Letter to the Editor - Kyle Reinert

You reach the conclusion that we need to
accept reality and be willing to do “hard work.”  This all sounds good
in theory, but in practice your conclusions are invalid.  By hard work
what you really mean is monotonous, meaningless and undervalued
contributions to a corporate machine that need not acknowledge any of
the employees that keep it running.  Perhaps it is not the attitudes
and expectations of the employees that need changing.  Perhaps there
isn’t anything wrong with wanting more out of life, even if reality
can’t deliver.  Maybe there’s something wrong with reality.
     Jane McGonigal makes this exact point in her book: Reality is
Broken.  183 million Americans are “active” gamers, meaning they play
at least 13 hours a week.  Games have often been judged as a waste of
time or as escapist, but McGonigal argues that more and more Americans
are turning to games because reality fails to fulfill some of our
basic human needs.  This idea has been well received and companies
across the world are studying games to attempt to draw into their work
environments useful lessons to keep their workers engaged and happy
and, consequently, more productive.
     Google has been one of the most innovative and progressive
companies in this respect, and has attempted to make the workplace
environment as conducive as possible to the well-being of their
employees.  Sand volleyball courts, Friday meetings with the top
executives to take questions and suggestions from employees, and free
beer are just a few of the things offered.  Unsurprisingly, 25 percent
of young professionals now want to work for Google.  Maybe our
attitudes and expectations aren’t wrong at all.  Maybe we’re
completely right to expect more from the companies we work for.  Maybe
we really do deserve more from reality.

Kyle Reinert, senior