Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My personal motto has always been "I work to live, I don't live to work". If this limits me on job opportunities or promotions, so be it. There's more to life than punching that time clock.
It's not just the globalization of the economy and the advance of technology, but also, the change in the mentality of the employers and those in charge in the US. Whereas before Wall street understood that they are fine to eat caviar and sip champagne as long as the main street guys have plenty of bread and water, all was good, but now, the disparity between the top and the bottom has become unbearable. Look at the pay difference between CEO's and mailroom clerk, it as multiplied over the past few years. Occupy Wall Street movement was civil war in its infancy, luckily, things did not get so ugly in this country.
I remember as a kid you'd get a few days off at Thanksgiving at most jobs--at least Thanksgiving and the Friday after. Now you are lucky in many positions to get off Thanksgiving. Going home early on the day before Thanksgiving was a given. Now you work all hours the boss/company says to maybe get Thursday off.
Forget Friday, unless you are in the gov't or education.
Christmas week was often when the company closed! You'd have off the 24th at least till the day after Christmas. Now you get one day, maybe, Christmas.
Retailers just push the $$$$ side of the holiday. In many jobs you HAVE to work holidays like Fourth of July as well.
All the people in retail, service jobs, food service, you cannot have a normal holidays. There is something depressing knowing you will be working Christmas while others "enjoy" it.
It's pretty sad I am less than 50 years old and pine for those days again.
So what happens to entry level employees who are extremely efficient? The kinds of people who have a natural talent to do work that takes most people 6 hours in 2 hours for instance. Can they leave when they are finished working or are they expected to take on more for the same pay as everyone else?
So what happens to entry level employees who are extremely efficient? The kinds of people who have a natural talent to do work that takes most people 6 hours in 2 hours for instance. Can they leave when they are finished working or are they expected to take on more for the same pay as everyone else?
Most cases no, as there are expectations of core office hours.
Mighty Pelican, you asked a good question and here is my answer, gained from years of experience of being such an employee-super smart, ultra-productive-no you don't get to go home earlier due to the concept of "teamwork" which means that once you are done with your workload, you would need to stick around and help whomever on your team is behind. You are lucky if you have a manager who recognizes that you carry more than your share and rewards you for it, but even if you do get rewarded, don't expect it to be an outsize one, maybe you will get 10 to 15% more on bonus than other people in your group, maybe instead of 2% raise, you will get 3-4%. I used to take it personally, but try to put yourself in your manager's shoes-he has a certain volume of work that has to be completed, assume he only has 2 people in the department-you and the other person, the upper management does not allow him to hire more people, and rightfully, it's 2 people job assuming each person puts in their fair share, so if that other person only does 30% of the work, someone has to do the other 70%, that means you are stuck with carrying the burden, now, a good manager will realize this situation is not sustainable in a long run and replace the other person with one who will do a fair share, a bad manager will take for granted the imbalance in the department as long as you, the star, don't cause waves. I treated such situations as opportunities to gain experience faster and then, leave to a better place for significantly more money.
So what happens to entry level employees who are extremely efficient? The kinds of people who have a natural talent to do work that takes most people 6 hours in 2 hours for instance. Can they leave when they are finished working or are they expected to take on more for the same pay as everyone else?
Probably one of the reasons I hate "team type" jobs in retail, food service and why they can't keep good people.
Why should you work 90% more than the slacker drinking coffee, chatting with friends, zoning out, just dodging responsibility. You get paid the same or less.
The boss EXPECTS you to pick up the slack and "suck it up."
This problem used to be specifically in Asia but lately it has spilled over to America. Europe is still generally protected but afraid eventually it will effect there too due to globalization of work and the need to stay competitive.
The US Govt has conceded to businesses and has not produced any labor laws to protect workers while they've protected businesses because they hold jobs.
I think the govt needs to change its stance eventually, we know that big businesses destroy jobs not create them. Big businesses are in the business of making money and part of that requirement is to shed jobs not create them. While they received perks from the govt to hold on to jobs but for the most part they create more temp jobs and use loopholes to grab foreign workers and use loop holes to make accounting tricks to make their balance sheets look good to investors.
Honest question for you (I swear this is not flame bait)...
Would you be willing to commit to only buying products, or only supporting companies, that abide by these labor laws? Meaning, you will pay a premium for a product or service provided by a company that treats its workers fairly?
I happen to be very well compensated by my employer. Right now, there is a guy sitting in another country that is willing to do what I do for ~ 1/10th the cost. Thus, I really have to hustle to earn my keep. If that means my work / life balance suffers, so be it. As much as I would like to, I cant really be mad at my employer because someone else is willing to work so hard, for so little money, now can I?
Honest question for you (I swear this is not flame bait)...
Would you be willing to commit to only buying products, or only supporting companies, that abide by these labor laws? Meaning, you will pay a premium for a product or service provided by a company that treats its workers fairly?
I happen to be very well compensated by my employer. Right now, there is a guy sitting in another country that is willing to do what I do for ~ 1/10th the cost. Thus, I really have to hustle to earn my keep. If that means my work / life balance suffers, so be it. As much as I would like to, I cant really be mad at my employer because someone else is willing to work so hard, for so little money, now can I?
There are some jobs coming back onshore, but certainly not at the clip of those that have left.
Take customer service. A lot of those went to the Philippines, Bangalore, etc, yet some of them are coming back onshore. Why? Even if the labor cost a 10%-20% of the US rate, it is rising, and the savings on labor may be offset by the negative perception of overseas labor.
To me, the article was basically stating that the more flexible an employer is with YOU, the more flexible you will be with THEM in terms of working odd hours, overtime, etc - it's just a natural reaction and why employers should really consider being flexible.
Not necessarily, the overseer standing over you cracking the whip. (Though there is a bit of that too).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
