Maybe this has been discussed elsewhere, or maybe employment standards aren’t quite as important as unemployment itself these days, but I’ve been hearing rumours of bad things happening at formerly nice companies, and I’m wondering if it’s more than coincidence or the moon being in Taurus.
In the last week I’ve heard about one place having their staff work around 70 hours in a week, but without providing them dinner. I can’t find where it talks about that in the employment standards act, or if it does at all, but I believe there’s some rule that if you keep people late then you’re supposed to feed them. And generally you shouldn’t work them that long because their brains stop working after a while. At least mine does.
Another situation has a company only giving one week of vacation a year to new hires. This being Canada, people are entitled to 2 weeks. Frankly I don’t know how Americans can survive on one week per year, because 2 doesn’t seem like enough. We should all be like the Europeans and get a month, minimum, but in an imperfect Canada it’s still 2.
These situations are just hearsay, mind you, but they’ve got me wondering if managers of dubious morality are going to take the opportunity that this economy has provided to squeeze the life out of their employees. I’m guessing many people are too scared to jump ship right now, and I’ve heard of those who were looking for new jobs but stopped when the markets crashed. So the fear of layoffs and unemployment are keeping people tight in their seats and accepting whatever treatment they’re getting because they think it’s better than the alternative. For the sake of society I’m hoping I don’t hear about more stuff like this, but I’m afraid I might.
To be fair, I can understand that it must be tough on managers too. People have been laid off, there’s a hiring freeze at the company, but their team is still expected to perform as it did 6 months ago when projected growth was 20% per year. Of course, if they’d read up on negative productivity they’d know that working their staff to the bone is going to produce crap(-pier) results; but in a panic they’re going to throw hours at things to get them done, because there doesn’t seem to be any other choice.
Have any of you heard about changes in employee treatment at formerly nice/happy/fun companies? Do you think we’re going to hear more of this? And if the world economy continues to die an endless death, will people waive their rights in exchange for a biweekly paycheck?
I haven’t heard of employers being jerks any more now than before.
The working 70hr week thing is not new, but I don’t think it’s legal without overtime pay. One week of vacation I’ve never heard of, but I’m not sure there’s actually a legal requirement to provide a certain amount of vacation, I think it’s considered a benefit. You can find the details somewhere in labour law, which varies by province (I’m in Ontario, so mine may be different than yours).
I suppose it varies by sector, but in most places decreased revenue is because there’s less work coming in, which shouldn’t result in employees having to do a lot more work unless the companies are laying off too many people.
(BC Specific stuff, since that’s where Gill is).
Two weeks vacation is only a legal entitlement after 2 years of working somewhere. Vacation pay accrual, however, happens after 5 days of working. (http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/e/96113_01.htm#section57)
You can’t work employees for more than 5 hours without allowing them to eat, though you can require them to eat while being available for work (http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/e/96113_01.htm#section32). You don’t have to give them food.
Only one data point, but as a (new) manager in a company that I consider pretty awesome, I haven’t seen any hint of what you’re talking about. That said, we’re doing quite well (yay, security being a utility, effectively), and are usually ranked in the top 40 / 100 employers in BC / Canada – I’ve been here for 4 years, and have only worked overtime a handful of times (usually with paid dinner / time off given).
We’re adding a little something to this month’s coding contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired.
I haven’t heard anything about this, through the grapevine or otherwise. Stupid move, if so. Yes, the economy is crashing, but there is still an employee shortage in Canada, and it’s only going to get worse.
In terms of minimum employment standards, it varies by province. No, 70 hours of work in one week is not legal, without paying some sort of overtime. Your employer is not required to feed you a meal, but they are mandated to provide you with time off to eat. And Bryan, yes, minimum vacation time is mandated by your provincial employment standards – in Ontario, it’s two weeks’ worth for each full twelve month period you work. In BC, it’s the same, but it increases to three weeks after five consecutive years of employment.
The only caveat to this is if your employer is mandated as a high tech employer, then the rules are slightly different.
Dare I suggest that the abuses mentioned, and worse, were the reasons for forming and joining unions. It’s hard to see how that will happen with the IT culture and small sweatshops.
Click here for a rendition of the “Red Flag”: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=nGXOjm95WWo
or her for Joan Baez singing “Joe Hill”:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=YR6SMAJQW8Y
signed Old Leftie
I’ve worked some of those crazy hours (years ago, before the kids were born, at a software developer), and I don’t think it helped the quality of what we produced. It was still a decent environment in which to work, but I wouldn’t take that kind of schedule again. Or, more pointedly, my body wouldn’t let me. It’s certainly a recipe to burn people out, even good people.
And it shows a poor memory for the time (pretty recent) when it was hard to find and keep those good people.