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One rumor that occasionally makes the rounds is that managers specifically seek to disorient and fatigue workers with hostile flex schedules in order to keep em

One rumor that occasionally makes the rounds is that managers specifically seek to disorient and fatigue workers with hostile flex schedules in order to keep employees too exhausted to seek better work. It's a little dramatic for my taste, Occam's Razor probably applies, but there might just be a grain of truth to it... at least in the darwinian sense where incompetent time management just so happens to somehow beat workers into submission better than competent time management happens to retain them. The incompetent managers win out over time and a dominant pattern emerges.

noir_lord 5y ago
Hanlan's razor > Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. With the corollary > but don't rule out malice.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
I know small business owners in the hotel business that use this tactic to prevent workers from finding other jobs. It is a very common tactic that I would say most small business owners hear or figure out very quickly. Another is using immigrants or poor people trying to establish themselves as managers in name, but in reality they are there to fill in for the lower paid shift workers who are constantly quitting or unreliable because they are paying the lowest wages. The “managers” put up with this to earn a steady salary paycheck, but per hour worked, it frequently comes out to less than minimum wage. Obama admin increasing minimum salaries to $48k from $33k had the small business owners I know frothing at the mouth.
- bsenftner 5y ago
  I've seen small to medium sized programming shops doing contract work on web sites or some unknown game company paying people between $25K to $30K a year, and working teams of them 60 hours a week... People with masters degrees in CS, actually making around $10 an hour, so they can have a programming job on their resume... far more evil than fast food, if you ask me.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    I do not see the point of ranking it, but I would factor in the probabilities of advancement and improving quality of life for a person with history of programming versus fast food.

noir_lord 5y ago

Hanlan's razor > Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. With the corollary > but don't rule out malice.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

I know small business owners in the hotel business that use this tactic to prevent workers from finding other jobs. It is a very common tactic that I would say most small business owners hear or figure out very quickly. Another is using immigrants or poor people trying to establish themselves as managers in name, but in reality they are there to fill in for the lower paid shift workers who are constantly quitting or unreliable because they are paying the lowest wages. The “managers” put up with this to earn a steady salary paycheck, but per hour worked, it frequently comes out to less than minimum wage. Obama admin increasing minimum salaries to $48k from $33k had the small business owners I know frothing at the mouth.

bsenftner 5y ago
I've seen small to medium sized programming shops doing contract work on web sites or some unknown game company paying people between $25K to $30K a year, and working teams of them 60 hours a week... People with masters degrees in CS, actually making around $10 an hour, so they can have a programming job on their resume... far more evil than fast food, if you ask me.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  I do not see the point of ranking it, but I would factor in the probabilities of advancement and improving quality of life for a person with history of programming versus fast food.