All posts by GrowWiser

After Virtue – A Bird’s Eye View

Philosophy

Alasdair MacIntyre is a major figure in the modern revival of virtue ethics and After Virtue is a key text of that revival. The book covers a lot of ground, both in depth and breadth. Unfortunately, MacIntyre doesn’t lay out the argument he is meticulously building, and the writing style and formatting makes separating central threads from sub-arguments difficult. This post is an attempt at a very high level understanding of that central argument. [Note: MacIntyre did concisely write out his core argument a few years after publication in a very helpful article, The Claims of After Virtue (pdf).]

MacIntyre agrees with Nietzsche’s analysis of modernity, but believes there is an alternative to accepting Nietzsche’s prescription. Continue reading After Virtue – A Bird’s Eye View →

Less Work for Less Pay – Why Don’t Companies Offer The Option?

Economics

You are a salaried employee in one of the high pay, high hours, high stress careers and want to slow down a bit. You are happy enough with your company and your job, you just want to do less of it and have time and energy for other things. And you don’t need all that money they are paying you. You want to trade some of that high salary for additional time.

You’ll be a happier, more productive employee who’ll be less likely to jump ship and the company will benefit accordingly. It makes perfect sense, so why is it so rare? Are companies just stuck in the stone age?

I’d like to focus on just one aspect that seems to blindside people asking for less work for less pay.

A Multiple Choice Question:

You are making $160,000/year and are working 80 hours/week. You want to work 40 hours/week. What is a fair annual salary at these reduced hours?

a) $100,000
b) $80,0000
c) $60,0000
d) $45,000

My guess is that most employees looking for reduced hours would say (b) with some selecting (a) or (c). For a company faced with this question the answer is generally (d), sometimes (c). Continue reading Less Work for Less Pay – Why Don’t Companies Offer The Option? →