s/o work: When GOOD employees are treated like objects not people

[Aura]

The other thread has been discussing how hard it is for employers to find good, reliable help. I've seen this, as I mentioned, but there's a flip side to this, too: when the employer takes advantage of its workers, when working hard has no benefits for the employee, and when working extra can actually endanger your job.

 

There are many big corporation that claims to care for its employees, but they don't. They don't care about the people at all, and it doesn't matter how reliable or good you are at your job, you are nothing more than an object. When they feel they've sucked all they can from you, then they toss you aside.

 

Case in point: today, somewhere, there are going to be professionals going to work only to be told that they are out of a job. They will not even be allowed to go to their office and box their things. Someone else will do that for them. They are hard workers and reliable, but they don't have enough work in their branch, at this time. But instead of this huge, international company trying to work with them to find new jobs in other offices or bring work to them, the company is just going to kick them to the curb, without warning

 

The thing is, if these people put in time to try to find new work to bring it in, it hurts their utilization scores. If those scores drop, it doesn't matter how or why or how good their record is, they're out of a job. So it's d@mned if you do, and d@mned if you don't.

 

My dh was so stressed about this he had a hard time sleeping. He's just an outsider and not involved, but he found out about it. It's just weeks from Christmas, and these people are going to be out of a job and the company has done nothing to even hint at this. But this is a company that touts how important people are to them.

 

If you worked for a company like this, and the only thing important to them was the amount of billable time you put in, would you do anything more than what was absolutely necessary? It's salary, so no overtime. Putting in extra effort does not mean you have any additional job security and can even hurt you if it interferes with your utilization scores.

 

This isn't the only company to do this. This kind of treatment is normal in big corporations. This is the flipside to businesses struggling to find good workers.

[Mergath]

When I saw that other thread, my first thought was, "Yeah, there are employers around here that have trouble finding help, but they're the ones who pay next to nothing and treat their employees like dirt."  There's definitely a mindset that people should be happy to work long hours and be treated like crap for pennies, and if they aren't there's something wrong with them, not the employer.

[Haiku]

It happens in small places, too. I work for a local small business. While I am personally happy with how I am treated, if I had to depend on this job to survive, it would be a disaster. The boss doesn't give people full-time hours, pays them abysmally, and retaliates by cutting their hours when they are forced to take second jobs, all the while complaining about high turnover and lack of loyalty. To me the answer seems obvious: have fewer yet full-time employees rather than more yet part-time employees, and pay them enough to live on. Then people will stay and will be less likely to get second (or third) jobs. And as for the argument that small businesses can't afford to pay people more: if you can't afford to pay a reasonable wage to the people you employ, then you are an unsuccessful business. If business owners were faced the choice of paying people a sustainable wage and going out of business, I'd imagine we would quickly see better-run businesses.

[Haiku]

There's definitely a mindset that people should be happy to work long hours and be treated like crap for pennies, and if they aren't there's something wrong with them, not the employer.

 

Well clearly the problem lies with those lazy people who won't get an education and improve their lot in life. It has nothing to do with the fact that our economy is dependent on low-wage work and that we are killing any well-paying skilled trades in our rush to have more more more for less less less. It's always the fault of the low-wage workers who are trying to fleece the benevolent business owners who are, after all, kind enough to give the poor their crappy jobs in the first place.

[Scarlett]

It happened to my dh earlier this year. Laid off with no hint at all that anything was wrong.

 

It was very stressful.....I know it happens.

[Murphy101]

I've commented to my son that I don't know how the adults where he works keep their jobs. Basic stuff is a royal pita.

 

For example, they never put the schedule out for more than one week at a time and they always out it out the day before the week starts.

 

So on the schedule for Wednesday through Tuesday of each week is *supposed* to come out on Tuesday. So no one knows what they work on Wednesday until *maybe* Tuesday. And there have been several times when they don't have the schedule out until Thursday. You just keep calling until they tell you it's in and whether you should work that day. I cannot imagine how the heck anyone plans daycare or anything else around that. It shows a basic disregard for employees imnsho. They sure can't get a second job.

 

Ds has college classes and cannot work certain days of the week and noted that when he was hired. They still try to make him work those days every week and he feels a ton of pressure to work it or lose his job. Because it's "just this once" which as an adult with life experience I know is total BS. Thankfully he hasn't lost his job and his bosses have nothing but praise for him, but still it's frustrating that good employees are put through the wringer like that. (And overall ds really likes his job and it's been good for him. I'm just pointing out how hard it can be if he truly depended on this job for his entire livelihood.)

 

Dh used to face that too. I think it's worse for men bc people seem to think they don't have to be parents. Dh used to have a boss who would tell him to go on a business trip the same day he was told about the trip. So dh would go into work on say a Tuesday and his boss would tell him to fly to ___ that afternoon. Um. No. She only did that to dh. And she even said point blank that she couldn't fly out bc she had a kid to arrange things for first and she didn't have a wife at home like he did. Grrrrr!

[Dmmetler]

That's been one of my biggest frustrations. DH moved from a small, locally owned, privately owned company with an owner/manager who really did value his employees and was still directly involved in the day to day work so KNEW what was going on, to a medium publically traded company that pretty much considered each division as a separate company (so the actual day to day managers making most of the decisions knew what was going on) to a huge mega-company with a lot of people who are in charge of more than one division with locations in multiple states/countries. (Both job changes due to company acquisitions, not choice)

 

Each time the company has been bought out, his salary has gone up, and the day to day quality of the job and the way the employees are treated has gone down. Both of us would HAPPILY take a substantial cut in salary (and cut other expenses accordingly-like not doing big vacations, which right now, mostly serve to give DH an actual break-because if we don't set up vacations far enough away and preferably with poor or no internet service, he gets called in at a moment's notice) to get a boss/owner who considers himself part of the team, not above the team, and treats his employees accordingly.

 

 

 

 

[Twigs]

… we are killing any well-paying skilled trades in our rush to have more more more for less less less. …

This is why I don't go out of my way to find the cheapest price. (I also believe you get what you pay for.)

[Wheres Toto]

I commented on the other thread about work being happy with me and I guess I'll comment about being happy with my employer on this one.  :001_smile:

 

I work for a large local office that is one division of an extremely large, worldwide company.   New hires have breakfast with the Chairman/CEO where he asks them their opinions of the hiring process, how they are finding the job so far, and if they have any needs.   They pay well, benefits are great, flexibility.  They do a lot of fun, team-building relaxation activities (we had an amazing dinner at a lake club where we built bikes for charity, a thanksgiving feast, and we're doing a pampering day in the next couple weeks with massages and smoothies).  I guess some of this might vary by department and I'm sure not everyone is happy but I like it.  And I've mentioned in other posts - you can drink on the job.  :001_rolleyes:

 

I mentioned that my oldest works for Target in the other thread.  They usually put the schedule out Thursday or Friday for the week starting on Sunday but they really work with her on availability around her school schedule.  Her manager is actually a graduate of the college she attends and really seems to understand the life of a college student, which I guess helps.