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I think the culture in the United States of, cut costs aggressively by firing people, is really shitty when everything in our lives from healthcare to food to h
by __loam 3y ago
I think the culture in the United States of, cut costs aggressively by firing people, is really shitty when everything in our lives from healthcare to food to housing is utterly dependent on our jobs. If this were not the case, I would be on board with the completely callous way of running a business, but the reality is that we rely on our jobs to give us basic services that are funded publicly in other countries. For that reason, I think it should way way harder to fire people. When you hire someone, you're taking responsibility to take care of that person. Saying things like I'm running a business or this isn't a charity is cute, but it's not the reality. Business people often say their employees are like their families. That ought to go both ways.
We need new laws too guarantee a basic standard of living. Until we have that, there ought to be laws that make firing people, especially without cause, far more difficult. If you anticipate needing to cut costs, either don't hire so many people in thy first place or cut pay.
- blacksmith_tb 3y agoI think that's the reasonable moral response, yes. But even in business terms, having been a 'survivor' in a couple of offices that went through large rounds of layoffs, it's universally grim as processes that weren't documented stagger to a halt, people with the muscle memory to fix problems are no longer around, etc. All the while the the top brass congratulate themselves on the cost savings.
- sastaha 3y ago"I think the culture in the United States of, cut costs aggressively by firing people, is really shitty when everything in our lives from healthcare to food to housing is utterly dependent on our jobs. If this were not the case, I would be on board with the completely callous way of running a business, but the reality is that we rely on our jobs to give us basic services that are funded publicly in other countries." In all European countries people are responsible for paying for food, and they pay a lot more for food than Americans do thanks to EU protectionism. Apart from a few parts of Europe like Vienna, public housing is the preserve of the low-income, not too different from America's Section 8 housing program. A computer programmer would not qualify for subsidized housing. Most housing is purchased in the big bad free market. Europe does have a universal healthcare system, but other than that the vision of Europe held by left-wing Americans is a utopian fantasy.