Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
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Re: Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
#2I'm not sure I get this - are the workers coming in to replace them actually in the USA physically? Are they staying in the USA physically?
I mean is this offshoring / outsourcing or is it replacing with cheaper workers?
Why can't the existing employees compete for the jobs? I mean WIPRO must have going through some pretty big pre sales workups, so who else was competing?
I think what I mean is that doing this in secret implies that no one doing the actual job was ever consulted about the viability of outsourcing / replacing them / so you never get a real understanding of the costs or opportunities for improvement (essentially automating a bad process)
In summary - any company that does this cheap shot is usually one that is going to get its ass handed to it by a better more automated competitor.
Re: Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
#3I am not surprised that companies that are broken enough to do the outsourcing in the first place are also often broken enough to have this term in severance agreements. But it really should not be standard.
Re: Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
#4I'm not sure I get this - are the workers coming in to replace them actually in the USA physically? Are they staying in the USA physically? I mean is this offshoring / outsourcing or is it replacing with cheaper workers? Why can't the existing employees compete for the jobs? I mean WIPRO must have going through some pretty big pre sales workups, so who else was competing? I think what I mean is that doing this in sec…
Abbott contracted with Wipro, who appears to be performing the work locally, though Wipro claims only 20% h1b labor.
Abbott tried to reduce the role of foreigners in the layoffs. Only about 20
percent of the workers brought in by Wipro would be foreigners on H-1B
visas, Mr. Stoffel said, while the rest would be American workers.Re: Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
#5I am not surprised that companies that are broken enough to do the outsourcing in the first place are also often broken enough to have this term in severance agreements. But it really should not be standard.
It's standard for lots of things.
I had to sign such an agreement to stay through an acquisition.
Re: Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
#6I am not surprised that companies that are broken enough to do the outsourcing in the first place are also often broken enough to have this term in severance agreements. But it really should not be standard.
It's standard for lots of things. I had to sign such an agreement to stay through an acquisition.
The point is that it should not be.
Re: Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
#7Re: Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
#8> Now some of the workers who were displaced are starting to speak out, despite severance agreements prohibiting them from criticizing their former employers.
You can easily reveal the facts it in a totally non-critical way.
At ABC Data, workers were encouraged to collaborate with management to come up with creative solutions to streamline processes and save costs. When I realized that ABC could save money by replacing me with an equally capable, yet much cheaper worker visiting the country on a temporary work permit, I immediately pitched this idea at the next big cross-departmental meeting. There was much resistance among management. They objected on the basis of the unique knowledge and skills that I bring to the team, and how we all "go way back" to the startup days. In the end they saw it my way and agreed to relocate my posterior to that outdoor concrete fixture which separates the road from the sidewalk or lawn. I was unfortunately not able to talk them out of the egregiously generous severance package, though even with that expenditure, ABC ends up ahead. ABC is a great company to invest in with terrific fundamentals and future prospects, and is led by a highly ethical team whose decisions are beyond reproach.
Re: Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
#9This causes some pretty strong mixed feelings for me. On the one hand, foreign workers are already disadvantaged compared with domestic workers and H1-B caps are absurdly low. I keep failing to see why we are all supposed to open world markets to the flow of every sort of capital and goods except labor, or why someone deserves a job for being born American, rather than Indian (Note that I feel the same way when Americans are disadvantaged elsewhere for similar reasons[1]). On the other hand, a clause requiring that you never say something bad about your employer nor discuss the situation under which you were laid off seems not only abusive, but repugnantly so. In a country that constitutionally enshrines free speech, the ability to sign away for money your right to complain publicly about a person or organization seems particularly dangerous, and the act of asking someone to do so seems truly vile.
[1] https://medium.com/@rachelnabors/wtfuk-73009d5623b4#.466usni...
Re: Laid-Off Americans, Required to Zip Lips on Way Out, Grow Bolder
#10Free market capitalism.
You can't have it both ways.