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[TRENCHES] Thursday, December 13, 2012 - Hats Off!
Geth
LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
Hats Off!
http://trenchescomic.com/comic/post/hats-off
Permatemp
AnonymousI was once hired to do QA for a big company in the industry. It was a temporary position, contracted for 6 months, but had potential for upwards movement.
That was 3 years ago.
I’m still temporary. I was laid off once, only to be re-hired a week later with a new contract. I’m pretty sure that what this company is doing by keeping me temporary is illegal, but I don’t want to say anything because I don’t have another job lined up.
I scour the internet everyday for a new job.
Geth on
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My brother was in a similar situation. It took a union getting involved to get a permanent contract.
The upshot of this is just what is happening in the story, though. If the person can find a full-time position with benefits they will do so if able, so the company ends up with lower quality people because of their hiring practices, long term.
I don't know if part of the problem is simply narcisism or unfounded optomism but unless you were part of some crazy awesome project, chances are nobody has heard of you and they are not going to come find you to offer you a job.
It's something that bad experience tends to fix, but I believe that part of our education should be on finding a job, as opposed to bad experience and crappy jobs.
I kind of suspect this is true. If this guy is looking for something in the exact same line of work, then yeah, I am not entirely surprised he can't find anything better. If he were to branch out from that, it might be a different story.
After my first year was up, they automaticlly renewed to go month-to-month. My agcency let me know that was going to happen when I went in.
Contracters actually cost more then employees. In fact, if I got hired, I would get a cut in pay.
I will also gain a pension plan, 401k, and health benifits that I don't have to pay 100% for. (I have no employer co-pay though my agency.)
If you are not a self-employed contactor, you are employed by your agency, you need to talk to them if you are in a bad position.
The employee is the one that gets caught out, but I wouldn't be so quick to blame lawmakers' attempts to help in such a situation, I'd blame the company that seeks whatever legal loopholes it can to take advantage of the people it hires. Legal or not, it's not very nice, and doesn't do much to secure the goodwill of its employees and contractors.
Then find a few good lawyers pro-bono (make it clear to them that you're going after strip mining the bastards for as much cash as you can extract, not for ideals - they'll be on board) and take them to court and sue their pants off. Even in a settlement (if you choose to settle) you could get a very nice fee that'll fix you up and make the lawyers happy. And a corporate work ethics judge will be all the more eager to ream them good as an example. They love throwing the book and hammering these types, it makes them look real popular in public eyes and consequently political circles.
I don't think the company's doing anything illegal. I've been at my job for more than 18 months, working as a "seasonal" employee because they haven't had any full-time positions open (and when they did, they filled it with another seasonal). I know people who've been there for years. In my time there, I was laid off and rehired the next day. Not because my contract was up or anything like that, but because they made a bad estimate on how much work was going to be available. There may well be something nefarious going on with this guy's story, or there might not be. My guess is that he's just pissed no one's walked up to him and offered him a full-time job.
Perma-temp as part of corporate culture really is starting to become a norm. I feel it ultimately hurts a company in the long run, as you foster an attitude of ambivalance in your lower rungs and the toss-away tissue nature of their employment status means that a company is much less likely to invest in any form of training beyond what is required for day-to-day tasks. In the short term though, it is very, very appealing for the bottom line.
FFRK: 9rRG
I don't blame lawmakers at all! All they can do is set rules as to describe what a permanent employee looks like. All I was saying is that they can't really crack down on people that hold to the letter of the law and break the spirit, because you can't legislate the spirit properly. Basically if people want to be assholes and skirt around the law there's not much the legislators can do. And as mentioned, the decision to continually keep people temporary even if they're there indefinitely will just end up hurting the company that does this in the long run.
Don't be so sure :P They could easily close your McDonald's location and you'd be out of a job (unless they moved you to a different one). Also I would guess testers don't go home smelling of grease and french fries
That smell is terrible. A n ex-girlfriend worked at a McD's for awhile and her uniform was disgusting - even as someone who eats McD's occasionally. It was the olfactory equivalent of seeing grease congealed.
it's the exact same principle there, too. A lot of these companies string you along for months after they are supposed to hire you in, hoping to get brought in permanently.
At my last temp job, there were guys who had been temps at that plant for over 8 months, and still had no idea when they were going to get hire in.
I talk about this at length on my blog. if you have a minute, you can see the post here.
http://theseizurecomic.com/archives/451