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VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

reuters.com

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Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#81

Post by nostrademons »

georgieporgie wrote: post #57
nostrademons wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Start a blog about your experiences and then call yourself a self-employed travel blogger. Might even make a little AdSense cash off of it too. There are all sorts of creative ways to get around HR.

HR isn't going to read your blog, and HR is, sadly, the gateway to (just a guess here) 90% of job opportunities. If you have an 'in' at the company, you can bypass HR's initial gating, and your plan will work, otherwise it's unlikely.

The point isn't to get HR to read your blog; the point is to fill up that timeslot on your resume so that automated screening systems don't reject you for having a gap. If you'd worked at a regular corporation, it's virtually certain that HR wouldn't be able to see your work product either.

Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#82

Post by doktrin »

nknight wrote: post #55
j45 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(If) What's best for you is making the most money you can. and .. if you want to achieve this by doing the least work possible, and creating work for others, they will not help you be more successful at your job. A real successful team, person, and company will all believe in getting more work done with less collective effort. So, if I make my job easier, it shouldn't make your job harder. Sadly, too many people in m…

> What's best for you is making the most money you can. I can't even begin to fathom that mindset. No amount of money is worth my health. None. I walked out on a great-paying job that turned into a clusterfuck and voluntarily did nothing for a year for exactly that reason. I worked way below market for quite a while for that reason. I'm working somewhat below market even now for that reason. I keep score in happiness…

No amount of money is worth my health

I wholeheartedly agree. Time is the most valuable asset any of us have, with money at best a distant second.

Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#83

Post by j45 »

nknight wrote: post #55
j45 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(If) What's best for you is making the most money you can. and .. if you want to achieve this by doing the least work possible, and creating work for others, they will not help you be more successful at your job. A real successful team, person, and company will all believe in getting more work done with less collective effort. So, if I make my job easier, it shouldn't make your job harder. Sadly, too many people in m…

> What's best for you is making the most money you can. I can't even begin to fathom that mindset. No amount of money is worth my health. None. I walked out on a great-paying job that turned into a clusterfuck and voluntarily did nothing for a year for exactly that reason. I worked way below market for quite a while for that reason. I'm working somewhat below market even now for that reason. I keep score in happiness…

Sorry, I should have clarified, entertaining the Original poster's mindset, not my own :)

Money isn't wealth, time is. Having free time comes with money, but only so much.

Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#84

Post by ugh »

mc32 wrote: post #70

How do they differentiate critical communication which should get thru? How would this work at a place like Amazon, for example? Even with 24hr staffing, there are some instances when the right person(s) are needed. Letting only messages marked as critical thru could lead to most off-hour massages categorized as important. I can see this working in some industries, but not all.

They only turn off email, right? I would imagine that actual phone calls are still possible.

I can imagine that working pretty well. I think people are in general much more hesitant to call than to send an email.

Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#85

Post by scarmig »

pkaler wrote: post #73
zbuc wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's start a union.

Let's start a union. And now you have two bosses and two problems. I recommend watching "Waiting For Superman" to see how the teacher's union impedes innovation in education.

The movie made a good point about how the Finnish education system has better outcomes than ours.

The big takeaway I take from this is we should move toward a Scandinavian attitude on unions.

Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#86

Post by mahyarm »

s1rech wrote: post #3

I live in Germany, and I know many engineers who work for one of the big carmakers (either directly or through some external company). Most of them are under some form of collective bargaining agreement. They have a lot of nice perks, like paid overtime (in the form of days of) and pretty good salaries. Meanwhile I work as a developer for an internet company. I've never heard of anybody working under a CBA, or any ki…

How are wages in europe for engineers and developers? I look at wages in Europe compared to the USA, and even though we work a lot more, developers do get paid far more too, especially when you compare on a cost of living and taxation basis.

Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#87

Post by j_baker »

Patrick_Bateman wrote: post #79
mc32 wrote: post #70

How do they differentiate critical communication which should get thru? How would this work at a place like Amazon, for example? Even with 24hr staffing, there are some instances when the right person(s) are needed. Letting only messages marked as critical thru could lead to most off-hour massages categorized as important. I can see this working in some industries, but not all.

This would never work at Amazon. Fortunately for Amazon, they're not dependent on unions.

It's fortunate for Amazon. It apparently isn't fortunate for Amazon's employees.

http://articles.mcall.com/2011-11-05/news/mc-allentown-amazo...

Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#88

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

Patrick_Bateman wrote: post #77
rdouble wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not quite sure why more people don't do this It's currently pretty hard to get a job again on the other side of the vacation. Plus for most people in the USA wages are so low it's hard to even save $10K. 48% of the population are living on or below the poverty line.

I did this last year and found a new job within 3 months of coming back. (The job is incomparably better than my old job in every way.) Plus, when your audience is the Hacker News readership it would seem to make little sense to draw conclusions based on the bottom 48% of the population.

Hate to burst your bubble, but even poor people read hacker news. In my job, I make 14851 per year. I also drive 45 minutes to this job, because it was the only one I could find.

Or, perhaps, you'd like to make a supposition that smart people can never be poor?

Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#89

Post by j_baker »

j45 wrote: post #6

Cool idea. Sounds like you can still send emails but not receive any until work. I noticed that mobile email doesn't always help get more work done, unless you're the person asking the questions in the emails. If a bb user is busy answering other people's questions... you're likely doing their work too. The culture of "we're waiting on you" that grows in an organization is the real enemy. Interruptions are bad too. W…

No good deed goes unpunished. It's sad but true. The key is to be helpful without being too helpful.

If you get a reputation for being the one to call in an emergency, you'll be the one who gets called in emergencies. If on the other hand, you get a reputation for getting back to people in a day or two unless there's an appropriate reason you need to get back sooner, people will expect you to get back in a day or two unless there's an appropriate reason you need to get back sooner.

Re: VW deactivates employee email outside working hours

#90

Post by Duff »

mjwalshe wrote: post #68
Duff wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That solves problems and creates problems. Many things that are decided today based upon merit or by management discretion become tenure based. That is good and bad. The good: - Your contract will require things to be done in a fair and equitable way, per the contract. - Your pay will be more predictable. - Benefits will probably be better. - You will have an advocate in the event of a dispute. The bad: - Your contra…

You are wrongly assuming that M&P (managerial and professional) unions follow the old craft based union model which no M&P union does.

I was a member of such a union, and when the rubber hits the road, seniority rules.

I'm not anti-union either. If you're in a big multinational company, they are almost almost certainly better than not having a union.

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