7 ms·

did you work there?

busterarm 6y ago
No, but I'm close friends with about a dozen people who did or do. Same comments about management from all of them: directionless, self-defeating.
- ahelwer 6y ago
  Sounds like greater line employee input in the direction of the company would be a good change, then?
  - busterarm 6y ago
    the NYT is already significantly unionized. Unions are already giving their input in directing the company.
  - PragmaticPulp 6y ago
    Unions don’t exactly give individual employees more input. By unionizing, the individuals surrender a lot of their individual bargaining power to the union and let the union act according to what it thinks is best for the union, but not necessarily individual employees.
    - xhkkffbf 6y ago
      Exactly. Look how well the union protected Don McNeil during his dust up. Even though he was a committed union guy who helped the union negotiate, the union decided to side with management.
    - ahelwer 6y ago
      Unions are democratic organizations. Employees elect the leadership, which can effectively advocate on their behalf for changes to company strategy in addition to general compensation & working conditions issues. So yes, by creating a parallel power structure beholden to workers, not management, unions do give individual employees more input. You are saying that an individual employee voicing their concerns to their manager has more sway than a union bringing that concern up to the executives.
      - gher-shyu3i 6y ago
        Just because they're democratically elected does not mean they will act on the the best for each individual employee.
        ahelwer 6y ago
        Sure. Pretty easy to beat the standard set when there's no union though, which in my experience is "your manager listens to your concerns and explains to you why it isn't a problem". The parallel power structure offers you the possibility of recourse, but not the guarantee. And if you want to put effort into having your concerns heard, you'll be convincing people (your coworkers) whose interest generally align with yours.
- gipp 6y ago
  I left about 2.5 years ago. I wasn't unhappy with the job, just got a better offer, but this is pretty true. You could count on a "re-org" or new project management strategy being announced every two quarters with no more justification than "the current thing isn't working", and you could count on essentially no follow-through after that announcement.

did you work there?

No, but I'm close friends with about a dozen people who did or do. Same comments about management from all of them: directionless, self-defeating.

ahelwer 6y ago
Sounds like greater line employee input in the direction of the company would be a good change, then?
- busterarm 6y ago
  the NYT is already significantly unionized. Unions are already giving their input in directing the company.
- PragmaticPulp 6y ago
  Unions don’t exactly give individual employees more input. By unionizing, the individuals surrender a lot of their individual bargaining power to the union and let the union act according to what it thinks is best for the union, but not necessarily individual employees.
  - xhkkffbf 6y ago
    Exactly. Look how well the union protected Don McNeil during his dust up. Even though he was a committed union guy who helped the union negotiate, the union decided to side with management.
  - ahelwer 6y ago
    Unions are democratic organizations. Employees elect the leadership, which can effectively advocate on their behalf for changes to company strategy in addition to general compensation & working conditions issues. So yes, by creating a parallel power structure beholden to workers, not management, unions do give individual employees more input. You are saying that an individual employee voicing their concerns to their manager has more sway than a union bringing that concern up to the executives.
    - gher-shyu3i 6y ago
      Just because they're democratically elected does not mean they will act on the the best for each individual employee.
      - ahelwer 6y ago
        Sure. Pretty easy to beat the standard set when there's no union though, which in my experience is "your manager listens to your concerns and explains to you why it isn't a problem". The parallel power structure offers you the possibility of recourse, but not the guarantee. And if you want to put effort into having your concerns heard, you'll be convincing people (your coworkers) whose interest generally align with yours.
gipp 6y ago
I left about 2.5 years ago. I wasn't unhappy with the job, just got a better offer, but this is pretty true. You could count on a "re-org" or new project management strategy being announced every two quarters with no more justification than "the current thing isn't working", and you could count on essentially no follow-through after that announcement.