8 ms·

Yeah, TIL Mexico is so pro-Labor. It's disgusting to see "we have to pay 6 months severance to chuck out someone who spent half a decade of their lives with us

Yeah, TIL Mexico is so pro-Labor. It's disgusting to see "we have to pay 6 months severance to chuck out someone who spent half a decade of their lives with us!" said unironically, even on this board.

mikeryan 3y ago
Let me clarify the point. I don’t have an issue with the severance for staff I’ve had to let go for as layoffs due to economic conditions of the company. I’ve made those severance payments without issue. My issue is more with letting go of people for performance reasons. Hiring someone for 2 months and finding out they are under performing still requires the severance pay. You can fight this with the labor board but the standard is high when letting go because of performance. It’s a paradigm shift for most US based companies where letting someone go for performance reasons can come at a low cost. It also means, in the context of this thread, that Mexico is at a competitive disadvantage to other south and Central American countries with more lax labor laws.
- TremendousJudge 3y ago
  From the point of view of the worker, it's the same thing -- you were employed with the expectation of stability, now you're getting fired and have to find another job before your family ends up on the street. It's a very vulnerable position to be as a worker, which is why in many countries they have the right to severance pay. Anyway, it's common (here in Uruguay at least) for contracts to include a 3 month "test period" clause where the company can fire you without paying severance, to prepare for that exact situation. Don't you do that? It's reasonable enough to me.
sershe 3y ago
So, when you decide to leave a company where you have spent half a decade, do you provide 6 months free labor, or do you do the disgusting thing and just leave?
- ye-olde-sysrq 3y ago
  A worker leaving is not even remotely as impactful to a company as a worker being let go is to the worker and their family. It's absurd to even imply it's the case.
  - sershe 3y ago
    Is it really due to proportions? In that case say you leave a startup of 3 people. Not the same as company firing one guy, but roughly 1/3rd impact, so 2 months of free severance labor is on you, correct, to avoid being "disgusting"? Or if you happen to be a particularly valuable, hard-to-replace specialist; or happen to have unique knowledge of some legacy systems that nobody else can maintain, your impact can be order-of-magnitude comparable to being fired (in fact, the impact of you being fired might be lower for you than the impact of you leaving is for the company because you might find the next job very easily) and you would owe /some/ free labor, right? Exact proportions TBD. Don't get me wrong, I'd love a ton of severance if I was laid off. But I don't suffer for excusitis and don't contort morality into some ridiculous fairness arguments. I am just selfish and I like money, so hey, I wouldn't mind some.

mikeryan 3y ago

Let me clarify the point. I don’t have an issue with the severance for staff I’ve had to let go for as layoffs due to economic conditions of the company. I’ve made those severance payments without issue. My issue is more with letting go of people for performance reasons. Hiring someone for 2 months and finding out they are under performing still requires the severance pay. You can fight this with the labor board but the standard is high when letting go because of performance. It’s a paradigm shift for most US based companies where letting someone go for performance reasons can come at a low cost. It also means, in the context of this thread, that Mexico is at a competitive disadvantage to other south and Central American countries with more lax labor laws.

TremendousJudge 3y ago
From the point of view of the worker, it's the same thing -- you were employed with the expectation of stability, now you're getting fired and have to find another job before your family ends up on the street. It's a very vulnerable position to be as a worker, which is why in many countries they have the right to severance pay. Anyway, it's common (here in Uruguay at least) for contracts to include a 3 month "test period" clause where the company can fire you without paying severance, to prepare for that exact situation. Don't you do that? It's reasonable enough to me.

sershe 3y ago

So, when you decide to leave a company where you have spent half a decade, do you provide 6 months free labor, or do you do the disgusting thing and just leave?

ye-olde-sysrq 3y ago
A worker leaving is not even remotely as impactful to a company as a worker being let go is to the worker and their family. It's absurd to even imply it's the case.
- sershe 3y ago
  Is it really due to proportions? In that case say you leave a startup of 3 people. Not the same as company firing one guy, but roughly 1/3rd impact, so 2 months of free severance labor is on you, correct, to avoid being "disgusting"? Or if you happen to be a particularly valuable, hard-to-replace specialist; or happen to have unique knowledge of some legacy systems that nobody else can maintain, your impact can be order-of-magnitude comparable to being fired (in fact, the impact of you being fired might be lower for you than the impact of you leaving is for the company because you might find the next job very easily) and you would owe /some/ free labor, right? Exact proportions TBD. Don't get me wrong, I'd love a ton of severance if I was laid off. But I don't suffer for excusitis and don't contort morality into some ridiculous fairness arguments. I am just selfish and I like money, so hey, I wouldn't mind some.