How common are employment policies as explicit as the following:
Let’s leave aside the contradiction of “voluntary mandatory shift coverage” for the moment. Doesn’t this look like a form of slavery?
In some places and times, medieval serfs were attached to the lands they farmed. They were forbidden to leave for a better deal. The land baron asserted ownership over them as well as over their homes and produce. How different is it to be shackled to one’s job via a telephone?
It has been said, and truly, that men were freer when their phones were attached to the wall.
I suppose that were a prospective employee to be informed up front of the “on call 24/7” requirements of the position he’d been offered, it would be a legally acceptable sort of deal for an employer to offer. But for the boss to spring it on him after he’d taken the offer would be a form of fraud. Yet that’s been happening with increasing frequency to persons in certain occupations – and the higher the stress associated with the occupation, the more likely it is.
Other, similar conditions have been sprung on new employees. I worked briefly for a firm whose VP believed he had first call on every one of his subordinates’ waking hours. I worked for another who had no compunctions about demanding six days per week, ten hours per day from his people “in emergencies.” And nearly all supervisors feel perfectly justified about calling their people during off-shift hours, should the demands of the moment warrant it.
There are occupations where a demand for that kind of round-the-clock responsiveness can be justified. Some positions in the police come to mind; so do command-level positions in the military. But most white-collar occupations “should” be more relaxed. How did we reach the current state of affairs, in which every salaried employee is tethered to his job by his cell phone?
It doesn’t seem like an advance to me.
“Gentlemen, progress has never been a bargain. You’ve got to pay for it. Sometimes I think there’s a man behind a counter who says, ‘All right, you can have a telephone, but you’ll have to give up privacy, the charm of distance.’” – Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Inherit the Wind
I remember thinking that Star Trek “communicators” would be a marvel to possess. To be in touch with family and friends at all times! Never unable to summon aid in an emergency! Yet they were a pale shadow of today’s “smart” cell phone.
The cell phone is progress of a sort. Being able to contact others no matter where you – or they – are is certainly handy now and then. Add the multifarious features of the smart phone, and wonder of wonders! Instant access to all the information and entertainment in the world rests in one’s hand. But the loss of privacy is a serious counterweight to those things. The inability to say to another that “I have no access to that right now” puts all one’s knowledge and expertise at the disposal of the caller.
Employers have been ruthless about exploiting that bit of progress. The abuses are most common in “employment at will” states, where an explicit labor contract is not required and the terms of one’s employment are nebulous. Salaried workers are deemed available, de facto, at every instant of their lives. Differences of opinion about that are usually resolved in the boss’s favor.
And there is absolutely nothing to be done about it.
3 comments:
As a database administrator that was my life At least 4 weekends a year I woud work 24 hrs a day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If there were problems I would have to stay awake Monday as well. Obviously I did sleep, usually in my chair at my desk, sleep for an hour maybe two and then go check on the programs I was running. This relates to the H1B controversy too. Because of my position I was paid "salary" and if I worked overtie my pay did not change. The American programmers were paid hourly and got a very handsome overtime pay. The H1B workers were also technically paid hourly BUT they had an "Indian" boss that forced them to work 80+ hours a week every week. and THAT is the single reason that the company hired them. NOT as some would tell you because they were more capable but simply that they could work them like dogs at no cost. The one redeeming thing about the H1B workers is I would sometimes go to lunch with them and because of that I got to sample and enjoy a lot of Indian food.
I ran construction projects for an older man. Great guy, good boss. Work was always out of town.
He liked to feel that he was involved.
Once told me, speaking about others before me, after I told him if he does not hear from me, things are going good......
George, he call me every hour.
Mike, he call me once a day.
I be happy if you call me once a week!
There are tens of millions of foreigners living in the U.S. Many take U.S. jobs while we have 42 million Americans on welfare. I would like to see that change in a simple dramatic way. Pass a law that non-citizens can only be in the U.S. for 6 months per year. They must get an entry Visa where their background is actually checked out. They cannot work and they cannot receive any welfare or government benefits. No exceptions. And change welfare into workfare where every welfare recipient must work 40 hours a week to be eligible for benefits and the amount of benefits received would be reduced by the amount of wages earned. End H1B and the many similar programs in 1 year.
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