• lilja@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Well, yeah. Isn’t the whole point of these foolish office mandates to get people to quit? That way they can reduce their workforce without the cost and negative press of another round of layoffs.

    • Punkie@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Layoffs are not bad press. Not to the shareholders, the only ones who matter to these types. I used to think “oh, layoffs mean the company isn’t doing so good,” but shareholders see “they reduced cost but lost no customers, thus increasing value of the company should it be sold.”

      • The Dark Lord ☑️@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        I hate that that’s the case.

        I’ve been trying to lose weight, so I chopped off my leg just below the knee. I’m several pounds down, and I didn’t have to stop eating even a calorie. It’s amazing.

        The only issue is that now I don’t have a leg and exercise may be difficult….

          • edric@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            And you’re still alive right? /s. Akin to the people who said Musk’s firing of twitter employees was a genius move because the site was “still running” after all that.

        • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          Just sell the body to some other rube and move into a new one that still has both legs. It’s easy. What are you, poor?

      • scarabic@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        This is true, and it’s weird because these same companies used to hire like crazy because only growth mattered. Finally real financial discipline is being applied. The tech company I work for is open about the fact that revenue-per-employee is something like half of FAANG companies and they want that to change.

    • ChocoboRocket@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Go into the office and waste every resource you can.

      Plug in a fan + heater + aquarium + massage pad at your desk and leave everything on constantly even when you leave

      Print every email and throw it in the trash.

      Make coffee 50x a day and pour it down the sink

      Flush a whole roll of TP every hour

      Leave sinks on in the bathroom

      Use entire tubs of soap to wash your hands

      Turn on the microwave for hours at a time

      Heat/cool office thermometer to force HVAC into overdrive

      Open new browser windows until your computer crashes and repeat until the network goes down

      Company wide meme emails that everyone participates in (team building) that crash servers and dominate inboxes

      Pour sugar/crumbs everywhere so there’s pest problems

      FORM A UNION

      (nuclear option) introduce bedbugs to all your bosses offices

      • veee@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        Ok waste paper, mhmm, coffee, yep, microwave, good thinking—

        FORM A UNION

        Woah, woah calm down Satan.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        You forgot the most important one: deliver just enough to not get fired, but way less than you did before RTO. Then point to the stats and show the massive productivity drop after RTO.

      • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        All that stuff together is probably only one salary per team, except for the Union. I think the Union is the winning idea.

    • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      negative press

      pretty fucked up that quiet firing via RTO bullshit is less negative press than just laying people off

      • thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        It’s just less visible/explicit. It’s still bad press when it gets noticed and called out like in this thread, it’s just sneakier.

  • the_radness@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Engineering is a skilled trade. We need our own union like every other skilled labor group.

    • Lexam@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      And they are smart enough to put us at the very bottom of the management ladder, even though we’re not actually management. That way we can’t legally unionize. In the U.S. at least.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        That way we can’t legally unionize. In the U.S. at least.

        This must vary state-by-state, or have exceptions, because I could name examples of them (but I would rather not dox myself).

        • Lexam@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          It’s not every company, but that is what mine did. We’re “management” but we don’t manage anyone.

          • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            2 months ago

            Given how “business-friendly” the US has become, I imagine there are all sorts of loopholes that only work in favor of the corporation.

            • nforminvasion@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              There doesn’t need to be loopholes anymore. The SC will just blatantly rule in favor of companies.

              In case anyone has missed it, they’re done with loopholes, done with being sly and coy. They are saying the quiet parts, they are marching proudly, they are confident and unafraid. We need to make them afraid again.

              The right wing and its corporate masters are done hiding in shadow. Loopholes and subterfuge are for chumps when you can just change the rules without consequence.

          • Vandals_handle@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Classifying employees as management without having actual management duties is a violation of federal labor law. You might be owed back wages/overtime. Could be worth looking into. A class action lawsuit against a previous employer I had led to hundreds of employees getting checks for thousands of dollars, even after lawyers took their fee.

            Some technical jobs can be legally classified exempt from overtime. That is different than being classified as management.

            • Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz
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              2 months ago

              They just give us the PM title and call it a day. No court is going to take that seriously and allow a massive lawsuit.

    • kyle@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I agree. I’m in pre-sales working at an AWS partner and honestly our whole team is treated as dispensable.

      • the_radness@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I have been laid off from every job (5 in total) since the pandemic. We are a subhuman commodity. Companies that are hiring now are exploiting the market by offering lower salaries.

        Meta and Amazon are in their hiring season and they’ll start their layoffs again next spring or summer. And somehow, everyone forgets this fucked up cycle keeps happening in perpetuum.

        We need to stop being afraid of mentioning the U word. We need better protection and rights as employees.

      • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        At Amazon literally every employee is dispensable. They have a firing quota.

        Edit: to be clear I’m talking about the Amazon divisions outside the warehouse. They make managers fire a certain percentage of people on a regular basis.

    • dufkm@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Depending on your country, that is the norm. Engineers here have at least 2 national unions to choose from, finance have a couple of unions, same with teachers, admin staff, etc. etc.

      As usual, this is probably just US being victim of 'merican exceptionlism.

  • _sideffect@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Never quit in these situations, or they win.

    Do the absolute fucking minimum you can, or even less so you piss off management, until they have to fire you, which they can’t outright as after a certain number of years they have to give warnings and trainings first.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      That’s stupid. Don’t get fired for cause, that only hurts you. Spend your time looking for a new job, then quit and leave ASAP.

      • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Split the difference, spend as much of your time on the clock job hunting and doing the bare minimum. Then quit without notice mid shift for the new job.

        • Bob Robertson IX @discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 months ago

          I work for a real shitty company with a lot of people who do things just to justify their jobs. This leads to stupid mistakes happening that can cause MASSIVE disruptions for the entire workforce. One such stupid mistake happened this week and caused my team (and several others) a shitload of unnecessary work. Yesterday a guy on my team who works in an already understaffed office had enough and told me that he’s done, and quitting. I can’t blame him, he is in a very shitty situation and I wouldn’t have stayed as long as he has… but if he walked out it would have put that entire location, the rest of our team both locally and extended, in a much worse situation. What it wouldn’t do is hurt the company or the executives.

          I’m all for people finding better jobs and leaving toxic environments, but it really does no one any good to pick the absolute worst time to walk out. That’s petty and will burn a lot of bridges, and depending on your situation and industry could come back to haunt you down the road.

          • catloaf@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            if he walked out it would have put that entire location, the rest of our team both locally and extended, in a much worse situation. What it wouldn’t do is hurt the company or the executives.

            That’s not your problem, that’s the company’s problem. You still get paid the same. If you have issues, take them to your supervisor, and go on with your life.

            • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              Unfortunately that’s not how it works.

              Boss turns around and says “new responsibilies. Get after them.” You’re especially fucked if the work is the type of tasks you are already responsible for.

              Sure, you can say no, or slow play it, but that just means you’ll either get a shitty review or get fired.

              I’m not justifying this, I’m recounting what often happens.

              Downvotes are hilarious. Doesn’t matter if you line it, it’s how it happens around the world.

              • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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                2 months ago

                The downvotes are because you’re the kind of rug your boss cleans his boots on, making it worse for everybody in the company. You’re the problem employee.

                • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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                  2 months ago

                  Nope, just aware how the real world works.

                  When this happens my response is to go find another job

                  No where in my comment did I say I felt it was a good thing, or acceptable. It’s just common. You assumed I am cool with it cause it fits your worldview

                  Edit Tell me: you think you’re just going to say “no, I’m not gonna take on new or increased tasks” , and come out successfully at the end of the year? (In review, raise, or continued employment?)

                  The only move is to leave or do the work

            • Bob Robertson IX @discuss.tchncs.de
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              2 months ago

              Except I don’t still get paid the same. Someone walked out last year and put the whole team in a tailspin and the rest of the team paid for it when review time came around and since we missed so many deadlines due to staffing issues no one got any sort of substantial raise. And missing your once-a-year raise doesn’t just impact your pay for that year, it impacts it for every year going forward.

              • catloaf@lemm.ee
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                2 months ago

                I’m not sure I’d want to work somewhere that penalizes me for someone else’s faults.

                Have you considered finding a union to bring to your workplace?

                • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  2 months ago

                  So… most workplaces? Most companies have department wide goals and metrics that don’t change just because half of a department walks. Even in good workplaces, hiring to “right size” a team takes time, and most of the time the work still needs to be done, and there’s only so far management can stretch until it starts impacting external customers.

                  It sucks terribly. It’s not fair. Life isn’t.

                • Bob Robertson IX @discuss.tchncs.de
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                  2 months ago

                  Trust me, I don’t want to work here either, but having spent 6 months looking for a job and eating through my savings and knowing that I’m in no position to do that again anytime soon, I don’t exactly have many options. And yes, I’ve considered a union, but I also don’t want to end up unemployed again so I’m not going to be the one to champion that.

            • chakan2@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Ok…that’s not bootlicking…that’s a legit plea for some poor fuck in the poorest of situations.

              I’ve been in situations where I know I’m about to fuck my coworkers over and I let them know beforehand. Management can eat my dick however.

              Bob, you might want to take a sick day on Wednesday…why?..just do it…here’s my linked in info.

            • Bob Robertson IX @discuss.tchncs.de
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              2 months ago

              Don’t get me wrong, I fully know that it’s bootlicking shit and I hate it… but I have a family to support, bills to pay, etc. It is soul crushing and someone purposefully picking the most painful time to walk out only hurts their coworkers, because even if you choose to take a sick day when they walk out, the next day you still have to go in and deal with the mess left behind.

            • Bob Robertson IX @discuss.tchncs.de
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              2 months ago

              You know what, fuck off. Who the fuck do you think you’re trying to impress? I know my fucking job sucks, I know the company I work for sucks and I know that almost everyone who works for this company is suffering. So what, fuck me for not wanting to make it worse on everyone else who isn’t in a position to just walk off the job? I wish I lived in your dream world where you never have to do things you don’t 100% agree with, it must be nice, but for me I’m living in this shit and I’m trying my best to take care of the people who count on me. So let me say, just to be clear: fuck you.

      • _sideffect@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It’s not stupid as you put it. If you know the laws of where you live, it makes perfect sense.

    • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      which they can’t outright as after a certain number of years they have to give warnings and trainings first.

      I mean, says who? There’s currently only one state in the union that requires cause before you can fire someone. The real issue with firing people is that without a documented cause, that person can collect state unemployment, and the number of people who go on state unemployment from a single company has a financial impact on that company.

    • rtxn@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      That only works in places with actual worker protection and labor laws, which disqualifies pretty much all of the USA.

      • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        I work with several European tech teams and when staffing issues happen the other devs absolutely have to carry the slack.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      There are many at-will states that can fire you on demand (if done carefully) and there’s nothing you can do about it.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      There are two ways to quit: How management wants you to or because you’re forming a union.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I don’t know about everyone else, but if that were my boss, they’d be severely underestimating my capacity for petty behavior.

    • Odelay42@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      This is the part not being reported in the news.

      Many of us are simply working half as much as we did when we were remote. It’s not worth trying to impress these people. They hate us.

      • travysh@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        I don’t work for Amazon, but when my employer announced mandatory RTO I simply included travel time in my day. At home I could do 8 hours of pure work. RTO days were about 6 hours of work and 2 hours of commute.