Hypothesis Discovery 