Antiwork 2: No One Is Getting A Pay Raise

[Swansong]

How can you not take the severance? If her job is eliminated, isn't she gone? Over the past year we've had a number of reductions in force and they give you 90 days to find another position within the company. Most people don't but some people do. I don't know what happens with regards to severance if you wind up leaving before the 90 days.

That's just it - they offered a non-managerial position and told her that there is an open manager position within the Epic org that she could apply for.

 

[St. Clown]

[Analyst]: I want ABC Report from App X, but this new request format is confusing me. In the “Application” field, do I put App X in the form, or Other. And under Work Requested, what do I put there?

Me: From which application does the data you want for the report originate? That’s the App. What is the data being requested from the app? Thats the work requested.

[Analyst]: Oh. That’s much clearer.


I do not understand some of the hiring around here.

 

[alicestevens]

So my new job begins today. A whole day of remote "welcome to the company" HR stuff, and tomorrow in the office to get equipment and meet the team.

Congratulations on your new job! Wishing you all the best as you embark on this new journey.
I understand the feeling of missing the office—I'm still working from home myself.
However, tools like clerk chat allow me to work from anywhere in the world I choose, giving me the flexibility I appreciate.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Waves VDI (Virtual Desktop Imaging) are being proclaimed as The Future at my company. The problem is, they expect any employee who works from home to provide their own computer (which will not be funded by the employer) to access the VDI for work.

Never mind that my role requires me to use applications that are not compatible with the Waves VDI machines. So I’m one of the luckies who are still using a physical laptop to access Citrix VDI computers.

sxrew that. They can eat my ass. I won't ever provide my own laptop. Ever.

 

[Swansong]

Apparently they're going to get me my own work cell phone. What a difference a change in scenery makes.

 

[aparch]

Apparently they're going to get me my own work cell phone. What a difference a change in scenery makes.

Sometimes the change is something we didn't know we needed. Happened to me two years ago after resigning from the engineering company I worked 10 years for. I've done more in the two years and been better rewarded for it at the new company than a decade at the old place.

 

[MichVandal]

Apparently they're going to get me my own work cell phone. What a difference a change in scenery makes.

That's really something. We got pagers way back in the last century, and I had a cell phone for the last 20 years of my career. Was even one of the early normal engineers that had a smart phone (which I had for almost 10 years).

I would totally refuse to use my personal phone for work stuff. Mostly because any work done on MY phone would be owned by my employer, meaning that I would not have total freedom to use the phone.

 

[MichVandal]

So an observation- we just went on a trip where we got to fly 6 segments- and was kind of surprised how many people worked really hard while flying. Like the only time they didn't work was during takeoff and landing when the laptop had to be stowed.

And some of these flights were outside of normal work times.

Are people so busy that they have to provide free work like that? Heck, I tried really hard to never travel on non work days/times. The only time I ever did was when I had to go to Europe, and flying Sunday night made the most sense.

The Man sure seems to have a tight grip.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

IMO, the proliferation of Wi-Fi access on aircraft in the last 10 years has sort of made it an expectation that if you're traveling for business, you'll at least be available during daylight hours to respond to emails and Slack/Teams pings, even if it's forbidden to take voice & video calls enroute.

I also think there are now a percentage of folks playing the digital nomad game, i.e. jetting out for a weekend jaunt on a Friday morning and staying online/doing some degree of work on the way, or vice versa for a Monday return. If I were still single, I would absolutely be doing a lot of that.

 

[MichVandal]

IMO, the proliferation of Wi-Fi access on aircraft in the last 10 years has sort of made it an expectation that if you're traveling for business, you'll at least be available during daylight hours to respond to emails and Slack/Teams pings, even if it's forbidden to take voice & video calls enroute.

I also think there are now a percentage of folks playing the digital nomad game, i.e. jetting out for a weekend jaunt on a Friday morning and staying online/doing some degree of work on the way, or vice versa for a Monday return. If I were still single, I would absolutely be doing a lot of that.

I get the nomad thing- but the majority of the flights were yesterday. And some of the people appeared to be working on real projects along with responding to emails. Just seems that there is even more pressure to work outside of work.

 

[Scarlet]

Another bit of a reorg in my department today. When I first started in this group many years ago, the Meeting & Events groups were part of our department. We had a reorg about 10 years ago and they broke up our Corporate Communications Dept and that team moved under Procurement (which I thought was idiotic). Anyway, within the last year, they moved back to our department. I've worked with this group a lot, know many of them and I always said that was one group I would want to go to if I ever left my current job. In fact, I thought if my position was ever eliminated, my first call would be to this one person who is a team lead and ask her about being a contractor. Today, she was the only person in that whole group that was let go and her direct reports moved into our Creative Services Group to be regular project managers and not fully work on the meetings and events. One of the women on her team called me this morning - she is so upset. She had her position downgraded. And my belief is that the team they are now on has too many people so it would not surprise me if they let some of them go in a few months. Ugh.

 

[RaceBoarder]

I ask this as someone who has never really worked in a White Collar environment outside of my internship right after graduation:

Would you likely be at risk for discipline if you were to say "No" to working in this manner?

I understand the push to get away from being 24/7, but how feasible is this in reality without consequences from an employer?

I can also understand the "traveling worker". A slightly different time than now, but in 2021 I dated a woman for a couple of months and the reason we couldn't work things out ultimately was that she was only realistically had to "work" 20-25 hours/week, and that was fully remote. And since her job was so lax, she would always want to be doing something "fun". It was totally normal to have her do work while flying out to her condo in South FL or off to visit friends out on the East Coast. She was doing the job, but never had to be anywhere specific to do it, so she took full advantage of that.

 

[MichVandal]

I ask this as someone who has never really worked in a White Collar environment outside of my internship right after graduation:

Would you likely be at risk for discipline if you were to say "No" to working in this manner?

I understand the push to get away from being 24/7, but how feasible is this in reality without consequences from an employer?

I can also understand the "traveling worker". A slightly different time than now, but in 2021 I dated a woman for a couple of months and the reason we couldn't work things out ultimately was that she was only realistically had to "work" 20-25 hours/week, and that was fully remote. And since her job was so lax, she would always want to be doing something "fun". It was totally normal to have her do work while flying out to her condo in South FL or off to visit friends out on the East Coast. She was doing the job, but never had to be anywhere specific to do it, so she took full advantage of that.

I did my best to separate work from life. And while I got flak for some of what I did, none of it was a serious problem- as my reply would more often than not be "how does that make me a more effective worker?"

I'm not saying that I didn't work some really weird hours- more than once I did the midnight shift because my car was being tested between 12am and 7am. And on trips, you had to take advantage of the weather situation you were given- so if a car cooled down in 8 hours, you did a start every 8 hours. But that was not regular at all. And as long as I got my work done, I didn't have a boss that expected that I would work every single weekend and up until 8pm. Maybe I was lucky?

I do think, however, that the constant pressure to be working is the fast track to burnout, let alone really unhappy workers with crappy productivity. I was called exactly once in 30 years while on vacation. And I only answered it because I was mad at a contractor who was trying to get away with bending data in their favor.

5 weeks of actual vacation should be required so that workers can really be able to focus on what they are doing. And I do really think vacation should be required. I was up to 7 when I was done working (paying for 2 of them), in addition to the ~2 weeks that the UAW got us. As far as I can tell, I always got my work done on time, and done really well. (the only time I didn't was when other team members really just wanted me to be a data monkey, which they were fully capable of doing themselves)

 

[dxmnkd316]

If you get your work done, most employers wouldn't bat an eye. Cover core hours, which is usually like 10-2 or something like that.

 

[unofan]

I ask this as someone who has never really worked in a White Collar environment outside of my internship right after graduation:

Would you likely be at risk for discipline if you were to say "No" to working in this manner?

I understand the push to get away from being 24/7, but how feasible is this in reality without consequences from an employer?

I can also understand the "traveling worker". A slightly different time than now, but in 2021 I dated a woman for a couple of months and the reason we couldn't work things out ultimately was that she was only realistically had to "work" 20-25 hours/week, and that was fully remote. And since her job was so lax, she would always want to be doing something "fun". It was totally normal to have her do work while flying out to her condo in South FL or off to visit friends out on the East Coast. She was doing the job, but never had to be anywhere specific to do it, so she took full advantage of that.

It varies. When I was a state employee I only took work home when absolutely necessary - prep for a hearing coming up, finishing an order needing to be issued by a statutory deadline, etc. Otherwise I was out the door at 4:30 and wouldn't do work until 8 am the next workday.

Now that I'm with a firm, I still try to leave work at the office as much as possible but since my pay is at least partially linked to my billable hours, I end up doing some work at home just to make sure I stay close to hitting the target for the month/quarter. My firm is good to the extent it's not BigLaw hours requirements, but it's still always in the back of your head trying to hit 6 billable hours each workday, or more if you need to make some up. And some clients are asses and make unreasonable deadlines that can only be met by working ridiculous hours.

So I will be doing some work from my parents this weekend since I've slacked off during the week. Not a ton, but more than I'd do if I was still a state employee with paid vacation (which would be none). And it's my own fault, had I done more work yesterday and today, I wouldn't have to do more this weekend.

 

[MissThundercat]

Today alone:

Been slapped 4 times.
Had a stuffed animal bounced off my head.
Been screamed at because they want thing it's not time for NOW.
Had a door opened on my arm.

And it's all: meh. I'm used to it by now.

 

[St. Clown]

I ask this as someone who has never really worked in a White Collar environment outside of my internship right after graduation:

Would you likely be at risk for discipline if you were to say "No" to working in this manner?

I understand the push to get away from being 24/7, but how feasible is this in reality without consequences from an employer?

I can also understand the "traveling worker". A slightly different time than now, but in 2021 I dated a woman for a couple of months and the reason we couldn't work things out ultimately was that she was only realistically had to "work" 20-25 hours/week, and that was fully remote. And since her job was so lax, she would always want to be doing something "fun". It was totally normal to have her do work while flying out to her condo in South FL or off to visit friends out on the East Coast. She was doing the job, but never had to be anywhere specific to do it, so she took full advantage of that.

My employer has a very significant presence in California. Another company there was sued for violation of some employment law or another some 18 years ago, and that changed how my company classified hourly vs. salary employees. Essentially, if you’re a manager or in an assistant manager-like role, you’re salaried. I’m not in that sort of role, so I work my 40 most weeks and that’s it. I’ll receive a quick text every so often that’ll require 5 minutes, and I’ll help then, but it is rare. Some weekends are surrendered for big installs or BCP failover/failback testing events, and I’m paid OT for them. Those happen 2-3 times each year.

 

[MissThundercat]

My agency is also having me start with CLS (community living support) work next week because they need the help. And there are families ready to begin ASAP.

Apparently, my career chip has been implanted, and my career is working with individuals intellectual and developmental disabilities, Herding Cats division.

 

[burd]

It varies. When I was a state employee I only took work home when absolutely necessary - prep for a hearing coming up, finishing an order needing to be issued by a statutory deadline, etc. Otherwise I was out the door at 4:30 and wouldn't do work until 8 am the next workday.

Now that I'm with a firm, I still try to leave work at the office as much as possible but since my pay is at least partially linked to my billable hours, I end up doing some work at home just to make sure I stay close to hitting the target for the month/quarter. My firm is good to the extent it's not BigLaw hours requirements, but it's still always in the back of your head trying to hit 6 billable hours each workday, or more if you need to make some up. And some clients are asses and make unreasonable deadlines that can only be met by working ridiculous hours.

So I will be doing some work from my parents this weekend since I've slacked off during the week. Not a ton, but more than I'd do if I was still a state employee with paid vacation (which would be none). And it's my own fault, had I done more work yesterday and today, I wouldn't have to do more this weekend.

The thing I found difficult working a smaller firm doing mostly litigation was vacations. A solid week was very difficult, before, during, and after. Being eventually able to work remotely helps, but it also ups the ante and the client's expectations (and opponents' mischief). But I had three kids I made a high priority, and the people who hired me understood that. BigLaw was definitely not for me, and I think being and older law grad helped me understand that. Still, it remains true that the Law is a jealous mistress.

 

[Slap Shot]

I have to fire a senior manager for sexual harassment. Well technically HR will be delivering the message but I was the one that started the investigation process.

Turns out the bastard (married with 2 kids) had had 2 previous relationships with employees and now was in the middle of a 3rd.

I don't know if I'm more upset with myself for not figuring it out earlier or with him for being such a creepy dumbass.