4 ms·
From my observation the work time is getting longer mainly because of influx of people desperate enough to do unpaid overtime. My wife's management is doing 7hr
by lrem 13y ago
From my observation the work time is getting longer mainly because of influx of people desperate enough to do unpaid overtime. My wife's management is doing 7hrs/day. She's feeling quite insecure, so she's doing 9hrs/day, still being paid for the 7.
- coldtea 13y agoCompanies will take advantage of EVERY available way available to them to have employess work more for less pay. If modern Western companies were allowed to use slavery or child labour, they would jump at the chance. It's a "competitive advantage", after all. That's what they do when they outsource to the third world anyway, take advantage of people in need to exploit them more than what a "westerner" would tolerate -- including children, and, in some cases, including beating them or even killing them if they attempt to demand better conditions (see Coca Cola in Latin America, Shell in Nigeria, etc). Just as they did in the West during the 19th century, early 20th century etc -- it's not that they changed their mind, it's just that labour laws now prevent them.
- lrem 13y agoI would not say it is that bad. I'm not even aware of any explicit pressure from the management on doing the overtime. This would probably be illegal anyways. It's just the fear of failure (in a country that will probably fail soon). I hear the word "crisis" way too often, even though it still seems to be a seller's market for techies. Companies all around me are expanding like crazy, while the (especially junior) workers seem to really fear unemployment.
- king_jester 13y ago> I would not say it is that bad. I'm not even aware of any explicit pressure from the management on doing the overtime. This would probably be illegal anyways. Here in the US, I've known many people who do not work in the tech industry that have experienced this kind of management pressure. Management doesn't explicitly state you will lose your job for not working more, but threats or implied loss of status, salary, or having your work transferred to someone else makes you very paranoid about losing your job. For some kinds of industries and services, this is a big deal because hiring is not nearly as fast or plentiful as it is in tech right n ow.
- lrem 13y agoWell, you know... Back in the day, my father was explicitly told to accept unpaid overtime AND a hefty salary cut, or it's not a problem to find someone to replace him. Which he accepted. And got fired after a year anyways, to be replaced with a friend of the new owner. Now he's a quite successful entrepreneur :)
- icebraining 13y agoIt should be noted that many of those labor laws were pushed by industrialists. For example, the two Robert Peel (father and son) were wealthy industrialists which passed (as MPs) various acts setting minimum age and maximum working hours for children.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- kaybe 13y agoThat way, they cannot be forced by their competition to do things they don't want because it offers a comparative advantage. It makes sense.
- coldtea 13y agoSome "englightened" industrialists might have pushed for those laws (and other stuff, e.g Ford was all for paying his workers adequately), but thousands of people had fought, went on strikes, gor fired, got bullied and even killed by company lackeys etc, pushing for those rights before (and other stuff, from Jim Crow laws to the right not to be paid in scrip).