Toxic culture is driving the great resignation • Hacker News Board

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#211

Post by andrewflnr » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:39 PM UTC

csa wrote: post #8

andrewflnr wrote: post #6

I've always guessed this was a major factor, though I still think too-low pay is a factor in a lot of cases, especially industries where pay tends to be anchored to minimum wage. However: (a) This is public social media data, I guess? That seems like a noisy channel. (b) Some of their suggestions are really dumb, and all miss the point in my view. If my boss is an ass, sponsoring a social event and expecting that to…

> The real solution theoretically doesn't have to cost any money: managers just have to be better people. For such famously bottom-line-driven organizations as large companies, it's funny how that zero-cost solution is so unlikely to actually happen. Actually changing management culture at a large organization is very expensive if it’s even possible. Very far from a zero-cost solution. I mean, it would be great if th…

I know, that's why I said "theoretically". :)

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#212

Post by throw220113 » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:41 PM UTC

freedom2099 wrote: post #109

scandox wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm contemplating a move to the Riviera (family reasons). Any general advice on the tech scene down there? My French is bad at present but I have quite a bit of room for manouevre...

Between Nice and Cannes there is the Sophia Antipolis technopole where various tech companies have offices. Most (like mine) use English as the official language used on premises. I have been living here for a decade and my French is not particularly good, mostly because I don’t use it much.

No post body was provided.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#213

Post by dang » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:41 PM UTC

xiphias2 wrote: post #124

There's nothing black swan in an inflationary environment that leads to hyperinflation, even if it's for a country with a reserve currency. Every empire hyperinflated itself in the past, people just ignore history and how returning to sound money is inevitable. The only black swan part is that now we have a better alternative to gold.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29920088.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#214

Post by odonnellryan » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:42 PM UTC

freedom2099 wrote: post #189

odonnellryan wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Homes in that area are about 10x that salary - so no. Reasonable ends at 3-4x your salary. I would be surprised if you could get a loan if you're taking a mortgage out that is 8x+ your salary... but maybe you can in France? Not in the US!

That is not true… only sea view apartments and houses do have incredibly high prices… otherwise you can find an apartment of 100m2 for prices ranging from 200k euros to 500k. Many homes with garden in the area range from 450k to a million (depending on the location). If as a couple the household income is 100k or more a year it is not difficult at all to get a mortgage. In France is very hard to get fired… there is a…

500k is getting close to 10x the salary.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#215

Post by itsdrewmiller » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:42 PM UTC

Their estimate of turnover by industry clearly has an average around 10%, but quit rates this year should mean that the average turnover is more like 30%. They limit themselves to the 500 biggest employers or whatever the Culture 500 is, but I sincerely doubt there is that big of a discrepancy in turnover between big companies and small.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#216

Post by tellmemore9 » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:43 PM UTC

ramphastidae wrote: post #195

pembrook wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for hilariously illustrating how bubble-y the current moment feels. If you think dramatically increasing compensation is going to continue in the next decade like it has in the last one, I think you might be disappointed. Now that companies are comfortable with remote, HR departments are eventually going to realize that services like Deel exist, and that its not actually that hard to hire employees overseas…

Nope. Cheap, outsourced labor has been available for decades. If what you’re saying was true, the shift would have already happened. The reality is that the vast majority of outsourced labor is significantly lower quality than the onshore talent. Mix that with poor communication and a ten hour time zone difference … it’s usually net negative.

No post body was provided.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#217

Post by s1artibartfast » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:43 PM UTC

pcthrowaway wrote: post #19

> "This finding is consistent with a study of 28 Gap stores, in which employees at randomly-assigned locations received their work schedules two weeks in advance, and their managers were barred from canceling their shifts at the last minute. Employees in the control stores were subject to the usual scheduling practices." I don't even know what to say to this. The idea that big corp is intentionally fucking with their…

You misunderstand the study. GAP didn't start "fucking" with anyone's schedule.

In the study, they stopped "fucking" with schedules. This is an improvement.

They rolled out a policy that they thought would help workers to half the stores, monitored the impact, and saw that it good!

This should be be applauded.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#218

Post by Wiseacre » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:44 PM UTC

skrebbel wrote: post #120

Nihilartikel wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the American thirst for money is perhaps sometimes greed, but most often it's a gnawing psychological side effect of our relative lack of personal security in our society. A person can have $100k in the bank and still be bankrupted and left literally living on the streets if they have the audacity to get cancer, lose their job, and have unlucky circumstances. (edit) This insecurity is a 'feature', not a…

Nice! IMO this makes a lot of sense. (I mean it feels super foreign to me but it's a much better explanation than "greed" or "yeah but the house prices")

Lack of psychological security in our society is an artifact of greed.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#219

Post by tellmemore9 » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:46 PM UTC

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #112

notyourday wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A huge problem with this industry is the inflexibility to pay current engineers LARGELY increasing comp each year This is not an inflexibility. This is the "leadership" deciding that it is not worth it.

As it turns out, companies aren't all malevolent, omnipotent entities with infinite resources who withhold rewards from employees purely for schadenfreude.

No post body was provided.

Re: Toxic culture is driving the great resignation

#220

Post by andrewflnr » Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 3:47 PM UTC

beloch wrote: post #31

andrewflnr wrote: post #6

I've always guessed this was a major factor, though I still think too-low pay is a factor in a lot of cases, especially industries where pay tends to be anchored to minimum wage. However: (a) This is public social media data, I guess? That seems like a noisy channel. (b) Some of their suggestions are really dumb, and all miss the point in my view. If my boss is an ass, sponsoring a social event and expecting that to…

The data presented in the article actually presents some pretty specific problems with management that don't boil down to managers needing to be "better people". For example, employees want predictable schedules. The sectors with highest turnover mostly seem to be the kind that either embrace crunch culture or have seasonal demand. e.g. Retail workers are expected to put in more time during the holidays, when most wo…

Fair point in general, possibly, but I still disagree with your example. Passing the planning buck to your employees is Bad, which is not to say "good people" never do it, in the same way that "good people" occasionally cut you off on the freeway, by they definitely should know better. Part of being a good person is thinking through the consequences of your actions, including second-order consequences like instability you create in your employees' lives.