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Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#61

Post by protonimitate »

raegis wrote: post #28
epicgiga wrote: post #14

A lot of companies are actively factoring this into their HR model. Their model is to hire fresh people and burn them out. Increasingly this is the direction western corporations are moving. Their ideal model is: place performance quotas above long term sustainability, people then burn themselves out, you then fire them for performance reasons, and you have them on an aggressive noncompete and threaten them with it w…

In some ways we're moving to something worse than slavery. At least with slaves they were seen as "assets" rather than "temporary rentals". They had to take care of them out of necessity, so their evil had that limit on it. Some of us prefer burnout at reasonable pay than being raped, beaten, and denied all freedoms.

Comparing modern day burnout to slavery is a gross exaggeration and it's honestly shocking that this is the top comment in the thread.

Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#62

Post by P_I_Staker »

ignoramous wrote: post #45
epicgiga wrote: post #14

A lot of companies are actively factoring this into their HR model. Their model is to hire fresh people and burn them out. Increasingly this is the direction western corporations are moving. Their ideal model is: place performance quotas above long term sustainability, people then burn themselves out, you then fire them for performance reasons, and you have them on an aggressive noncompete and threaten them with it w…

> Their model is to hire fresh people and burn them out. When I was at Amazon, this was the feeling with some employees around me: The stack-ranking meant they were made to a rat-race every year. I can't seem to recall who, but someone higher-up let it slip when quizzed about higher attrition rate (back in 2010s) that Amazon believed in evolution , and that that meant the slow would eventually give the way for the fa…

I don't find that strange at all. People in power protect their power and cushy life while exploiting others.

Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#63

Post by P_I_Staker »

matwood wrote: post #42
jaziek wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People know what they’re getting into when they start these jobs. Fresh graduates absolutely do not know what they are getting into when they start their first job.

> Fresh graduates absolutely do not know what they are getting into when they start their first job. Are you saying that doctors entering their first residency have no idea it's going to be a long 2-4 years? When a friend of mine gradated law school and landed her choice job, her comment was 'the next 2 years are going to suck, but then I'll be set'. Years later she was right. We are not talking about starting any ra…

Knowing in theory and living it for years on end are two very different things

Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#64

Post by P_I_Staker »

raegis wrote: post #28
epicgiga wrote: post #14

A lot of companies are actively factoring this into their HR model. Their model is to hire fresh people and burn them out. Increasingly this is the direction western corporations are moving. Their ideal model is: place performance quotas above long term sustainability, people then burn themselves out, you then fire them for performance reasons, and you have them on an aggressive noncompete and threaten them with it w…

In some ways we're moving to something worse than slavery. At least with slaves they were seen as "assets" rather than "temporary rentals". They had to take care of them out of necessity, so their evil had that limit on it. Some of us prefer burnout at reasonable pay than being raped, beaten, and denied all freedoms.

Yeah, pretty sure they had to work long hours with little vacation too; the pay wasn't great either... WTF is wrong with people

Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#65

Post by alfromspace »

tsukurimashou wrote: post #59
novaRom wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How and why someone will work 80 hours a week? Don't they have families, friends, sport, or a hobby? Why is it necessary?

In startups that's usually how they trick you: they hire you even if you don't have much experience, they give you a decent salary, then they make you feel like you have to work more in order to "prove" their choice was the right one. I've also seen this "culture" of "we're one big family" in startups, which just feels weird and forced.

One startup I interviewed at, as an experienced developer, told me (paraphrasing here) "you'll be paid a salary lower than what you probably expect, and your first few months you'll need to work overtime to get used to our trendy tech stack, we don't offer health insurance but we do offer...not quite shares, but, sort of ownership interests. You could become a millionaire!"

Yeah no thanks.

Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#66

Post by Impossible »

abacadaba wrote: post #60
Impossible wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're talking about US chattel slavery, your comparison is way off base and you should probably edit your post. Instead of firing an "underperforming" slave they could be legally murdered. Because all descendants were owned by the master indefinitely they could freely breed and rape "top performers" like animals in order to produce more slaves. When we end up with a corporate system that allows for that level of…

Yes but slaves were expensive. You'd go broke if you just murdered all of them.

Ok torture them into submission then. Still significantly worse than burning someone out in a modern corporate job.

Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#67

Post by P_I_Staker »

lvturner wrote: post #4

I think the scariest thing about burn-out, is that not everyone is financially able to take the recommended time off to recover - what then? I've certainly been close to being in this boat, had to take a job before I fully recovered, so took one I felt might be a bit lighter on the load and still give me some chance of recovery. Pleased to report it has been mostly successful.

Don't forget if you stop working for any reason, you're now a failure, met with suspicion, and expected to explain that for the rest of your life. It's not even about the financial aspect, our society is very punitive to people that want to leave their cages for a while. What you wanted more than this office for one year out of your 30+ year career? There must be something wrong with you.

Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#68

Post by throwlaplace »

lvturner wrote: post #4

I think the scariest thing about burn-out, is that not everyone is financially able to take the recommended time off to recover - what then? I've certainly been close to being in this boat, had to take a job before I fully recovered, so took one I felt might be a bit lighter on the load and still give me some chance of recovery. Pleased to report it has been mostly successful.

99% of the world has a job they can't afford to take leave from. and if you imagine that 99% of the world doesn't have a job that's taxing enough that they'd be burnt out then you don't understand menial labor and how utterly psychologically exhausting it is to do repetitive boring tasks.

So what then? People suffer and struggle and try to improve the lives of their children and then they die.

I say all this not because I'm the first one to realize it but because it's worth repeating. Hopefully someone reads it and it occurs to them how unfair it is.

Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#69

Post by namelosw »

epicgiga wrote: post #14

A lot of companies are actively factoring this into their HR model. Their model is to hire fresh people and burn them out. Increasingly this is the direction western corporations are moving. Their ideal model is: place performance quotas above long term sustainability, people then burn themselves out, you then fire them for performance reasons, and you have them on an aggressive noncompete and threaten them with it w…

It is worse than slavery because companies found they can create an environment for motivated wage slaves constantly competing with each other, aka 'culture'. And fire those who lost motivations in order to strengthen the 'culture'.

As a comparison, traditional slavery is extremely inefficient because traditional slaves are far less motivated, the master has to spend his time or hiring people to constantly threatening and beating slaves work.

Re: Burnout: 'Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired'

#70

Post by mistermann »

Impossible wrote: post #66
abacadaba wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but slaves were expensive. You'd go broke if you just murdered all of them.

Ok torture them into submission then. Still significantly worse than burning someone out in a modern corporate job.

In history, was torture a preferred approach compared to treating them relatively well, considering the absurd circumstances?
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