Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Vector]

.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

X wasn't uncreative exactly, Generation X got its name for being an x-factor, as it bucked statistical trends that came before it. Y progressed this change in an even greater magnitude. It's early to say if Z will as well.

[Reelya]

I go by the 20 year generations system, because it's the only workable system which doesn't require exploding out the number of "generations" immensely.

Boomers get 20 years, 45-65, Gen X gets 20 years 65-85, Y gets 20 years 85-2005, and Z is kids born since 2005.

[SalmonGod]

I don't know why, but I get the vibe that everyone's doing a little bit better recently.

I may join in on that vibe, if only a little bit, if one of these other jobs I've applied for gets back to me with some good news in the near future.  Until then, I'm sporting a shitload of anxiety over everything at work crashing and burning because of stupid and hateful management strategies, which seem to me like one of the dominant themes of our generation.  Everyone I know hates work, because their bosses seem to be so distrustful and spiteful towards workers that they would be sabotaging operations over it, if workers didn't frequently insubordinate just to keep society operating.

[Truean]

I dunno. Makes me sad.

[Reelya]

Well if they're seriously worried you'll steal corporate secrets, you should be in a 6-figure salary job anyway and dealing with sensitive information.

Truean, what you wrote makes me think of the sandwich shop non-compete agreements which prevent you steal corporate sandwich-making secrets and taking them to e.g. Subways, or from opening your own diner.

[penguinofhonor]

.

[Truean]

Maybe if you're selling a business or something. I dunno. It's complex.

[Helgoland]

-snip-

To be fair, I didn't click that link, but I might have a story that's of interest:

My one sister's SO works at a wheel manufacturing factory in some kind of fairly-technical-but-fairly-important-but-not-really-management position. Great guy, he is, and an even better handyman. Fixed my parents' central heating after three different contractors had failed at the task.
Anyway, his company once tried expanding to the US by building a new factory there. Of course they had to buy some parts locally (which weren't cutting edge in any sort of way, and neither were the American contractors, but that's another story and it might be a regional thing), but more importantly, they had to hire local workers.
And that was a problem.
A fucking huge problem, actually. In Europe, you have a kind of loyalty to your company: When they hire you (at least if you're a somewhat skilled worker), you expect to work there for a couple of years and not be fired for some bullshit reason, and on the other hand the company expects you to not run off for $.10 an hour more at some other company.
Accordding to him, though, that's exactly what happened there: They couldn't find experienced workers for their plant, so they started training the guys they hired. And as soon as they'd gotten a little bit of training, as soon as the company had made an investment in them, they ran off to other companies. The plant got into all sorts of troubles, and it took them more than half a decade to adopt to the very, very different employment culture oín the US.

So I wouldn't really blame those guys if they required a signature on a non-compete agreement (I don't know if they did). These things have their place, at least in some niches.

[Truean]

If they want employee loyalty, they could give job security and maybe even pay a lil better? Especially the job security seems like a two way street.

[Helgoland]

$.10 might be an exaggeration, but the point remains: Their company paid for their training, and some other benefit reaped the benefits. Matching the wage increase won't do anything, since the other company already has a competetive edge by not having paid for that training.

Sure, these contracts need to be regulated - tightly regulated - but what should 'certain circumstances' be, if not this? You're essentially condemning companies to training employees for free, at least in this instance.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Admittedly, it is a pretty dick move to run off near as soon as training is completed.

[Truean]

Sandwich making... Sandwich making? Do you realize how that sounds? Bread or bun and things inside it. That's a "company secret" or "trade secret?" Because they've never made a sandwich before? Do you realize how that sounds?

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

I was only using the quote to display whom I was talking to, as I am now in case of ninja's.  Removed everything else, including the link, from it.

And I was referring to the company the Helgoland spoke about, not Jimmy John's.  They wouldn't have brought the contracts in if the employees weren't immediately leaving after being trained.  Isn't that a bit more reasonable?

[Helgoland]

Fuck, didn't remember the no quoting thing. Not entirely sober right now... Fixed it, anyway.

Training expense is minimal? Maybe in the jobs you're thinking of, but certainly not in general. And 'unable to work for two years' is not true either: Those were people they'd've kept on for at the very least that timespan, and almost certainly longer (surely that, or some other provision strengthening the workers' position, could be included in those contracts, if deemed necessary). I'll throw the 'reflexevely quoting' right back at you: I never said you didn't lay out what 'certain circumstances' should include, I just claimed your set of circumstances wasn't wide enough.

And in case you didn't notice: I agree with you on the sandwich thing. Regulation is necessary (I'm European, this sentence is practically part of my gospel ) But making cars (and most car parts, really) is a wee bit more complicated than throwing together a couple vegetables and calling it a sandwich. The way the economy works has changed, and the laws and customs regarding contracts need to change with it. Demanding contract law should stay the way it was in the fifties because those were the golden times economically is, uh, missing the adjective here. Maybe I'll put it when sober

Ninja: I don't know if they even used such contracts, and I'm fairly fuzzy on the details - all I'm saying is that it seemed like an instance where using such contracts would be justified.