Economy Rant

The following is a poli-business rant so don't read if you don't want to. lol

Ok, so, the government wonders why we are in a recession. They are sending most of us "stimulus checks" to try and help boost the economy. Um, maybe instead they should look at some corporations are doing business. I swear, the following three examples must have all had their higher ups train at the same "Management School For Dummies":

Corporation A: They were taken over about a year ago by a company that had no real clue what some of the products are. Instead of asking employees to explain their various jobs, etc, the new company just runs over everyone like a bull in a china shop. Cliché but accurate description. Now they are asking every employee to sign a ridiculous contract that basically gives them the right to control the employees' lives for two years after they leave the company (no matter what the circumstances cause the leave). Briefly: the contract states that employees are not allowed to get a job with any competitor and/or with a company that has any remote connection to any field that they are attached to. Example: an employee would not be able to go work for (even as a janitor) any software company because they sell software too. I kid you not. The former employee can only work for someone else where there may even be the slightest conflict of interest (in the eyes of Corporation A) if they get a waiver from Corporation A. If the former employee moves, etc, they must report that to Corporation A. Basically they cannot make any life decisions without Corporation A knowing about it for two years or they are subject to a breach of contract and retribution. If an employee does not sign the contract, they are fired. Of course, this has led them to firing so many people that the ones left who won't sign can't be let go until their replacements are trained. How's that for screwing yourself?

Corporation B: This company bought out a smaller one years ago so that they could use them as a means of paying for their larger branches until they were firmly entrenched. Once the larger ones became known and popular, the smaller ones were left to basically rot (degrade). For the past few years, the rules and stipulations that have been put on the smaller businesses have been such that they can't possibly meet the outrageous goals of the larger firm. So, the company finds that since the larger stores are now hurting in the economic slide and the smaller ones (which could have been a balancing asset) can no longer help because they have been clipped so much, they must put everything up for sale and hope for the best. In the meantime, they are seeking a way to save money. And how are they doing this? Well, the latest is the following: 1) no new hires for stores until June (which leaves one local store with only 5 employees), 2) training mangaers are no longer allowed to travel, 3) district managers are not allowed to travel for at least five weeks (how they are supposed to help their stores who knows), 4) several VPs have been fired, and they will no longer offer holiday pay. This comes on top of insane sales plans coupled with low hour offerings. Store managers have been expected to take up the slack by working six 8-hour days a week. Everyone has seen the slide coming for some time. Oh, and the higher ups have hired an outside company to help them develop a plan that will help them save money. Yeah. Sure. Why not ask the more experienced employees? Oh, right, like with Corporation A, that would make sense.

Corporation C: Has jumped on the outsourcing bandwagon. All jobs will be outsourced to India. But that's not the kicker for its future former employees. The real punch in the gut comes in the form of being given the option of personally training their replacements or losing any benefits (on top of severance pay) that they had accrued with the company. It's almost as bad as being replaced by a robot because they can do the work longer and faster. Only, in this case, the employee is being replaced by someone who can be paid less than a third of their salary. Hey, great for the new guy, bad for the old.

And doesn't that all just sum it up? Companies expect their employees to be loyal but they refuse to show them the same consideration. I mean, yeah, this is business and the point is to make money. But that just perpetuates a cycle that is partially responsible for dragging down our economy. Either stupidity or greed is robbing us of our stability. It's only a part of the problem but it is a big one: companies are taking advantage of people because they know that folks will do what it takes to earn money to put food on the table. But that only means they are shooting themselves in the foot when the ripple affect hits and there's no one to buy, etc, what they have to offer. Good grief.

Ok, I'll stop and be back to "normal" tomorrow.