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At my workplace we were hyped up for a special announcement during a company meeting. this is after, literally, years of layoffs, offshoring, cut after cut to b
by arsan87 4mo ago
At my workplace we were hyped up for a special announcement during a company meeting. this is after, literally, years of layoffs, offshoring, cut after cut to benefits, and restructurings. Morale is incredibly low.
The big announcement is they are giving everyone one extra day off around a national holiday as a reward. We already have "unlimited" PTO but of course can't really use it. So their reward is letting us use a benefit we already supposedly had.
- hylaride 4mo ago"It's the least we can do, so it's the least we will do..."
- cindyllm 4mo ago[dead]
- dabidab 4mo agoYikes. Talk about a slap in the face. Who let them even propose that? Maybe next they’ll give you housing from the company property, and sell groceries from the company store, and see a company doctor.
- codegeek 4mo agoBecause of these shitty corporate companies that don't give a shit about their employees, the well is now poisoned for companies that do care especially smaller ones. Employees don't want to give their best anymore because they are burnt elsewhere and they become unemployable at smaller companies. It is a sad state of affairs.
- Aurornis 4mo agoI've worked at the full spectrum from great to terrible (and eventually one that went legally fraudulent) companies. You're right that there can be a problem at small companies when you hire someone out of a toxic company. Some people love the fresh start and are so happy to finally be in a healthy environment that they thrive. Some people are so broken from toxic previous employers that they can't adapt. We hired a lot of people out of a competitive Big Tech office and it was probably a 50/50 flip of the coin if they were going to be great to work with or toxic political monsters. I had to have so many difficult conversations with people who could only see their coworkers and other teams as competitors who had to be defeated that I nearly had a prepared speech on the topic. The politics and attempted backstabbing was insane. It was also weird that they thought it was going to work at a small company where we knew the people they were trying to backstab for years.
- Der_Einzige 4mo agoStop trying to hire folks from AWS and this won't happen. Micrsoft is famous for "rest and vest" and a far less toxic culture as a result. You could also try hiring from Intel, where the internal "great place to work" propaganda is known as "great place to leetcode" because usually the work pace is so lax that its seem as a stepping stone for further advancement on your own time...
- coffeemug 4mo agoMicrosoft is no longer rest and vest and hasn’t been for a long time. The expectations and pressure are very high (at least the corner I’m in)
- erikerikson 4mo agoMicrosoft took a pause in some areas for a moment but has been a brutal dog eat dog environment for a long time and never really stopped. I tried to get the job there once and got back channel on why I was denied: the interviewer didn't believe I'd emotionally handle the psychological environment. They went with somebody far more aggressive. These companies are not monoliths though. Statistics really matter.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- LiquidSky 4mo ago>the well is now poisoned for companies that do care Because there's no such thing. Or rather, there are until it's unprofitable enough that caring seriously threatens the bottom line, or the nice owners sell off to someone less nice.
- codegeek 4mo agoSure but thats a very cynical way of seeing things. A company cannot exist without making a profit but there are plenty of companies that try and take care of their people. At least the ones that don't have investor or board pressure (smaller private companies).
- tavavex 4mo agoI don't understand. What is 'unlimited' PTO? And if it's so unlimited, why can't you use any of it? I've only had jobs with very specifically defined PTO that had no ambiguity in whether I could ever use it.
- lbrito 4mo agoIts a way for US companies to avoid paying money. When employees get real PTO, companies have some legal and tax obligations. With fake "unlimited" PTO, they just pretend the person is working as usual.
- pixl97 4mo agoIts a trick used to avoid financial liability. https://www.businessinsider.com/unlimited-pto-vacation-scam-time-off-managers-fight-burnout-culture-2023-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/unlimited-pto-vacation-scam-...
- AlexB138 4mo agoMost companies use the term "discretionary PTO". That means that there is no set limit on PTO. The positive take on it is that this means employees can take time off within reason so long as they're getting their work done. The negative take is that it means you have no guaranteed days you can take, and cultural or managerial pressure will prevent you from taking even a normal amount of vacation. It also means that employees don't accrue PTO days, and therefore don't have to be paid out for that time when they're fired.
- compiler-guy 4mo agoThe shift from the tem "Unlimited PTO" to "Discretionary PTO" has happened because early proponents realized it wasn't really unlimited, and they didn't want workers to think that way. But the "unlimited" term is still used to sell it, and still often appears in informal recruiting conversations. It's just so slimy.
- AlexB138 4mo ago
- rboyd 4mo agoI've found it's always best to calibrate around expecting something like the ice cream sandwich episode of The Office. Never feel too much of a letdown this way.
- thefourthchime 4mo agoI work in the media industry, there hasn't been any hiring in years, since before covid and certainly not after. Sometimes there are layoffs and they shake up middle management, but my boss doesn't even want to be come a SVP because those are the ones they axe when they restructure. We're all just hunkering down.
- deterministic 4mo ago"The whipping will continue until morale improves"
- mk_stjames 4mo agoI have this little insight into PTO that I keep saved, from the book "Algorithms to Live By" by Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths (a nice read). I think of it often when hearing about people and their work schedules in modern salaried positions and these 'unlimited PTO' offers: >All employees want, in theory, to take as much vacation as possible. But they also all want to take just slightly less vacation than each other, to be perceived as more loyal, more committed, and more dedicated (hence more promotion-worthy). Everyone looks to the others for a baseline, and will take just slightly less than that. The Nash equilibrium of this game is zero.
- marcuskane2 4mo ago> hence more promotion-worthy Relevant for big companies where people intend to have decade spanning careers with multiple promotions. But for the tech worker who is going to have a series of 1-3 year stints at different companies, their promotions are more likely to come from switching companies than from showing loyalty or commitment to their current employer.
- therealpygon 4mo ago“But you can be lucky to get a lower-than-cost-of-living adjustment each year if you stay and don’t move jobs! Wait, why are you leaving??”