3 ms·

Do these people just sit around and spend time coming up with ways to screw others over? How the fuck is this thing even legal, let alone ethical? Makes me so m

by akudha 7y ago

Do these people just sit around and spend time coming up with ways to screw others over? How the fuck is this thing even legal, let alone ethical? Makes me so mad

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
d357r0y3r 7y ago
Nah, I don't think so. Most rules come about because one person, at some point, abused the policy, and so the company tries to make a more explicit rule to prevent the abuse in the future. I don't know the specifics of this case, but maternity leave is absolutely something that has been abused. My spouse worked with a woman who got hired while she was pregnant, had the baby and took advantage of the company's extremely generous paid maternity leave, and then came back in and quit on her first day back. From the company's standpoint, this hire was simply a cash giveaway and a huge loss.
- akudha 7y ago
  denying them commissions they have already earned The key word is here "already earned". Denying that doesn't make any sense, any which way we look at it. Still, punish the 95% (or whatever very high number) for the shitty behavior of other 5% of people? I understand it is business and companies need to protect their profits, but this is ridiculous.
  - d357r0y3r 7y ago
    > Still, punish the 95% (or whatever very high number) for the shitty behavior of other 5% of people? I understand it is business and companies need to protect their profits, but this is ridiculous. Yeah, I agree. Just pointing out that this stuff rarely comes from mustache-twirling villains and more often is just a misguided attempt to solve some other related problem. Cutting off commission that has already been earned sounds pretty bad.
  - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
    I'd bet money that the policies don't literally say "we will claw back commissions you've already earned if you go on leave". The scenario is almost certainly that there's a specific point where commissions are earned as a matter of policy, and that policy doesn't align with the informal understanding of when you earn a commission or the timeframe of the work that earned you the commission.
- itronitron 7y ago
  From the company's standpoint, any employee that quits is simply a cash giveaway and a huge loss.
  - d357r0y3r 7y ago
    Some more than others.
    - itronitron 7y ago
      so true >> https://www.businessinsider.com/andy-rubin-90-million-exit-package-google-sexual-misconduct-investigation-2018-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/andy-rubin-90-million-exit-p...
  - kgwgk 7y ago
    Especially when they had been giving cash in return for nothing. The cash giveaway is in the paid leave part, not in the quitting part.
    - itronitron 7y ago
      Paid leave is a benefit of being employed at the company, it's not a cash giveaway.
    - jrochkind1 7y ago
      Yeah, what next, keep paying people even though they are in the hospital sick, and call it "sick leave"? That's just giving people cash in return for nothing. Why are they trying to give us a communist dictatorship?
    - bonzini 7y ago
      In many countries it is the state that pays for maternity leave (or sick leave after the first few N days).
smt88 7y ago
> Do these people just sit around and spend time coming up with ways to screw others over? Yes, they literally do (or hire consultants to do it). I went to school with lots of people who ended up in management consulting. One in particular worked at Deloitte and specialized in "human capital". Most of their projects were to figure out how an organization could drastically reduce pension/retirement benefits for existing workers legally, while also offering much worse plans for new hires that looked good on paper. They were paid around $1,800/day/consultant for all of these cost-cutting projects. (This is not at all an uncommon story in the enterprise consulting world, by the way.)
throwawaycanada 7y ago
Yes. Otherwise they would have nothing to say in meetings.
matz1 7y ago
How is it not a thing ? Yes and if I can get away with it, I would gladly do the same. A company goal is to make money.
dominotw 7y ago
I think the article is referring to commissions that her position is earning. Hard to tell though.

by akudha 7y ago

Do these people just sit around and spend time coming up with ways to screw others over? How the fuck is this thing even legal, let alone ethical? Makes me so mad

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

d357r0y3r 7y ago

Nah, I don't think so. Most rules come about because one person, at some point, abused the policy, and so the company tries to make a more explicit rule to prevent the abuse in the future. I don't know the specifics of this case, but maternity leave is absolutely something that has been abused. My spouse worked with a woman who got hired while she was pregnant, had the baby and took advantage of the company's extremely generous paid maternity leave, and then came back in and quit on her first day back. From the company's standpoint, this hire was simply a cash giveaway and a huge loss.

akudha 7y ago
denying them commissions they have already earned The key word is here "already earned". Denying that doesn't make any sense, any which way we look at it. Still, punish the 95% (or whatever very high number) for the shitty behavior of other 5% of people? I understand it is business and companies need to protect their profits, but this is ridiculous.
- d357r0y3r 7y ago
  > Still, punish the 95% (or whatever very high number) for the shitty behavior of other 5% of people? I understand it is business and companies need to protect their profits, but this is ridiculous. Yeah, I agree. Just pointing out that this stuff rarely comes from mustache-twirling villains and more often is just a misguided attempt to solve some other related problem. Cutting off commission that has already been earned sounds pretty bad.
- SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
  I'd bet money that the policies don't literally say "we will claw back commissions you've already earned if you go on leave". The scenario is almost certainly that there's a specific point where commissions are earned as a matter of policy, and that policy doesn't align with the informal understanding of when you earn a commission or the timeframe of the work that earned you the commission.
itronitron 7y ago
From the company's standpoint, any employee that quits is simply a cash giveaway and a huge loss.
- d357r0y3r 7y ago
  Some more than others.
  - itronitron 7y ago
    so true >> https://www.businessinsider.com/andy-rubin-90-million-exit-package-google-sexual-misconduct-investigation-2018-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/andy-rubin-90-million-exit-p...
- kgwgk 7y ago
  Especially when they had been giving cash in return for nothing. The cash giveaway is in the paid leave part, not in the quitting part.
  - itronitron 7y ago
    Paid leave is a benefit of being employed at the company, it's not a cash giveaway.
  - jrochkind1 7y ago
    Yeah, what next, keep paying people even though they are in the hospital sick, and call it "sick leave"? That's just giving people cash in return for nothing. Why are they trying to give us a communist dictatorship?
  - bonzini 7y ago
    In many countries it is the state that pays for maternity leave (or sick leave after the first few N days).

smt88 7y ago

> Do these people just sit around and spend time coming up with ways to screw others over? Yes, they literally do (or hire consultants to do it). I went to school with lots of people who ended up in management consulting. One in particular worked at Deloitte and specialized in "human capital". Most of their projects were to figure out how an organization could drastically reduce pension/retirement benefits for existing workers legally, while also offering much worse plans for new hires that looked good on paper. They were paid around $1,800/day/consultant for all of these cost-cutting projects. (This is not at all an uncommon story in the enterprise consulting world, by the way.)

throwawaycanada 7y ago

Yes. Otherwise they would have nothing to say in meetings.

matz1 7y ago

How is it not a thing ? Yes and if I can get away with it, I would gladly do the same. A company goal is to make money.

dominotw 7y ago

I think the article is referring to commissions that her position is earning. Hard to tell though.