K&R

The major problem was the administration, which destroyed moral by disparaging the workers, lying about re-organization plans, increasingly heavy-handed supervision of a group of people who thought they were professionals and self-directed.

The rank and file HR people were great. The administration was not.

came from outside the corporation.

Instead of being those familiar with the business of the corporation, were accountants or had other backoffice experience with a talent for cost savings (read downsizing).

Instead of a focus 10-year plans, became focused on quarterly results.

and discovered the R&D was an easy place to start with cost savings.

Yep - our downfall began at that time. And who led the charge . . . Jack Welch of GE . . . the darling of the corporate world.

in the early 80's, I had offers of employment from TWA and AT&T. After a lot of soul-searching, I chose the latter. I thank my lucky stars for that decision.

Like a lump of coal to be shoveled into the firery furnace of profit smelting.

Depending on the industry (and employer), many employees were never 'loyal partners and creative beings in a productive enterprise'.

Factory workers in the 50's to the 70's? Replaceable cogs. Get hurt on the job? If you were lucky you had a union that helped a little. Otherwise? Tough break, Charlie. NEXT?

Service industry jobs in the same timeframe? Even worse. Construction? Heavy industry? Equipment Operator?

Yeah, you were replaceable at a moment's notice.

Rent "Jobs" and see how he treated the people who started with him at Apple's beginnings. Woz was kept because he was needed.

Regarding the others, he fucked over the drones.

the message I give my kids today is that they owe their employers nothing. If a better opportunity comes along, take it. Believe me, if the company wants to eliminate your job, your as will be out on the street before noon.

....ALL Human Resources departments.

A few isolated incidents or isolated interviews doesn't define "Human Resources".

not sure if I have here, but I think the change from "Personnel" to "Human Resources" has a sublimal message. What do you do with resources? You exploit them.

If you find yourself pushed out of your company at 50 years old, it is next to impossible to find another decent-paying full-time job. The film "Company Men" shows this, although with a make-believe happy ending straight out of fairy land.

Back in the real world, if you have any physical limitations, like a bad back or diabetes, that rules out being able to succeed over the long run in nursing or senior home-health care, which are about your only 2 options as a 50+ year old. Or you can go back to school for 4+ years to become a Physician's Assistant, if you can get accepted to a program which has stiff competition with all the 25 year olds who can't find a job.

Hello, Retail or Fast Food, if you can stand the looks of pity from your young co-workers and your customers.

...and in most states State law.

Workers aged 40 and above are considered a "protected class".

Without clear documentation, many of those cases can be disputed and complaints can be filed with the state's Human Rights Commission and in parallel the EEOC.

snip

....is your advocate. In my state one can't even file a lawsuit until the case works its way through the state administrative process.

And there are attorneys out there that work on a contingency, so although their ultimate fee is higher there is no expense unless and until the case is won. Just don't work with one of the television shysters!

The important thing is to be aware of something going on, like the "suddenly stupid" situation. On the other hand, employers aren't as sophisticated as one might think. I was dismissed (laid off) at 45, filed an EEOC complaint and was eventually returned to work more than a year later with essentially full back pay and benefits (can't get into the excruciating details, but it was age and gender related, and I'm a MAN!)

Age discrimination cases aren't as difficult to prove as one might think, especially for employees who have been in good standing up until shortly before the dismissal. Building cases against an employee isn't as easy as it looks, and anyone with the desire to file a complaint usually is in a good position to prevail. Unfortunately (or fortunately for them) employers rely on employees' reticence to file a legal action.

In my case I was told I wouldn't get severance pay if I didn't sign an agreement to not file a complaint. I refused and still got full severance in accordance with their policy.

....that after a couple of years the division I worked for was sold, and then the SAME guy wound up trying to lay me off again, and he succeeded. The next day we filed a second complaint and it got to the lawsuit stage and a settlement.

These were two Fortune 500 companies with hundreds of lawyers each. It's amazing how nonchalant they can be about skirting the law, mostly out of confidence that their victims are either too unaware of the law or too scared to buck a major corporation.

If more people fought back these situations wouldn't be as common.

if the departments that enforce them are budget choked. Without blatant, totally obvious proof, the American worker has very little protection, and it doesn't seem like either party gives a flip.

Perhaps the individuals doing the job might care - but you have to find them first.

My husband just retired from a major corporation. Over the last several years he's had needs to contact the HR person for his region. HAH! There is no "HR Department" - there is an individual. There is no one number for that HR person - it is their personal cell phone and email. Since the position of HR for the region seems to have as high a turn over as most of the underpaid positions in this corporation, often no one local has a clue who the individual is. Although the information on how to contact HR is supposed to be posted in each office, it was NEVER up to date.

So simple questions concerning temporary disability were difficult to resolve because no one, not even my husband's boss could reach the HR person. We still have issues about his retirement but have not been able to reach or get a response from the HR person - for the last three weeks.

Since the problem contacting HR has been consistent over YEARS this is not just someone overlooking the updates. This is a pattern which I suspect could be deliberate.

Last edited Sat Feb 21, 2015, 01:52 PM - Edit history (1)

In post-war Japan, for example, I think employees were treated more like family and could often expect to be with the same company their entire working life. That has probably changed some since the 80s with the globalization of U.S.-style predatory corporatism.

Germany still has codetermination which seems to create more of a partnership between management and labor in which everyone's interests are heard and matter and power is shared among stakeholders rather than just shareholders. As it should be.

Management/labor antagonisms in the U.S. have had dire consequences for millions if not billions. I'd bet a lot of U.S. managers couldn't wait to send their jobs offshore where hordes of workers are desperately poor, powerless, easily manipulated, and glad to work for beans rather than go hungry. "We'll teach those damn American unions a lesson they won't soon forget, by God!" It didn't have to be this way.

"We've never had a better opportunity to source in joint ventures around the globe, to be more competitive. Ideally, you'd have every plant you own on a barge to move with currencies and changes in the economy." Jack Welch, 1998