A4
T he C oast News
APRIL 2, 2021
Opinion & Editorial
Views expressed in Opinion & Editorial do not reflect the views of The Coast News
On smog standards, GM a classic bandwagon jumper
T
Four ways ongoing remote work torpedos business, career success
T
By Clint Padgett
he rise of remote work has changed the face of business, and in some cases brightened the outlook for employees weary of battling traffic during morning and late-afternoon commutes. Many of those employees hope their companies will stick with this new work-from-home reality even after the pandemic is nothing more than an unhappy memory. But despite the benefits, continuing remote work beyond what is necessary could result in se-
ter.
Padgett says employees and their employers may both come to regret that view. He says potential downsides of permanent work from home could include: • Employee burnout. When someone leaves an office at the end of the day, they put both actual distance and emotional distance between themselves and work. With remote work, Padgett says, that barrier between home and work is removed, which could lead to greater instances of burnout. As a result, peo-
“...Over the long haul, (working from home) means you aren’t developing relationships or communicating in ways necessary to create a cohesive team.” rious consequences, says Clint Padgett, president and CEO of Project Success Inc. and the ForbesBooks author of “How Teams Triumph: Managing By Commitment.” “Working from home limits the interaction between employees and their managers and co-workers,” Padgett says. “That might be fine for a short time, but over the long haul it means you aren’t developing relationships or communicating in ways necessary to create a cohesive team.” So far, most people choose to focus on the upsides. More than half — 54% — of remote workers say that if given a choice they would want to keep working from home even after the pandemic, according to the Pew Research Cen-
ple are more likely to produce poor quality work or leave their current jobs in search of something they hope will be better, he says. • The end of “serendipitous” meetings. In an office setting, not every exchange of ideas happens in scheduled meetings or formal brainstorming sessions. People see each other in hallways or the breakroom and start to chat. “Those organic conversations often result in creative thinking and problem solving,” Padgett says. “That’s a missing ingredient in the creative process with remote work.” • An increase of “silo-itis.” Even in an office, human nature leads people to seek out like-minded individuals, which
means people within departments often stick together unless steps are taken to make sure they interact with others. “With the lack of physical interaction that remote work gives us, we will be even more isolated, working only within the team structure,” Padgett says. “That’s problematic because you get better results when people come out of their silos.” • The potential for lower pay. One of the perks of remote work is that people can live where they please and no longer need to be in the same general area as company headquarters. That means they can abandon high-cost areas in favor of communities where housing is cheaper. But Padgett points out that there are already news reports that some employers are considering paying people less as a result. Right now remote work is the reality for many people, so to get the most out of it, managers should be proactive about making sure remote workers are actively included in Zoom meetings, Padgett says. “And while I know nobody wants more Zoom meetings,” he says, “people may need to schedule one-on-one time with co-workers or to gather virtually in small groups just to chat and discuss non-work-related topics. “That can help restore some of those serendipitous moments and reduce the problems associated with a return to silos.” Clint Padgett, the ForbesBooks author of “How Teams Triumph: Managing By Commitment,” is the president and CEO of Project Success Inc., a project management company.
hree years ago, General Motors was among the first to jump aboard when then-President Donald Trump and his administration tried to remove California’s authority to regulate its own smog standards, a right supposedly guaranteed in the federal Clean Air Act of 1970. No one questioned whether this state would or should have that right in perpetuity back when Republican President Richard Nixon, a Californian very familiar with polluted air, signed that law. It was a matter of course. California’s clean air advances quickly became so accepted that 16 other states eventually agreed to adopt whatever standards this state set, but a couple of years later just in case of complications. Then came Trump claiming that his executive orders could override the authority Congress and a previous president gave California. He sought a single, far more lax, national automotive smog standard. If he’d been reelected, he might well have succeeded. Only a lawsuit filed by former state Attorney General Xavier Becerra soon after Trump issued his order held up that edict, one of many designed to penalize California for providing the popular vote margin by which Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in 2016, even though Trump won in the arcane and archaic Electoral College. But Trump again lost the popular vote last fall, with California providing most of the margin of defeat. This time, he also lost in the Electoral College despite his repeated, false claims of widespread fraud. GM again acted fast. The giant automaker al-
california focus
thomas d. elias
most immediately after the vote dropped its role in helping Trump try to deprive California of its key clean air authority. Fellow Trump-supporting automakers like Toyota and Fiat Chrysler followed months later. GM’s move was clearly taken because new President Joseph Biden made it plain throughout his campaign that he would reverse most if not all Trump measures to loosen environmental regulations. GM chief executive Mary Barra did not at any point relate her company’s move to any flaws in what Trump sought to do. Her statement left no doubt this was purely bandwagon jumping, GM getting aboard with a new president as soon as possible. She said she pulled GM from its role as a Trump supporter because she agrees with Biden’s plan to make electric car use far more widespread. “We believe the ambitious electrification goals of (Biden), California and General Motors are aligned to address climate change by drastically reducing automobile emissions,” she said. It would have been difficult to be more blatant. For GM was aligned the last three years against California’s longstanding aim to increase EV use, the very plan Barra now endorses. So this is corporate opportunism at its peak. GM was long joined by Toyota in standing against California consumers, who strongly back the state’s
environmental goals, according to every poll on the subject. Both glossed over their stances for years in consumer advertising. Meanwhile, other large automakers like Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, BMW and Volvo joined Becerra’s lawsuit to prevent Trump’s anti-environmental move, which he justified with unsubstantiated claims that stricter smog standards lead to job losses. It is no surprise that GM and Toyota left the Trump train at the first indication it was the losing side, both in this effort and in combating election results. Both companies have long histories of opposing every advance California has ever made in smog controls. From the earliest smog control devices of the 1960s to catalytic converters to fleet standards that forced companies to build electric cars, GM and Toyota have always been recalcitrant. They are among the foremost companies in repeatedly claiming standards set by California’s smog-fighting agency, the Air Resources Board, could not physically be met — and then somehow managing to do it after the standards were adopted. Why expect these companies to change their behavior now? Rather, it was to be expected they would change colors like chameleons at the first indication it was the politically opportune thing to do. Which means environmentally minded Californians now know which companies stood for cleaner air when times were tough and which did not, just in case they want to reward such efforts with a car purchase. Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com.
The CoasT News P.O. Box 232550, Encinitas, CA 92023-2550 • 760-436-9737 www.thecoastnews.com • Fax: 760-274-2353
PUBLISHER Jim Kydd ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Chris Kydd MANAGING EDITOR Jordan P. Ingram ACCOUNTING Becky Roland COMMUNITY NEWS EDITOR Jean Gillette GRAPHIC ARTIST Phyllis Mitchell ADVERTISING SALES Sue Otto Chris Kydd
The Coast News is a legally adjudicated newspaper published weekly on Fridays by The Coast News Group. It is qualified to publish notices required by law to be published in a newspaper of general circulation (Case No. 677114). Subscriptions: 1 year/$75; 6 mos./$50; 3 mos./$30 Send check or money order to: The Coast News, P.O. Box 232550, Encinitas, CA 92023-2550. In addition to mail subscriptions, more than 30,000 copies are distributed to approximately 700 locations in the beach communities from Oceanside to Carmel Valley. The classified advertising deadlines are the Mondays before each Friday’s publication.
Contact the Editor editor@coastnewsgroup.com Calendar Submissions calendar@coastnewsgroup.com Community News community@coastnewsgroup.com Classified Ads advertising@coastnewsgroup.com Legals legals@coastnewsgroup.com Distribution distribution@coastnewsgroup.com
Op-Ed submissions: To submit letters and commentaries, please send all materials to editor@coastnewsgroup. com. Letters should be 250 to 300 words and commentaries limited to no more than 550 words. Please use “Letters,” or “Commentary” in the subject line. All submissions should be relevant and respectful. To submit items for calendars, press releases and community news, please send all materials to community@ coastnewsgroup.com or calendar@coastnewsgroup.com. Copy is needed at least 10 days prior to date of publication. Stories should be no more than 300 words. To submit story ideas, please send request and information to editor@coastnewsgroup.com.