Category Archives: Social Issues

Smokers Need Not Apply at Baylor

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Dallas-area Baylor Health Care System is preparing to implement a new hiring policy: a pre-employment nicotine test. Those who fail are ineligible for hire, just like an illegal drug user would be ineligible at many other businesses.

To my limited knowledge, Baylor is the first employer to openly exclude smokers from consideration. Naturally, many smokers are crying discrimination, and they’re absolutely right. But I agree with the policy 100 percent. As stated in the article,

The FDA estimates smoking costs American employers some $200 billion a year in lost productivity and increased medical costs.

Why should a business knowingly hire someone who consistently makes poor health choices that will significantly drive up its healthcare costs?

Discrimination in hiring for certain characteristics such as race, gender, age, and national origin is rightfully illegal. A person doesn’t generally choose his or her status on those characteristics. However, smokers chose to start smoking and choose to continue smoking. Yes, once you’re addicted, it’s a very, very hard habit to break. But people quit every day. Every anti-smoking move that governments and businesses make, such as banning smoking in restaurants and other public buildings or refusing to hire smokers, gives nicotine addicts additional reasons to quit.

I have no visibility to the impact of smoking on healthcare costs at my own company, but I do see some of the operational results within my department. In my office, we work an eight-hour shift with no scheduled breaks. We may leave the desk temporarily to attend to “personal physiological needs”. Some of my colleagues smoke, which means that a few times during each shift, they disappear for a while for a smoke break. When they are gone, the people around them must cover their phones and crew messages. Covering for other people can put us in an awkward legal position, plus it’s just annoying when a smoker expects us to do their job plus our own due to their own poor choices.

To me, refusing to hire smokers is a no-brainer. The more interesting question, as mentioned briefly in the article, is whether an employer can legally refuse to hire people who are overweight. Such a ban would affect a much larger percentage of the population, at least in America, and could be considered illegal discrimination in some cases. After all, obesity can result from multiple factors, including genetics, other health disorders, and lifestyle choices. Some people are overweight despite eating well and exercising.

On a related note, the City of Chicago is starting a wellness program for city employees that includes health screenings, accountability, counseling, and support toward goals such as weight loss. Those who choose not to participate will pay $50/month more for their health insurance.

Banning applicants who smoke and charging overweight people more for health insurance does present a slippery-slope problem. How far do we want to go in rewarding and punishing certain types of behavior? What other risky behaviors can a business or government single out for correction? Use of alcohol? Motorcycle riding? Skydiving? Use of tanning booths? Football? Cycling? Eating at McDonald’s? Unprotected sex? Not getting enough sleep at night? What might seem like a simple issue (to skinny nonsmokers, at least) could get really complicated if you try to take it further.

What are your thoughts? Should employers exclude certain candidates because of their lifestyle choices? If so, which choices form an acceptable basis for discrimination in hiring? If not, what can employers do to mitigate the increased healthcare costs that these employees cause and encourage them to make better choices?

Do We Need the Postal Service?

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Other than my Netflix DVDs, the vast majority of the mail I get is junk. Sometimes I get something interesting, such as a check addressed to me or a birthday card or a letter from one of our sponsored children. But generally the mail consists of ads that I don’t want, credit card applications that I don’t want, and legitimate business mailings that could and should reach me via email instead.

As a case in point, I recently made some changes to my retirement investments, moving money around and changing my future contributions. I made four separate changes. Yesterday I received four separate confirmation letters from JP Morgan Chase.

Really?

A recent article on CNN highlights some of the current and future difficulties of the United States Postal Service. In a nutshell, because our society is shifting to electronic communications and transactions, the volume of snail mail drops every year, meaning less revenue for the USPS. Meanwhile, the service is shackled by numerous laws imposed by Congress and contractual obligations secured by the postal workers’ union. These chains limit its ability to cut costs to match the reduced demand.

The result is easy to predict: the USPS is running out of money. Unless some things change, sometime next year it won’t be able to pay its employees anymore. Beyond the financial issues, it also has a more basic problem: it spends billions of dollars a year in gas and trucks to drive billions of miles delivering materials that the recipients often don’t even want.

This crisis is forcing us to ask some tough questions. Do we really need the postal service? If so, do we really need deliveries six days a week? Could we get by without Saturday? What about three days a week? Do we need all those post offices everywhere? Are we willing to pay the postal service’s actual cost of mailing a letter, even if it means a significant increase in the cost of a stamp?

First off, I don’t think we can function without a postal service. Yes, FedEx and UPS offer a great product for shipping many items, but delivering billions of pieces of mail among hundreds of millions of addresses doesn’t fit their business model, and I doubt they could do it as cheaply as the USPS does. Email and electronic transactions work great in many cases, but physical items such as medication obviously can’t travel digitally unless someone builds one of those teleporter machines that Willy Wonka invented. Plus many people still don’t have computers and/or internet access, and some of those who do still don’t trust computers for financial transactions.

However, the world is changing, and the USPS must change with it. I don’t know how representative I am of general mail habits, but I just don’t use the postal service that much. The main thing I send out via snail mail is my Netflix DVDs, and eventually Netflix will likely abandon its mail-order business in favor of streaming. I pay all my bills electronically except for my property tax bill. That one I pay via check only because the county charges a hefty processing fee for credit card payments. I very rarely mail cards or letters. I prefer getting information electronically since it’s easier to store and doesn’t kill trees.

I only think the USPS can survive long-term in a significantly shrunken form. Service frequency must drop, probably by eliminating Saturday delivery or perhaps even switching to thrice weekly delivery. Rates must rise enough to cover expenses, which will significantly reduce demand. If you really want to mail something, you’ll have to pay good money for it. The USPS should eliminate all bulk rates for businesses and free postage for non-profits and government agencies. The new, higher rates will significantly reduce junk mail by making it less profitable or perhaps unprofitable. Sound good?

What are your thoughts? How much do you depend on the postal service?

“This Whole Class is Jammed with Ignorance!”

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Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot. — Anonymous

What does it take to become an expert in something? What does it take to convince others you are an expert? Formal education? A certain number of years working in a field? Reading enough books? Memorizing sound bites and talking points from others?

Many people seem to find it easy to speak authoritatively on a variety of topics. Political pundits and politicians throw out simple solutions to major economic problems like the budget deficit or Social Security. Every fall we hear football fans criticize the coaches, players, and officials from the weekend’s games. Strangers offer unsolicited advice to pregnant women and new mothers at the grocery store. Religious protesters carry signs at funerals and courthouses to defend their interpretations of Scripture.

In some cases, the people involved actually know what they’re talking about, providing a legitimate expert opinion. Perhaps the politician was an economics professor prior to joining Congress, or the Monday morning quarterback spent twenty years coaching college football. But as you’ve surely seen, it’s just as easy, if not easier, for people to throw around their opinions when they don’t really have a clue.

I’ve done it. I’ll bet you’ve done it, too. It makes us feel good to have people listen to our opinions, founded or unfounded. It helps keep the conversation moving when different people can offer different views with conviction. Saying “I don’t know enough on that topic to have an opinion” doesn’t produce an interesting debate. But in many situations, it’s a much more honest response.

I think the world is much too complex for anyone to be a true expert on more than a few topics. We rarely know as much as we think we know or pretend to know. One of my pet peeves is know-it-alls who love to show off their knowledge and have passionate opinions on everything based primarily on a few talking points they heard from some so-called expert. One of the reasons I like to blog is the opportunity to explore new ideas with all of you without having to pretend to be an expert. I don’t really think I’m an expert on anything. The truth is, I’m pretty ignorant on many topics, even if I don’t advertise it. And so are you, whether you realize/admit it or not.

Just for fun, here are a few different topics, my highly biased estimated level of competence, and where I got my knowledge or lack thereof:

Expert – JACK SQUAT!

Very Knowledgeable –

  • Writing – BA in writing from Baylor University, years of blogging, various writing jobs, a few minor publications
  • Part 121 flight dispatching (domestic only) – 6.5 years on the job
  • Um…um…surely there’s something else…right???

Knowledgeable –

  • Tennis – Years of playing and watching including time on my high school varsity team. Oh yeah, plus a Beginning Tennis course at Baylor =)
  • Business – MBA from Embry-Riddle, time in various jobs. Strangely enough, my MBA would qualify me to teach at the college level at some schools even though I’m far from an expert on any business field.
  • Christianity – Nearly 20 years as a Christian attending various churches, lots of reading and self-study. At first I wanted to file this one under “Very Knowledgeable”, but I still feel like it’s a dense fog after all these years.

Fairly Ignorant

  • Parenting – Yes, I’m a father of two. But I feel like I’m learning as I go and have little to offer in terms of parenting advice. What works for my kids might not work for yours.
  • Soccer – I know there are two teams, a ball, and generally low scores, at least at the pro level. And the rules are kinda like hockey rules. That’s about it.
  • Cycling – My new hobby is a whole new world of terminology, particularly with regard to the equipment. I haven’t really gotten into technique yet.

Completely Ignorant

  • What Goes On Inside My Children’s Heads
  • The Secret to Rick Perry’s Hair
  • The Short-Lived Backwards Jeans Movement in the 1990s. Darn you, Kris Kross!

So, in light of my profoundly limited knowledge on the majority of the topics in existence, I am trying to be more careful when offering my knowledge or opinions. It won’t win me a $10 million TV deal as a political pundit, but at least (I hope!) I won’t lead you astray or make you facepalm.

Validation

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'High five' photo (c) 2010, Kent Wang - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

I have a confession: I am a “Like” whore.

Whether we admit it or not, nearly all of us want to be validated in various ways. It makes us feel better about ourselves to know that someone else appreciates our efforts, agrees with our opinions, or thinks we’re funny / hot / smart / interesting / extraordinarily tidy. I certainly do. Some people sit quietly and hope others take the initiative to validate them. They want to be appreciated and liked, but they don’t want to seek it out. Others actively pursue validation, perhaps by fishing for compliments (“Do you think I’m fat?”), constantly joking around to make people laugh (“Shut up, Beavis!”), or flaunting their accomplishments (“That’s what we always did when I was at Haaahvard”).

I run a blog and post stuff on Facebook. Yeah, validation isn’t the only reason or even the main reason I do those things, but it’s certainly one. I love getting “Likes” on FB. Sometimes I post links or statuses with broad appeal largely because I know they are likely to get “Liked”. (don’t hate – you probably do it, too!) It’s a nice little boost to the old ego every time one of those comes in, like a thimbleful of Five-Hour Energy for my self-esteem. For the same reason, I try to Like my friends’ posts where appropriate. I love getting comments on here that tell me people actually read what I post, even if they disagree. It takes effort and time to respond instead of simply reading my post and moving on, and I appreciate the gesture.

Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” Maybe I’m greedy, but two months is a long time. And even though I’m a very independent person with a pretty solid sense of self-worth, it’s always nice to get positive feedback from other people. It helps make up for all the mistakes I make, the times when I’m reminded of my flaws, and the times I’m tempted to compare myself to others.

Want an easy way to make my day? Click the “Like” button on your right and follow me on Facebook. =)

Do you consciously or semi-consciously seek validation? From whom? Does it usually work? What kind of validation is best for you?

One Minute There, Then He Was Gone

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By now, some of you have already heard about the Texas Rangers fan who died Thursday night. He fell over a railing while trying to catch a ball, probably for his son, and died at the hospital shortly thereafter. He was at the game with his son. Still conscious for a time afterward, he asked the people helping him to look after the boy since he was still in the stands by himself.

This sad story got me thinking. The same thing could happen to me. As a husband and father, I try to be more careful these days than I might have been as an invincible youth. But weird stuff happens, like falling over a railing trying to catch a ball at a baseball game. What would happen to my family? I’ve made arrangements so they’ll be fine financially, but what about all the other facets of life? Will Jenny feel free to remarry if she meets someone special? Who will take Brenden to play tennis? Who will teach Jonathan how to charm the ladies? (okay, he already has that one down, but you get the point)

But I don’t want to dwell on unpleasant thoughts like those. Instead, I’d rather treat this as an important reminder to treasure the time I do have with the people I love. Maybe to spend less time screwing around on my phone and more time building soon-destroyed block towers with the boys or talking with Jenny about subjects beyond pottytraining and dentist appointments. More time really living and less time just getting by.

The Hidden Winds in Our Sails

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In Malcolm Gladwell’s fascinating book Outliers, he analyzes some of the hidden influences behind some of the world’s most and least successful people. Americans generally credit success to virtues such as hard work and talent. Anyone who is not successful simply doesn’t work hard enough and/or isn’t talented enough to succeed. Gladwell’s book turns these ideas upside down and provides numerous examples of additional factors. Part I focuses on the opportunities, or lack thereof, that play a role in one’s success. Part II addresses some cultural factors that make some groups of people better than others in a given discipline.

Part I really made me think about my own life. Obviously, I’m not rich or famous or powerful. However, although it’s difficult to examine one’s own life objectively, I think my life is pretty successful by American standards. (whether those standards are legit is a much different question) I did well through high school and college, including several awards and scholarships. After graduation, I got a job with a great company and still work there today doing something I really enjoy. Along the way I earned a master’s degree just in case my current job ever fell through. I got married soon after college to a great woman and now have two beautiful little boys. We own a nice home. I make a good living and, barring any unforeseen meltdowns, should have plenty saved up for a comfortable retirement. Most of my major life goals are already complete. My life isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s pretty darn good.

How did all this happen?

It can be tempting to take the credit, to convince myself that *I* am smart, *I* am driven, and *I* work hard, and that those qualities are responsible for my “success”. Gladwell demonstrates quite effectively that the truth isn’t nearly that simple. There are plenty of people who are smarter than me, more driven than me, and/or work harder than me who aren’t pleased with how their lives are going. In my case, I was blessed with a fantastic support network and other advantages that played a huge role in helping me succeed. Here are some of the outside influences and opportunities that Gladwell mentions along with how they applied in my own life:

My Birthdate

No, I’m not talking about astrological hocus-pocus, but my birthdate relative to the school calendar. In Texas, the cutoff date for deciding when to enroll a child in school seems to be September 1. Children born on or soon after that date are generally among the oldest in the class, meaning they’ve had more time for their brains and bodies to mature before starting school. Those kids who seem brightest get special attention and opportunities, whether it’s because they actually are smarter or simply because they are older and more mature. This special attention adds up and multiplies over time as the high achievers get to try enrichment programs and honors/gifted classes.

My birthdate is October 23. I tried to look up or remember the birthdates of the top ten students in my graduating class and found seven of them. Of the seven, five were born in August, October, or November of 1978. One was born in February 1979. One guy broke the mold with a September 1979 birthdate and was simply smart enough to overcome his “deficiency”.

My Family

My family was very supportive of me and helped me in ways I’m still discovering as a 32-year-old. Gladwell discusses two different parenting styles and their impact on their children’s achievement. One style, common among middle- and upper-class families, has been called “concerted cultivation”. The parents play an active role in nurturing their children, encouraging their interests and talents and giving them opportunities to explore them, and teaching them how to shape the world to their desires. Another style, more common among poor families, is called “natural growth”. It’s a more hands-off approach in which the parents provide basic needs but let their children grow in whatever direction they want, or none at all.

My parents took the concerted cultivation approach. They got me interested in reading early on. As I went through phases of interest – dinosaurs one year, sharks the next – my parents found ways to encourage those interests. Sometimes it meant lots of trips to the library. It meant bringing home a typewriter (remember those?) so I could learn to type and then a computer so I could learn how to use it. During my dinosaur phase, they took us to a dinosaur museum in Utah that had real dinosaur bones partially excavated. When I entered the spelling bee, my mom spent hours drilling me. They took me to voice lessons, tennis lessons, taekwondo lessons, college entrance workshops, whatever it took to get me where I wanted to go. My grandfather loved, and still loves, to discuss current events with me even though I was a kid and had very little clue what I was talking about. In sum, my family treated me like I was worthy of investment and expected me to work hard with everything I’d been given. So I did.

Opportunity

Gladwell tells stories about several very successful people such as Bill Gates and The Beatles who happened to be at the perfect place at the perfect time. Whether I’ve ever been in the perfect place at the perfect time is a question far above my pay grade. However, the track of my life has benefitted from certain circumstances. For example, I happened to have an English teacher (Mrs. Picquet) who liked my writing and encouraged me to pursue it. Although I never made a living as a creative writer, I decided to major in writing in college. During my junior year with Mrs. Picquet, partly due to her guidance, I aced a test that made me eligible for a plethora of scholarships. Baylor’s scholarship offer happened to be one of the best in the nation, which led me to do my undergrad there. Baylor happened to have a degree in writing, which I ultimately declared. Southwest Airlines had a college recruiting program that focused on four major universities. One of which was Baylor, and my affiliation with the school helped me get the job. Although I didn’t like the tech writing job too well, it led me to a field I’d never even heard of but now love – flight dispatch. I finally got to join the department at a time when the airline was growing quickly, so I’ve gotten to move up quickly in seniority. Now I’m 32 years old, with a fantastic job that’s extremely secure at one of the best companies in the world. Did I work hard to get here? Definitely. But without Mrs. Picquet, and Baylor’s generous scholarship program, and getting assigned to work on a Dispatch project during my days as a tech writer, my life might look much different right now.

I could go on and dig deeper into some cultural issues and other factors, but you get the point by now. Many people and circumstances have helped me in many ways to get where I am. Ultimately I credit God, who in some mysterious way works in our world to accomplish His purposes and made my life possible. May I be forever grateful for the hidden winds in my sails.