this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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I’ve been working in tech for close to thirty years now mostly with larger tech and financial companies. For my parent’s and grandparent’s generation, you could reasonably expect lifetime employment at the same company. Work well and you’ll be treated well.
This started to change when I began working in the 90s and especially after the 2001 and 2008 recessions. Since then, it’s gotten much worse.
Companies don’t want to treat all employees well anymore, just their top talent that they want to retain. Who cares what the rest think because they’re transient anyway and won’t be around for more than a few years. Build around your top people and view the others as interchangeable parts.
Don’t bother investing in the rest of your employees. Just hire when needed, fire those you don’t like, who aren’t a good fit, and who are too old. Firing is one of their top tools if they want a quick cost reduction to boost their stock price.
Maintaining the upper hand of the employee/employer power dynamic is much more desirable than properly treating the people who work for you. If the employees don’t like it, they know where the door is. They’re replaceable anyway. That’s why employees have lost the RTO battles.
As an older worker, I despise how cutthroat the corporate world is now. I feel like I’m about to be tossed out with the trash.
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what’s stopping tech workers still at Google from unionizing?
I work in tech as well, and I think the biggest reason is workplace mobility. Working at Google famously makes it easy go get a new job.
When work has sucked for me, I went job hunting not trying to fix a broken system
Some situations look more favourable in the rearview, yes.
Well everyone is being told they are special and top talent until they aren't. Then it's to late since there is a stigma attached and others don't want their shadow cast in them.
This is interesting because firings I've been involved with nearly always cut the important staff first because they make the most. The more valuable, the more you get paid and therefore the more you save when they go.
Tell us your management are idiots without using those words.
The "dead sea effect" is detailed as a thing to avoid; your management seems to want to wade in it.
I am, but also, this is at multiple reputable places so it's a trend more than just one shitty business. It could also just be companies are less likely to let people stay with them in good faith and it might be about new blood coming in to organise
I worked at a big company, after 16 years they let me and many of my coworkers go. I ended up at a late stage start up. They were starting to become more "corporate". Now I work at an early stage start up. They actually care. I am not sure I will ever take a job with a company that is publicly traded again.
My plan, if I leave the massive corporate entity I'm currently at is to find work at a place with 2 digit employee numbers.
Trying to get the right things done at a huge company makes government burocracy look like a model of efficiency.
Internally they're all like, "why can't we work like a startup?"...partially because of you, Mr. Senior VP of golden parachutes.