this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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Work Reform

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Or... Here's a thought. Kids DO want to work, they just want their time valued; to be respected and have a liveable wage.

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[–] Reygle 39 points 1 year ago

Yeah, young people would be great workers if they hadn't already learned that if they're treated like shit they can just walk away, which they're glad to do, immediately- if they're not paid/treated fairly. Rightly so.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago

Alternate headline: Businesses fail to pay fair wages; young workers avoid

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Spent four years in college, went $60k in debt for it, and I still have to take fucking personality tests as part of the interview process for the one fucking interview I get for every 50+ jobs I apply to. Not to mention that entry level jobs are basically nonexistant and professional workplaces only care to get employees that already have experience from God knows where. So that leaves us starting out in our careers with the strategy of "fake it till you make it", which creates further scrutiny during the interview processes. But no, apparently the problem is that people are too lazy. Fuck everything about the hiring process these days.

[–] R51 11 points 1 year ago

Friends would get mad at me for how much I'd lie in interviews. Now, they see why I did. Interview questions like "why u wanna work here" or "where u see yourself in the next x years" dumbass shut up it's a warehouse you pay me to pick things up and put them down. Now I work in places that pay more because I specialized in some areas but the idea is the same. Interviewers don't even care if you do your job, they just care that everything is running smooth and their boss is happy by whatever metric they use to judge "smooth". Learning that distinction saved me a lot of headache.

[–] MasterBlaster 8 points 1 year ago

I've been a software engineer for 30 years. The only thing that's changed in this process is they no longer have to even have humans involved in the hiring process until after 98% of the applicants have been shit-canned.

It's up to us to figure out their criteria, of course, and they will always lowball the pay.

[–] Guy_Fieris_Hair 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you refuse to hire an old guy, that is a lawsuit, and socially unacceptable to say or do. But this is OK? Even if I said I didn't want to hire the 65 year old that is changing careers and learning a new field because I don't want to spend time training them when they are on the cusp of retirement, that's a lawsuit and socially unacceptable. But this is ok?

[–] MasterBlaster 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And how is anybody going to prove it was age discrimination?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Age discrimination against young people is legal. Youths are not a protected class. The only protected class based on age is people 40 and over, not young people, unless your state has different rules or you're outside of Freedomland where actual worker protections exist.

[–] cmrn 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When your industry is “having trouble finding the right staff” you might want to rethink where the finger is pointing… spoiler it’s not the staff

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Introspection is a tough nut for many to swallow.

[–] seeCseas 9 points 1 year ago

businesses: "we had to raise our prices because of supply and demand, it's just natural economics"

also businesses: "why can't we get good workers at this shitty wage, we've tried everything!"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

My dad used to work in manufacturing. He had a pension. He got yearly raises. He was able to switch positions to make more money and they paid for his training to be able to do that. Hell my grandma used to work at FUCKING KMART with full benefits including a pension!

Now people are paid fuckall, get fuckall for retirement, get maybe a 2% raise every few years, and companies want to invest $0 into keeping and training them. No shit no one is loyal and no one wants to deal with that shit. Go back to what you were doing before if that's how you want employees to act again.

For some reason my comment keeps showing up as a reply to this comment instead of a reply to the entire thread so let's just go with that lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

In the US a lot of manufacturers keep as many people as they can as temp workers and just cycle them in and out often enough to avoid having to pay benefits or offer anything other than substandard wages.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Your comment look just fine for me, in the right place.

As for your point, I guess people prefer to get cash and spend it themselves, rather than to trust companies to invest and spend it in their name. If people were to prefer smaller salaries but larger benefits, then situation would be different. One thing is still important though - medical insurance. Getting insurance yourself, especially before Obamacare was much more expensive than for business to buy it for you.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

They were getting enough money to afford a house, kids, etc on a single salary AND a pensio

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

They used to get cash and a pension. It wasn't an either-or thing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Are you that stupid or being purposefully obtuse?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I'm as reliable as you pay me to be. Give me a 3-year contract with guaranteed raises and see what happens.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm solidly middle aged, and I don't want to work either. But I don't want to be homeless either, so I'm going to get as much money as I can, for as little labor as possible. That's capitalism baby.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Capitalism and handouts for the rich, feudalism for the poor - that's the dream of our elites.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Even if the obvious situation wasn't just "companies treat us terribly so we don't care about them," why would anyone want to work? Am I supposed to desire wasting a third of my life doing labor? Fuck no, I support automation and UBI.

It's just another dumb boomer insult trying to step on the nerves of people who didn't grow up huffing leaded gasoline.