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The Age of the Crisis of Work

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Re: The Age of the Crisis of Work

#71

Post by charlie0 »

epups wrote: post #41
throwawaysleep wrote: post #2

Explain to me why as an employee, I should care whether my employer greatly succeeds, just slides along, or slowly crumbles? As far as I can tell, except over the very long term, I end up in the same place. Or for a more specific example, I am aware of about a 50K a year in cloud waste. But in my org, I know I won't get anything for reporting it as I am not going for a promo (promos pay a lot less than job hopping wh…

Doing your job properly can lead to unexpected rewards. I found great contacts that helped me job hop after I performed some tasks with excellence. Mediocrity or active sabotage as you suggest also do not motivate me at all. Ultimately society is the result of our collective effort. If I'm employed and assigned to a task, I do my best to finish it well, within reason - no overtime, not working on weekends, etc. I thi…

This is understated a lot. Sometimes you work hard, not for the company, not for your boss, but for your coworkers sitting in the trenches with you. It pays off in terms of the relationships built. I would not recommend/refer mediocre devs to new companies. I'm sure lots of other people feel the same way to. Don't be a lazy dev. Work hard at the current job and find another one.

Re: The Age of the Crisis of Work

#72

Post by adamwong246 »

A lot of people are realizing it just doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you are great or terrible at your job, because you might get fired or laid-off either way. You can spend you whole life squirreling away your retirement, only to watch those savings evaporate at the next "financial crisis". We're told the system is meritocracy but it never seems to pan out that way.

Re: The Age of the Crisis of Work

#74

Post by lotsofpulp »

mydogcanpurr wrote: post #7
tehnub wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe if you have shares of your company stock there’s some motivation?

I believe that only works if you believe you'll benefit from moving the stock up and are in a position in which you actually can. Both seem doubtful to me for many workers. This is also why commission is a great motivator for sales people; they directly benefit from putting in the extra mile, so of course they want to work hard. Meanwhile a tech worker centering a div has no way of connecting their work with the comp…

The example is a bad one because if one person does something attributable to just them that causes an established company’s market cap to rise by 10%, you will have earned quite a bit of recognition which should translate to future income security and additional income.

Re: The Age of the Crisis of Work

#75

Post by blastro »

sam_lowry_ wrote: post #66
majormajor wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found nothing more frustrating in jobs than when I can't help but care about things the company doesn't care about. If your company doesn't care about 50K I don't think there's a need for me to convince you to care about it. If they have no mechanism for either raising those savings opportunities to leadership and prioritizing fixes, or rewarding someone for saving them 50k on their own, they pretty clearly don'…

> "I've found nothing more frustrating in jobs than when I can't help but care about things the company doesn't care about." Gotta put it in my fortune file.

Fortune has so many hilarious lines in it. I feel like it makes me a little smarter.

Re: The Age of the Crisis of Work

#76

Post by rajin444 »

steve1977 wrote: post #58
over_bridge wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus that company would look after you if you committed to them and they might employ your kids and grandkids too if you could help keep them around. Now... Doesn't matter if your employer succeeds or fails. You just go somewhere else and do the same thing for a similar salary, and some numbers go up or down in wealthy people's portfolios. Not sure if that's freeing or depressing.

You mean the capitalists ensured that they exploited you enough so that they also had your offspring on the hook for further exploitation? You almost made that sound like a good thing.

No system can fix a corrupt elite. Even Adam Smith acknowledged that capitalism is an abusive system when you have elites that do not have their people’s best interest in mind.

A high trust, cohesive populace is the minimum for any societal progress. And that starts with rulers who work to ensure they’re doing right by their people. America, instead, has rulers on both sides working to ensure the populace hates one another.

Re: The Age of the Crisis of Work

#77

Post by blastro »

nine_zeros wrote: post #29
whiskytango111 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies only want people that are in he A bucket. That’s what market rate is. If you aren’t actually and truly in the A group then your company is thinking about how to pay you less, replace you eventually, or invest in other people who likely will become part of the A group.

Right. I'm still not hearing what the company will do for A workers. How can management guarantee that an A player is evaluated and rewarded correctly? What controls does the company have to prevent B-level management from hurting A-level workers?

I think he's saying that you will continue to get paid and be part of the team. That's the trade. The others are on their way out, slowly or quickly. Not that there's some extra benefit by being on the A side.

Re: The Age of the Crisis of Work

#78

Post by bluefirebrand »

ipaddr wrote: post #69
UtopiaPunk wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your boss enjoys the money you make for him with so little fuss.

I'm glad I can help make him money. No fuss and some pride. It makes my position more solid.

> It makes my position more solid

This is increasingly less true though.

People are seeing that they can produce high value for years and never get rewarded, and eventually get laid off when cuts need to happen.

At that point, why try?

Re: The Age of the Crisis of Work

#79

Post by 0zemp1c »

throwawaysleep wrote: post #2

Explain to me why as an employee, I should care whether my employer greatly succeeds, just slides along, or slowly crumbles? As far as I can tell, except over the very long term, I end up in the same place. Or for a more specific example, I am aware of about a 50K a year in cloud waste. But in my org, I know I won't get anything for reporting it as I am not going for a promo (promos pay a lot less than job hopping wh…

this type of malaise will be fixed as 80% of the people and companies in tech disappear over the next ten years

the remaining 20% will replace all of their workers with fresh blood from college and for a time, everyone will feel vital

Re: The Age of the Crisis of Work

#80

Post by Gud »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #78
ipaddr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad I can help make him money. No fuss and some pride. It makes my position more solid.

> It makes my position more solid This is increasingly less true though. People are seeing that they can produce high value for years and never get rewarded, and eventually get laid off when cuts need to happen. At that point, why try?

If they are providing high value but not reaping high rewards, introspection is warranted.
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