More work, same pay

I think a lot of companies are playing the “bad economy” card. Who knows if they really ARE hurting? I think some of them just hop on the band wagon so they can make cutbacks and treat employees like dirt and claim it’s due to the recession.

In the long run, they’re just hurting themselves. We got into this recession because of greedy people. Being more greedy isn’t going to make it any better…

To Staying grateful

When does it change from being grateful to being taken advantage?

I work at a Fortune 500 company. Each year we have layoffs so more work is given to each of us; no pay increase. This additional work adds 5-10 hours per week. Last year I averaged 60-70 per week and am working more this year. When you do get a raise, 3% would be on the high side.

CEO said there is a potential for more layoffs. Yeah, more work for no more money. We’re also in the process of outsourcing so those that remain (if any), will have even more work for no more money.

At this point, I am completely frustrated and am contemplating leaving the organization. Having to “donate” over 2,000 hours to the company just to hopefully keep your job is BS. I have plenty of vacation time but cannot take it so I lose it.

I’ll grin and bear it through this tough time but I will jump ship as soon as I can.

I work for a supplier to the auto industry, chrome plating. I am a supervisor of the weekend crew where I work. On the weekend we do all the maintenance and preparation for new week of production. Before decline in economy we had 11 people on weekends now we are down 3 with the same workload as we did with 11. And none of us has received a raise. In fact this is second year I have not received a raise due to economy. Plant wide last year we employed 350 employees by the end of this month we will be down to under 50, with plans of closing the plant in next couple months unless a major change in auto industry and economy.

Boy, Americans really are spoiled!

I can see where everyone is coming from. The long hours, the extra duties and all the extra work.

I have friends who would love to have any one of your jobs right now. These guys have families that they need to feed and bills to pay.

It’s time for us to be grateful for what we have. If you don’t like the conditions of your job….THEN QUIT!

It’s the American way to complain about what we don’t have and forget about how much we do have.

I was out of a job last year at the same time and am very grateful to be working and feeding my family now.

Smile, we live in the best country in the world.

Welcome to the new world order. Companies do not see employees as an asset but an expense, easily replaceable. This will not change for sometime.

I work for an airline.We had massive layoffs and huge paycuts (approx 20%) over 6 years ago.So far my annual “raises” have given me back about 5% of the original paycut.Inflation and cost of living passed me by a long time ago,before the rest of the country was talking recession.All the while management has given themselves huge bonuses (hundreds of millions of dollars worth)every year,patting themselves on the back with the delusion that they have done a great job.My point is that I am thankful that I still have a job,BUT I will NOT do the work of two or three people,I will NOT let the greedy execs raise the stress level of my life.I still turn out a quality product for my employer,with one exception,I stopped caring if the aircraft leaves on time or if it is late.

After moving to NC from the Northeast last year to take on a full-time position in Media Arts at $35,000, my pay has now been reduced to minimum wage ($7/hr) due to “budget cuts.” In my contract, it specifically says that pay can change at any time due to a lack of revenue. I am now doing the job of 3 people after February layoffs took out 1/3 of our staff. All the while our “budget cuts” were happening, my company has thrown a gala event for clients, sent my bosses to NYC, Miami, and Cancun for “work trips.”

To Rebecca, Tucson AZ: June 4, 2009 3:52 pm -

Well Done! I’m glad to see someone is managing to stand up to this and win.

Your husband’s position may be more easy to deal with though in that he’s a 1 man team as you say, so there’s no benchmark. If you work in a position and there’s 20 other guys in a similar position, you will get axed as soon as you work one minute less then the others. Unless all 20 guys unite and go on strike together saying: we won’t take this anymore. And maybe that’s what the country needs at this point, i.e. people uniting company-wide, and simply going home at 5pm, as they’re legally entitled to.

I have seen the increse in my own work load requirements. But I am going to say this because it needs to be said. there is no Law that says you MUST work. Basically there is not a court in the land that is going to convict you for not having a job.

Let me explain. Most of the Corporate Brass knows that they can get a program out of people by a little benign intimidation. Using phrases like, “We are all having to make sacrifices in these hard times. Everyone in this department needs to pull together as a TEAM and we will get through this.” In other words, you better tote the line, or I’ll find someone who will.

Yeah, well buster what happens when all of your workers decide to stage a “Sick Out” or “Walk Out”? Who gets the work done then? Is a company going to Terminate 500 workers who organize and perform this action at the same time? Nope!

I work for a Federal Security Contractor. Last year we did exactly that. Everyone was fed up with working 12 hour shifts, putting their families on the back burner, having their vacations cut short or cancelled, and being under the constant threat of “Disciplinary Actions”.

Three short days of supervisors and managers filling posts, and the company decided that some concessions needed to be made. You don’t need a Labor Union to get what you want, just the guts and determination to make a point that all of you have had enough. Recession or not, getting the products to the customers is not your problem, its the problem of the company. And… when the operations part of that production comes to a complete stop, the company can do very little to get it moving again. In particular when a significant majority of the workers band together and commit to force an improvement.

Getting Laid off was the best thing that could of happened. I had three months severence and just partied and relaxed. I applied to two jobs and got the second job I applied to. I didn’t do anywork to find a job. Now I’m working at a company that is growing and I had a three month paid vacation thanks to my severence pay. Damn life is good.

My husband got a notice in his last paycheck that all raises would be held off until the economy recovered including cost of living increases. They are running on such a short staff that he is basically on call everyday and can and will be called in to work at a moments notice. If is isn’t at the office, he is on the phone with them. We have no family life anymore. We can not make plans. He can’t say anything because of fear he will be labeled not a “team player”. What they don’t understand is that many of the employees have already made the decision to leave as soon as they are able. So, in the end they will lose their best employees because they abused them.

Well I have worked in Manufacturing for nearly 30 years. Our plant had 4000 employees when I started. Today we have 187 people left, 72 of them are on the executive team. We are expected to come to work an hour early, work through lunch and stay two hours late everyday. In fact in the past the HR executives walked around at 7PM to see who was still at their desks, those who had left for the day were let go the next day. Here in upstate NY there are no jobs that will maintain a middleclass life other than the few we hold onto tightly. I have not had a raise since 2003, I have been burned out for a decade, I have earned five weeks of vacation, but history tells you if you take your vacation you will return to a pink slip. You want to go to a doctors appointment, dentist, see your child in a school activity you do so at the risk of your job.

I work in a research organization. The best people in my organization are leaving. Research can’t be done unless there is free energy available, and after several recent rounds of layoffs, there is no longer any free energy. When the stars leave, the burden falls on less capable people, which just leads to burn out.

BURNED OUT & FEED UP

No Pay raises this year. Overworked (working 12 hour days past 6 months). Treated like crap by batty bosses who can give no direction. It has lead to high blood pressure and stress.

I have expanded responsiblities and keeping my resume updated so when the hiring starts… I have to leave.

My husband works as a software engineer. His company has done a couple rounds of layoffs during the past couple of years, and he wound up working 60-70 hours a week routinely, and 80 hours a week some weeks. He’s also spent large chunks of time working during what was supposed to be vacation time, and it’s started to affect his health in a major way.His company began doing work furloughs a couple months ago, so now he has one day off unpaid every other week. I did the math and finally put my foot down, telling him that he was not going to work 120 to 140 hours every two weeks for 72 hours of pay. He acknowledged that he doesn’t love his job so much that he would be willing to volunteer for it for 25-35 hours a week.He’s in a position where he’s the last employee they have who knows the work he does, so if he is laid off, they will be in a world of hurt. So, he and I worked out a schedule where he’s now down to 50 hours per week. Projects are starting to get backed up and deadlines are starting to be missed, and guess what? Suddenly they’re talking about bringing someone else onto his team (although when you’re a team of one, can you really call it a team?) to help.Companies will take as much as you’re willing to give, and if that’s 80 hours a week, they’re just going to happily encourage it and not tell you to cut back on your hours. It’s just going to get worse if employees don’t put their foot down.

Besides having to take on more work, we are having to take more and more unpaid days off, no raises, and constantly threatened that if we DON’T do these things our jobs are in jeopardy. This month, our City Council is set to vote on non-union workers taking up to 17 unpaid days.

I work as a Web Producer for a publishing company. Over the past 6mo they’ve laid off 50% of our staff, all the while the company pitched to investors and industry publications that the web is the only “growth sector” left.

I work as a Web Producer for a publishing company. Over the past 6mo they’ve laid off 50% of our staff, all the while the company pitched to investors and industry publications that the web is the only “growth sector” left.

The sad part is they’re tried to hire back many of the producers as freelancers for a substantially lower and insulting rate. Needless to say, most declined for better rates elsewhere or found jobs almost immediately.

So, now we’re stuck with a limited staff, each one doing 2-3 times as much work… many of which we’re not qualified or experienced in.

I used to pull all-nighters, work late, and on the weekends… but, what’s the point. We laid off highly trained, devoted people to balance a piece of paper for our investors. They literally picked names out of a hat, regardless of their position, skills, or loyalty.

Why kill myself when the same thing will probably happen to me?

Now, it’s just a Job… I punch in, Punch out, then work on building a freelance career in my spare time.

Been laid off twice since July 2008 alone. Been looking and looking, even been on CNN. The phone dosent ring. My wife did find a job, but it dosent pay all the bills. Im ready to get back to work if only someone would give me the chance.

If this isn’t slavery, why can’t we “opt out” of this system and pay for the transition by reducing overseas expenditures?

In IT and we have suffered significant layoffs. IT is a brutal field to be in, maybe 10 years ago someone would ask what field you were in and you said IT, they would have said you were making good money. That is not the case anymore, thousand upon thousands of jobs have be outsourced in the IT field to many other countries, with the staff left behind that wasnt layed off, our productivity has had to increase anywhere from 100% to 400% more yet at the same time our pay increases we are lucky to get maybe a 3% or 3% raise per year. At some point the comes a break even point where all the less productive folks are riffed and what you are left with is the top talent, Kentucky thoroughbreds, then it really becomes disappointing to hear top talent getting riffed. Our counterparts that are in other cultures, it seems we bend over backwards to accomodate them but any American born IT worker will tell you, if you can get them alone and tell the truth, will tell you, that although you got cheaper labor, they dont produce on the order and magnitude of what American workers in IT are faced with production wise. To make matters even worse, the technology continues to change quicker and quicker where the sheer knowledge base that you have to stay up on makes it a stiff challenge to stay on top of things. For salaried workers that now have to put in an average work week of 60 hours, work through the weekends and evenings on top of that. Its a shame that we have a tough time even scheduling vacation, do you know what it is like to work a whole year and get to the end only to find out, your 4 weeks of vacation that you didnt get to take, sorry its use it or lose it, but hey “you are lucky you have a job so pick up more work because you are lucky you have a job”. Its brutal these days to be in IT.

My hours have been reduced to 30 a week since the beginning of the year.

All of the shop helpers were laid off, so I have to do all their work myself.

I haven’t had a raise in 3 years, and the company is on the brink of going out of business. Orders are down over 70% for the year and they cant afford the building at this rate.

I’m a tool&die maker, and I’m burned out.