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0 pointsblueben15y ago0 comments

Just because you are jaded and have given up on loyalty and the idea of responsible corporations that care for their employees doesn't mean the rest of us must do so as well.

You paint a very black and white picture. Either the world can have caring corporations, or it can't. Your opinion leaves no room for middle ground. That alone should convince you to re-evaluate what you believe.

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3 comments · 1 top-level

loewenskind15y ago· 2 in thread

What you're saying makes no sense. A corporation is there to make money. Full stop. It's a thing, not a person. It doesn't care because it can't care, it has no feeling only a purpose.

If you get in an accident and lose both arms are they going to pay you to sit around because they care? Of course not. They will (hopefully) try to soften your landing, but that's less because they care and more about moral of existing and future employees.

Life is going to be a painful experience until you learn to only give the amount of loyalty that is given to you. No matter what a company says or does, they are going to drop you the second you don't make sense on paper (including if they find someone who can do what you do cheaper). If you behave any other way you've been brain washed [1].

[1] This doesn't mean that if you get an offer for $1/yr more you have to drop your current company. You have to keep the short and long term in view.

NickPollard15y ago

Enlightened Self-interest. It might be a completely rational move for Google to keep their staff happy, well-motivated and well-treated in order to maximise their productivity.

loewenskind15y ago

When doing comparisons (i.e. "Is this new guy really cheaper?") that sort of thing is figured into the price. Companies that care about morale figure more into the value of keeping existing employees, but places that use brain washing techniques [1] are going to count the "morale costs" of someones real value very low because they're controlling morale anyway [2]. I've directly seen this applied in several companies. Sometimes it was in response to loss in revenue (i.e. out of their control), a couple of times it was just because.

[1] When a company puts slogans all over their walls, keeps on bleating the same message about "we're a family", uses phrases like "always put in more than you take out!", it's nearly always because they're trying to create the impression in their employees that a relationship exists that actually doesn't.

[2] Most likely by driving it as low as they dare so that anyone who would leave already has.

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