IT Workers To Get Fewer Perks, No Free Coffee 620
dasButcher writes "While the economy is showing signs of recovery and tech stocks posted double- and triple-digit gains in 2009, IT workers are facing a less hospitable workplace in the coming year. Many employers say they're going to continue trimming budgets, particularly in human resources. Rather than giving up head count, they're planning to trim 401k contributions, eliminate bonuses, curtail travel and, dare we say, shut off the free coffee (it wasn't that good anyway)."
the school district model (Score:2)
institution purchases even MORE gear because buying is from last years budget.
institution reduces IT staff because salaries are from this years budget.
no coffee? just be happy there even IS an IT position.
Re:the school district model (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, we've gotta be more concerned about feeding that CEO machine...
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not sure why I would complain about no free coffee...
My work never supplied that :-(
Re:the school district model (Score:5, Insightful)
IMHO, getting rid of free coffee is a huge mistake. In the scheme of things it's a tiny expense and you're going to lose far more in terms of people bickering about the coffee fund, people running out "on break" to buy coffee, and the basic office environment.
Re:the school district model (Score:5, Interesting)
Now if we can just get that one engineer whose job it saved to get everybody coffee . . .
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Re:the school district model (Score:5, Insightful)
My guess though is that if you're spending $80k per year on coffee, then it's for a hell of a lot of people, and that $80k expense (and a single job) IS tiny on that scale. If an $80k expenditure costs a job but improves morale of a few thousand employees enough to make up for it in productivity gains, then it's the right thing to do.
Re:the school district model (Score:4, Interesting)
I tend to agree. When the economy goes south, and you either stop giving raises, or start giving paycuts, sometimes the best way to keep employees happy is with relatively minor perks like these. I worked for a company where there was a hiring and raise freeze during a merger. No one was happy. They expaned the free coffee into free hot cocoa as well. It was a minor thing, but the gesture seemed to make people happy.
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Re:the school district model (Score:4, Insightful)
I found a quick quote that claimed "the general rule of thumb for office coffee service pricing is $60 to $120 per employee per year." So he's talking about a business with at least 667 employees and probably close to 1000.
So, if the average employee is 0.1% more productive with free coffee getting rid of the free coffee was a bad business decision and the Cxx (COO, CFO, whatever) who made that decision should be beaten to death with his own intestines or fired.
Re: the school district model (Score:4, Interesting)
My office has free coffee -- a dozen kinds of Keurig pods -- and a free soda fountain. We all got pretty miffed when they down-sized the free cups, but, meh.
It's about $25-50/week not spent at the overpriced retail joints. Figure 200 employees at ten minutes, once a day to run downstairs, that's 166 hours of lost productivity -- or somewhere between $5-10K PER WEEK. To the employees, that's about $250K of collective benefit. To the employer, it's about double that in productivity not lost to everyone schlepping downstairs for coffee and soda.
On the other hand, my mother's office eliminated their coffee service, one kind, giant urn of Yuban, claiming it was an unnecessary expense. That manager got a bonus for reducing overhead...
Re:the school district model (Score:5, Funny)
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Wow, what timing. This morning when our company announced that it was canceling the coffee service to save money, I immediately asked what that savings would be. $200 a month was the answer, for our location which employs roughly 130 people. I was floored. If our financial situation is that serious, maybe I need to start looking for another job?
- Long time lurker, first time commenter.
Re:the school district model (Score:5, Funny)
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I was part of a recent double merger (where two companies split a division off their parent companies to form a third "independent" company).
They flew damn near *all* the managers from one company over to see the other execs for a face to face.
One company in the US the other in Europe...
The airfare alone could have paid my wages, healthcare, perks, etc. for two full years. The per-diam and hotel costs could have paid an additional year and change of the same.
Forgive me for being a little bitter that they l
Re:the school district model (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:the school district model (Score:4, Funny)
Nope, not a burger joint within two miles of here even if they did.
Do you get your bridge for free, perchance? Does it have a good goat throughput?
No worries about the coffee: (Score:5, Funny)
You can always fit a small refrigerator inside of a std. rack (lay a couple of 2x4's across the bottom to hold it up, and make sure the rack doors are on it, front and back). Put your own coffee maker on top of it, and you're set. Tape a few Dell server front panels to the inside of the rack door while you're at it. If you're really into disguises, wire up a few LED's to those panels.
Now if only there was a way to squeeze a big-screen TV in there... and no, not sideways.
Re:No worries about the coffee: (Score:5, Funny)
Vertical racks would work. Tell management that such an arrangement can increase downlink speeds by about 9.8 m/s^2
Re:the school district model (Score:5, Insightful)
Back in the olden days of Computers...like 10 years ago...I was one of the many who was against unionization of IT workers. Now, having been badly treated by both small companies, and one of the largest single-digit level manufacturers of computers, I see that I was wrong. Today's 'sweatshops' are in computer assembly factories, and in call centers. They both use Skinner like systems with seemingly random rewards and punishments to keep people in line.
These days, digging ditches is a more profitable and satisfying job...fully unionized, with guaranteed vacation and benefits, and a grievance system that actually works!
ttyl ...note, I don't dig ditches.
Farrell
This post... (Score:5, Insightful)
... is a mixture of pure unsupported assertations, and anecdotes pretending to be data. Any evidence to show that "strikes hurt employees more through lost wages than they gain in negotiations"? In fact, there's a lot of history that shows that unions did, in fact, make lives better for not only their own workers, but for everyone - and not only in the form of wages, but also in things like medical benefits and safe working conditions. For example: the five day work week - brought to you by the AFL-CIO.
Enough with the union bashing, already. Read a little history of the labor movement, and then see what you think.
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Past performance is not an indication of future results.
Just sayin'
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Bullshit. The problems in Detroit are due to executive mismanagement and the lack of universal health care. But way to hate on your fellow workers, for daring to negotiate decent health insurance and retirement benefits.
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Yes, actually. For those who still have jobs. Remember, those workers were not the ones designing crap quality cars, and paying hundreds of millions of dollars of bonuses to execs who basically did nothing but not do badly that year. One year's worth of exec bonuses at the Big 3 would pay for all of the benefits of the UAW workers for the next 10 years.
ttyl
Farrell
All you got to do is look outside the US (Score:5, Interesting)
Unions work great in the rest of the world.
Americans seem to have to wrong idea about what Unions are about. It has become a lethal fight in a system that basically says: The worker has no rights.
In Holland unions work together and it is not unusual for the unions AND the employers to unite and tell the government to go screw it self. Like on wage freezes recently. The government said all wages (except its own oddly enough, an oversight I am sure) should be frozen and in some sectors employees and unions said that they had already sorted things out and wouldn't do it.
ideally, government, employers and unions/workers should all work together to create a working society with give and take and the realization that just because you are on opposites ends of the negotiation table, that doesn't mean you have to be enemies with no common goals.
Re:the school district model (Score:5, Funny)
He pays dues. He gets no real benefit. And they tell him what he can and can't do.
Sounds like my home owner's association.
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I'm in a engineer Union, COPPEA. It's awesome and works well.
"Most strikes hurt employees considerably more with lost wages than they gain in negotiatio"
False.
"so is union leadership. "
Yes they can ebcem corrpupt, but that doesn't mean they wil;l or that the employees can't change that.
"The reason my last company was able to cut salaries and treat people terribly is because we allowed it. "
If only you had a common group that appointed a leader to negotiate with management~
Unions are how you don't let an org
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The answer isn't to unionize to get paid more than the job is worth, the answer is to find another job.
Really? It seems to work quite well for the ditch diggers, or rather, for the ditch diggers who were smart enough to organize and negotiate a living wage through collective bargaining. Meanwhile, the Fox News-watching ditch diggers are proudly toiling for $11 an hour and no benefits.
I'd say that "the answer" is to get that union card.
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That's your "trickle down" economy
That "trickle down" always reminds me of The Outlaw Josey Wales: "Senator, don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining." Wealth doesn't trickle down, it flows upwards. Wealth is created on the factory floor, the fry cook's stove, the programmer's cube. The suits in the corner office don't create wealth, they merely aggregate and control it.
So? (Score:3, Insightful)
Every job is different. Every career is different. Things ebb and flow. For a long time, IT workers were spoiled primadonna. Now they're just another cost center. Guess what, the economy is jacked up. Budget cuts have to happen. IT is a necessity, but so is efficiency, cost control, etc. Welcome to the real world you big f'ing crybabies.
Re:So? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now they're just another cost center. .
No, we (IT) has been viewed as a cost center since the 90s. And sometimes as glorified janitors...
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You say that as if its not the truth ...
Reality check: We ARE glorified janitors and automobile mechanics.
Very few in IT are actually worthy of being treated as something special, and regardless of how many people here don't understand it, most slashdotters are not 'special' with their skills today. 10 years ago, slashdot users had automatic street cred, today, its just another haven for wanna-bes with a few geeks still mixed in from the 'good ol days'
I agree. Mostly. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm dramatically overpaid for what I do if you look at it from a day-to-day effort perspective. I do my work, but my dad is a heavy duty mechanic, and I'm a chair jock
Re:I agree. Mostly. (Score:4, Interesting)
Hope this joke puts things into perspective for you.
A factory has a major problem that closed their manufacturing line. A consultant is brought in. The Consultant wanders around the factory floor, listening, poking. Finally, he takes out a small hammer and taps gently a few times on one particular piece of machinery. The factory line roars back to life, production once again in progress. The factory managers are ecstatic.
A week later, the factory recieves the invoice from The Consultant. The price was $900 for less than one hour of work. The factory's business people fumed and asked The Consultant for an explanation. The Consultant offered to send in an itemized invoice. The business people said, "yes, please do."
A second invoice arrived. It had two line items. Item 1 was, "Rectifying Problem with Hammer Hit....$1" Item 2 was, "Knowing Where to Hit the Hammer....$899"
I wish they would (Score:2)
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Nasty instant Coffee?
That's nothing. Where I work, we have go outside, and chew the leaves and beans off coffee bushes ourselves.
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I wouldn't be complaining about the tropical environment, I am in florida right now, the palm trees are encrusted ice, and my Bermuda shorts just are not sufficient.
Re:I wish they would (Score:4, Funny)
Nasty instant Coffee?
That's nothing. Where I work, we have go outside, and chew the leaves and beans off coffee bushes ourselves.
Lucky sod! Your coffee's fresher than everyone's!
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Why do you have your own person to turn cows into orks in the next cubicle? Is that a big thing where you work?
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Lord...that's beyond vile if it's THAT bad.
Well, in my day... (Score:5, Funny)
we mixed a little dirt in a cup of cold water and called it instant. If you wanted creamer, you added drop or two of Liquid Paper. Tasted like shit, but the extra chemicals and minerals kept you going.
No Coffee = No Code (Score:2)
Re:No Coffee = No Code (Score:5, Insightful)
A cow is a machine that converts grass to milk.
A programmer is a machine that converts coffee to code.
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Let's not stereotype all programmers.
I hear Mac coders prefer expensive herbal teas.
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Well I can't function until my first red bull and vodka, what does that say?
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Re:No Coffee = No Code (Score:5, Funny)
If you need it to function, you have a problem and should cut back or quit.
I need oxygen to function, but I'm worried about cutting back or quitting. I'm told the withdrawal symptoms are pretty bad.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
On the flipside, caffeine, in moderate doses, enhances mental focus, and for developers, that can be a real boon (I work just fine without caffeine, but if I have to buckle down for an intense coding session, a little caffeine and a pair of isolating headphones is, hands down, the best way for me to get in the flow and stay there for a prolonged period of time).
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Try and get your learn on [dailynewscentral.com] before making yourself sound like a jackass:
As long as they... (Score:2)
... don't take away the Hot Coffee, I'm fine with it.
Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Insightful)
The more you screw your employees, the more they will find ways to screw you. Turn off Gmail and Slashdot? Fine, I'll take a once-an-hour smoke break. Hack my 401k? I'll sit and stare at the ceiling. Bust by balls about travel costs? See if I don't have a "family thing" next time and can't go. People will take what they feel (rightly or wrongly) is their due, whether you give it to them or not.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Insightful)
Every good manager knows that it is far more effective (from an employee motivation POV) to spend a reasonable amount of money providing small and helpful perks like this, than it would be to take the same amount of money and distribute it among the employees as part of their next raise.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Interesting)
I once worked running the IT dept. for a bank, and seriously, during a high-level meeting including the president, CFO, myself, and a bunch of VPs they sat and laughed while discussing, for 15 minutes, how they found even crappier plastic utensils that were super cheap (I calculated the savings which equaled $7.00 per month). The combined salary in that room for 15 minutes could have bought Oneida silverware for every kitchenette, and it ended with them stating: "haha, they are so weak and flimsy people will just stop using them and bring their own!" and had a good laugh.
I was probably never so disgusted with human beings as that moment.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Funny)
It's An Employer's Market (Score:5, Insightful)
Twenty years ago, companies jumped-up IT guys and made them "Web Masters" -- coders, server maintainers, content creators and (in their own minds) designers -- giving them six figure salaries. Every company, no matter how small, felt it needed to have a "server room" and maintain their e-mail service locally. The Marketing secretary always needed help figuring out how to print her boss's agenda out of Lotus Organizer.
Times changed.
Now, companies buy website templates for sixty bucks non-exclusive (three grand exclusive) and they're sitting in a server room at a place called Dreamhost or Hostgator. The content is maintained via a CMS run by the Marketing secretary. Employers and employees are using Gmail and other cloud-based e-mail systems because the lines between personal and work IT space have become so blurred. Nobody needs help printing anymore, because an entire generation has been raised on the Internet and personal computer systems.
People will take what they feel (rightly or wrongly) is their due, whether you give it to them or not.
And employers will replace them with 20-something go-getters with better attitudes and more up-to-date skills, and at half the salary.
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And employers will replace them with 20-something go-getters with better attitudes and more up-to-date skills, and at half the salary.
Where is this elusive species to be found in quantity? The specimens I am familiar with have a hard time spelling "Word", much less using it. To them "The Web" is Yahoo, Gmail, and Facebook. And finally, SMTP is text slang for Suck My Teats and Poonani (less vulgar translation).
Yes, they can print and download, but in my experience deep knowledge of the plumbing behind the Internet is fading, not expanding.
Re:It's An Employer's Market (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, companies buy website templates for sixty bucks non-exclusive (three grand exclusive) and they're sitting in a server room at a place called Dreamhost or Hostgator.
Getting hacked regularly by some turd who wants to take over the server to make into a warez repository, spam relay, look around for credit card records, or replace all the images with "I kno u dont want 2 see thiz but herez tha ded iraqi babies tha ebil US killz."
The content is maintained via a CMS run by the Marketing secretary.
Who barely knows how to spell, let alone write, and thus the site looks incredibly unprofessional. But hey, you get what you pay for. And the exec who set it up this way got a blowjob from the Marketing Boobs...er Secretary.
Employers and employees are using Gmail and other cloud-based e-mail systems because the lines between personal and work IT space have become so blurred.
Which works great right until either their net connection goes down, or Gmail has an outage, or AT&T's crappy network is shitting again, and they're bugging the IT guy to "FIX MY GMAIL ON MY IPHONE FIX MY GMAIL ON MY IPHONE FIX MY GMAIL ON MY IPHONE."
Nobody needs help printing anymore, because an entire generation has been raised on the Internet and personal computer systems
Right up until they jam the printer, or come up with a document with nonstandard margins, or do 1001 other things that the lusers always do.
The level of competence in the average office is still right about zero. The difference today is that rather than having respect for the skills of those who can actually handle technology, the lusers have been told they have the right to treat IT staff as somewhere between the House N****r and Corporate Slave. Think about it. Would you stand over the guy fixing your car yelling "FIX IT FASTER I WANT IT NOW FIX IT FIX IT"? No? IT staff get that crap all day long. They are stuck in the no-win scenario wherein if required preventative maintenance means taking something offline for a couple hours, they are yelled at, but if they don't do the preventative maintenance, they get yelled at for not doing it when the system REALLY goes tits-up. They get nickeled and dimed for wanting to implement real security precautions such as proper firewalling and password security, but then blamed for "not doing enough" when Ditzy McSluttyboobs the secretary goes download-happy and unleashes half a dozen worms inside the corporate network.
And increasingly, they're supposed to be "supporting" systems spread over so many locations and they're only given proper admin control over their own locality, meaning that they get yelled at for telling someone that the problem is at Site #3, and yes, it's being worked on, and no, they don't have the access to fix it directly here at Site #2, and then Dipshit McBrainlesssuit sends an email to his bosses about how things are "always down" and "these guys aren't doing their jobs" in order to try to "force" the poor IT guy to "work faster" on something that isn't even under his control.
Re:It's An Employer's Market (Score:5, Funny)
And employers will replace them with 20-something go-getters with better attitudes and more up-to-date skills, and at half the salary.
I'd like to see how those 20-something will use their up-to-date skills when faced with my 80% cobol environment.
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Sounds like a great attitude for making yourself unhappy in your job and/or becoming unemployed.
I agree with you, employers can't enforce the enthusiasm and company loyalty that promotes better productivity, but they can certainly chip away at it by taking away things.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Insightful)
The travel expenses thing has gotten crazy for me. It's like the accountants think the company is doing me a favour letting me go to an exciting foreign hotel, experience the interior of exotic taxis, and meet the charming foreign customs officers. I do not consider it a perk, and being treated as guilty until proven innocent in claiming back the expensive "approved" hotel (instead of a more affordable and convenient one that's not on the list) is just enough to let me accept the less productive option of constant telephone meetings with people whose faces I have never seen.
That is, I suppose, their goal. Reduced overhead looks good, while lost business and reduced productivity just looks like market forces that are being proactively addressed by more careful attention to reducing expenses. The accountants are taking important action to tighten belts and address the failing ability of the business divisions to deliver top-line growth. The damage they do to the company actually looks like a responsible way to address the business situation. I think they have cause and effect backwards, but it's their decision to make, not mine.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember what they say about accountants: they know the cost of everything, but they don't have a clue about the value.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:4, Insightful)
I bet you also think that your employer "pays half" of your Social Security tax. All those things I mentioned, which you classify as perks, are part of the whole package - your salary, your benefits, your coffee, it all equals X dollars per year. If they remove one or more of those, its a pay cut, pure and simple.
I earn my job, which is why I have one. Do you ?
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Insightful)
You have this awful sense of entitlement. Free coffee? Have to justify travel expenses? C'mon the company does not exist to serve you, you exist to work for them and provide value at a minimum of expense.
No, we really don't exist to work for companies and provide them with maximum value at minimum expense. Thinking we do... now that's an awful sense of entitlement.
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I am at my job to exchange my skills (brain time; me thinking about your problem), for money and benefits.
I will attempt to do so at the rate the market will bear.
If the company wants to lowball their skills vendor; the one with whom they've had a long-term positive relationship; the one who has institutional knowledge that helps the vendor understand their unique business needs ... that's up to the company.
You may find somebody else to put at my desk, but you will *never* be able to replace me. That's why
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:4, Insightful)
I used to think that way about my kills too. When you grow up, you'll realize that there are indeed people who know as much as (or *gasp* more!) than you do.
And here's another little tip: they'll do it for cheaper too. That's one of disadvantages of competing globally.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:4, Funny)
I used to think that way about my kills too. When you grow up, you'll realize that there are indeed people who know as much as (or *gasp* more!) than you do.
And here's another little tip: they'll do it for cheaper too. That's one of disadvantages of competing globally.
Is the global assassin's market really that cutthroat?
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Funny)
Please.
You are at work to work, you are not at work to read slashdot and gmail.
Mr. Pot, allow me to introduce you to Mr. Kettle.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:4, Interesting)
That's the situation I'm in right now. Our bonuses have been cut 3 years consecutively now. We've always paid for our own coffee. As for travel, they understand that if they don't pay the costs, we aren't going. Only because it'd be illegal for them to do so.
Yeah, the biggest part of it is that the company is EXPANDING. We've opened 6 new locations last year. Easy to buy property in these hard times. But they just can't seem to afford bonuses this Christmas.
But they know that if I were to walk out, it'd be tough to find a job.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:5, Interesting)
My last company was "employee owned", which meant the executives had all the stock and were able to give themselves dividends whenever they felt like it.
In 2007, the company posted a record year, despite being in the newspaper industry. Staffing levels were decreased, no one got raises, but the executives paid themselves nicely.
In 2008, they practically matched 2007 for profits despite being in the newspaper industry. They started massive layoffs and pay cuts around the board, but the executives matched their 2007 dividends.
In 2009, I and most of the IT staff finally walked.
Re:Paging Mr. Vader - something slipping through (Score:4, Insightful)
Agree with that - when people are pressured to leave, the first ones to go are the ones who can easily find jobs. You know, the best talent.
The people who can't find jobs stay.
I'd make a comment about loyalty, but being loyal to a company in this era is like being loyal to an abusive spouse.
You kill the Joe... (Score:2, Funny)
Hacking off your nose to spite your face (Score:5, Insightful)
Anywhere that would cut out coffee from the budget is quite frankly insane. It's a minuscule expense compared to the HR budget and improves productivity dramatically when people would otherwise be flagging (early mornings for night owls, afternoons for early birds).
The ability to provide free, legal performance enhancing drugs is one of the few negligible-cost productivity boost techniques available. You'd have to be both petty and highly incompetent as a manager to do away with it.
No bonuses? (Score:3, Interesting)
I haven't received a bonus in about two years. It was a $1000 check. And the only reason I got that little gift is that I MADE money for my company. One of the perks of being a contractor for a small company. Of course, that contract ended, so I went to work for a larger IT company, and haven't received a bonus since. Working directly for a company is nice, but contracting pays better.
that has been going for a long time (Score:2, Interesting)
Perk decrease has been going for a long time since dotbomb. In my previous company they used to have all kinds of free snacks (bagels, jams, cream cheese, fruits, salads) and happy hour with free hot food every Friday, then one sunny day it all ended abruptly, only caffeinated coffee remained (that reminded me of the practice of banana companies of the XIX century that encouraged workers to chew coca leaves).
I work for government now and we do not have any free food at all. Good thing is that people can bri
Fine, but I want more vacation (Score:5, Interesting)
I got 25 paid days off (Score:3, Insightful)
Not including official holidays.
You want better working conditions? Then stop kowtowing to the man every chance you get.
US (and british) companies have become VERY good at making employees think they are doing them a favor by employing them. It works great for them and allows them to fire people and make the rest glad they got a job in a recession that is SO bad not a SINGLE big company executive has had his/her bonuses cut. Odd that. 10% unemployment yet the bonuses for the top happen the same as before.
You're lucky - everyone else has been there (Score:4, Interesting)
We've long had a person head up a 'coffee club', collecting from the java
junkies on the floor every month. Enough money was left to have a group lunch
at month-end. AFAICT the coffee machine was there long before, industrial type
-- 2 open carafes with an orange one for decaf, you probably saw one in a
diner somewhere -- not the 10 or 12 cup coffeemakers you get from Costco.
401K? Long gone from the employer's side, we're waiting for the first
anniversary announcement, if they will reinstate their contribution. I feel
less of a team player if they did not.
Yup, not just in IT. This was the travel industry. Welcome to the club, gents.
401k???? (Score:4, Insightful)
Wait: we don't get pensions anymore. 401k contributions ARE our retirement plans. Cutting 401k is the same as saying "we care about you SO little, that we hope you die hungry and cold in your old age."
Re:401k???? (Score:4, Funny)
No, no, no! They're just trying to help you by encouraging you to be responsible for your own future. In the past, the company was stealing your opportunity to be fully responsible for your retirement. Now, they feel bad about that, and are giving that responsibility back to you. It's time to celebrate!
Next month, they're going to stop stealing your opportunity to work twice as hard for half as much pay. It's a glorious future that your corporate masters have planned for you. Celebrate, slave, celebrate!
Fewer 'perks' please? (Score:4, Insightful)
Some company perks that I just don't want and will never use:
- I don't want a company celphone. I have my own phone, I don't want to have to keep track of business and private calls, I don't want my boss to get a list of all the calls I make in a month, and I don't want to have to carry around two phones. The company phone is lying in the closet, unused, the subscription fee is being paid for nothing.
- I don't want a company laptop. I don't need one for my work (customers *naturally* never allow machines on their network that they didn't provide themselves). For private use, it's useless. It does not have the specs I would have chosen for my own laptop, and I'm not free to modify it or change the software on it. It's been lying in the closet, unused. It's worse than useless, as I can't justify buying one for myself as long as I "have a perfectly ok laptop gathering dust in the closet".
- Company presentations preceeded by Paintball or Casino: please keep it serious and treat me like an adult. I don't come to the office to play games with colleagues, just give the presentation.
- Free coffee: I don't care. It's nice if it's there, but it's such a minor issue that if they want to save the shockingly huge amount of money that goes into rent and support of these machines, by all means do so, I'm not going to work less hard if I have to buy my own drinks.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You're wrong about company phone.
Company phone is what you switch off the moment your work hours end. You use it on business travels, you use it during rush and in case you promise to be catchable.
Private phone number is the one which you keep secret.
As for laptop, YMMV. If you're a field technician, your company laptop will be invaluable for you because it has what your work requires, not what you would buy for yourself.
Free coffee... only as long as I know the money they save on my coffee land in -my- poc
When did coffee become so expensive? (Score:3, Insightful)
I can only recommend managers to think about how much free for employees (good) food and drinks actually cost you compared to the part of the salaries that goes towards pizza/drinks at work otherwise, what the benefits are (healthier employees, less time wasted ordering stuff or going out to buy it) and how it may or may not make people feel more attached/loyal to your company. As for coffee - think of the headaches from caffeine deprivation you might induce if you don't provide it.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Coffee is a cost like any other. To support employees, certain costs are expected. A computer to sit at, an ergonomic chair, pens and paper, ink, janitorial services, bathroom supplies, phone and DID number, and more.
A complete coffee service costs less than $1 per employee (that drinks it) per day if bought in industrial bulk. there are dozens of other costs that far exceed that. many companies simply use an honor system and place a can with a slot near the coffee pot and ask folks to spare $0.25 for
A simple cost vs benefit analysis (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.amazon.com/VPR-Commercial-12-Cup-Pour-Over-Warmers/dp/B000BN7W84/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1262704523&sr=8-1 [amazon.com]
cheap coffee (weeks supply for 20 people) - $14.50
http://www.amazon.com/Folgers-Ground-Regular-PAG20015-Category/dp/B00006IDJO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1262704605&sr=1-2 [amazon.com]
coffee filters (months supply for 20 people) - $5.23
http://www.amazon.com/BUNN-BCF250-Commercial-Coffee-Filters/dp/B0006VNO7Y/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1262704669&sr=1-12 [amazon.com]
so for about 250 initially and a monthly recurring cost of about 50 bucks. hmmm, 20 sleepy employees who are sluggish and inattentive for several hours a day (lets say 2 hours, or 1/4 of their shift). now, per employee that's a monthly cost of $2.50 to not diminish that 1/4 of their shift.
how little would you have to be paying your employees to not think that's a good idea? pennies a day???
furthermore, this isn't much of a cost cutting measure. even if I have 10,000 people working for me, I'm only paying $2500 a month to give them coffee (excluding the cost of the machines, which last a decade) or $30,000 per year, which is nothing for a 10,000 employee company.
It's in the Constitiution (Score:3, Funny)
Putting on the dick moves (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm a firm believer that if a business wants to show it cares, it'll say it with money. Because that's the only thing that matters to a business. if it's parting with cash in ways it does not absolutely have to, that says something. But barring that, there's cashless ways to show care. There's not much you can do if you're doing IT-as-a-service where you need to be available for fixed hours but if you're doing dev work that doesn't go on a fixed schedule, give flex time! You worked late during the week, take a half day Friday. Costs the company nothing, same amount of work is getting done. Need a dr's appointment? For the love of xod, we're not going to ding you four hours of vacation time for it.
I don't really get the silly stuff like pool tables and video games. That just seems like prolonging time spent at work and in a non-productive fashion. I would put more of a premium on getting the max amount of work done in the shortest possible time so people can go home. Quality of life is about having a life outside the office. In-house masseuses, catered lunches every day, that seems a little wasteful. But cutting 401k, cutting fucking coffee? Major dick moves.
Employers are doing it because it's an employer's market out there. But rest assured, these employers will reap what they sow. The best employees are always the most mobile employees. If your best feel dicked over or if there's even the slightest concern about company stability, they will be out the door in a heartbeat. And it's now accepted in IT culture that you will NEVER make more money at the same employer. The only way to raise your pay is to move to another organization because your current one will never justify paying more for the person they already have, no matter if you're learning new skills, taking on more work, or improving the bottom line.
Getting... Laid... off... (Score:5, Interesting)
The pendulum... (Score:3, Funny)
The pendulum swings one way, then back the other...
Side 1: "If I can't wear sweat pants, bring my dog to work, have my own office, telecommute when I feel like it, and drink company-provided beer every day starting at 3:00, then I won't work here."
Side 2: "You're 35 and you haven't had a heart attack yet? Perhaps I should replace you with someone who actually works hard."
TFA is from "Channel Insider"? (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
More than ionized workers?