staggering our work hours - is it so insane?

Posted on | March 16, 2010 |

we get it. the mta is so strapped for cash that they’re considering everything from “selling” station naming rights to the highest bidders to buying bridges from the city for $1 and charging riders to cross.

the 2nd ave. line, a situation more desperate than me trying to find a non-slutty, but still not completely man-like costume for halloween, is not likely to be completed until, well, until i find a non-slutty but still not completely man-like halloween costume. not anytime soon, but i’ll keep you updated.

bottom-line, most of us have abandoned the prospect of a comfortable and reliable subway ride. the 7 line is packed and often runs local even though it starts off as an express. the indicators that tell you how long the next l train will arrive in work great, except that the train comes into the station right on schedule and then does not stop. the g train, well let’s not even get started on the g train.

ask any new yorker why we have to suffer so to get to work and he/she will say the same thing - there are simply too many people trying to get to work at the same time. and ridership is increasing. so what do we do?

with money, time and capacity as our limits, it seems the only thing we can do is stagger our work schedules. now, there are many obvious reasons that people might think this approach won’t work:

my boss needs me at work at 9am.
i don’t want to stay at work later than i have to.
i don’t want to look like a slacker.
i am an stockbroker and need to be in early.

the list goes on. but consider the following:

almost everyone has a mobile device and much of what we do between 9am and 10:30am can hardly be called “working” anyway.
some people are still sleepy at 7am in the morning and would appreciate being able to come in at 11am (and would work more effectively).
some of us do not mind staying late if we get to come in later.
some of us have kids and would love to come in a little early if it means we can pick them up from school at 3 in the afternoon.
if your office makes it a policy to have staggered schedules, and dept. heads know about it, they won’t think that you’re lazy…well they might, but that’s probably due to the fact that you are.
imagine 1/2 or even 1/4 of the people that you usually ride the train with, not riding the train with you anymore.

i’ve run this idea in front of a lot of different people and most think it is great. yes, there are a lot of roadblocks, namely your employer not being down with you coming in later or earlier. but there has to be some way that the mta and employers across the city can strike a deal. incentives of some kind? employers should know that not everyone is a morning person and allowing people to come in later could boost productivity. the mta should know that many of their delays and necessary repairs are caused by the super-high volume of riders.

if anyone has ideas, let me know.

in the meantime, i’m going to ask john liu what he thinks.

here is his email address: liunewyork@gmail.com

Comments

2 Responses to “staggering our work hours - is it so insane?”

Tsahia
April 7th, 2010 @ 3:28 pm

I really like the concept of a staggering our work hours. I’m totally out of it at 6:00 when I wake up and my commute is a strong 1hr & 15min on a good day. In my office, we do this unofficially b/c it’s a research division. However, my work is definitely best when it’s quiet, early morning, late evening &/or weekends.
Bottega Veneta
June 28th, 2010 @ 11:49 pm

Great!!

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swyyne has always been an experiment for me. with all of the other super eco sites out there, i've been feeling like i want to contribute something just a bit different. so for now, here are my random musings.