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You don't matter. (A letter from HR)

Equilibrium

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I work for a big company. a BIG one. actually no I don't.
I work for a contractor who works for a big company.
Actually, no I don't.
but we will get into that in a moment.

The startup I have been launching has grown into a massive one man operation.
Instead of hiring other people or outsourcing I use a CRM built with trello using the (GSD) System. Instead of paying someone to make calls I'm making them.
leads, IT and infrastructure..a milltion little tasks slowly tearing me apart all fighting for attention.

Things you could and should outsource to minions took time and effort to resolve.
So in a effort to fix this I made the decision.
''I should start working for a large company. One big enough that it pays the bills AND lets me pay for outsourcing, this way I can get more done.''

Yes folks, I'm talking slow-lane.
using the day to day doldrums of a desk job to pay the bills, keep food on the table and at the same time focus on my venture.

The choices for me to pursue were simple.

Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet or Apple.
Except not facebook because #F*ckzuck

Now while it might sound uncanny to simply think ''ah-hah! I'll simply work for one of the largest companies!'' That's simply exactly how I am.
I make a plan for what I'm working on then I charge after it, and I am meticulously good at figuring things out.

So to skip ahead a little bit.. not bore you with the boring interview details, I did it.

I have a desk job at one of the above companies where I perform work in exchange for hours. For me it's simply a means to a end.

But that's not why I'm withing this message after years of inactive silence (reading, watching, but hardly interacting because I don't feel my level of progress merits any share-worthy material.)

I want to instead talk about a letter.
A letter from Human Resources sent that highlights one of the biggest issues with working with a job.
Any job. Anywhere on planet earth if you are working for a company

Any place that trades work for hours, and what they truly think about you as a employee.
Again I'm sitting pretty. I could slip into mediocre life, get a picket fence and all the other gobbldygook we humans have been force-fed is the normal life. The job I have is not terrible. The car I drive is paid in full. (Screw you Loan Companies)
and is not purchased for want of a shiny pretty car, but dependency and resell value.

But I'm not about that life. What I'm doing is not for money, well not just for money its because I aim to help many people. Getting this job was simply a item on a task list.
and now that it's checked I'm back to full force working on my venture, this time with the ability to offload minor tasks.

But going back a min, lets return to that letter.
To explain this letter in full I need to first explain a tiny bit about my job.
In doing so I"m going to stick to the most generic of terms and leave parts out, both to keep in compliance with NDA's and to keep in line with the focus of this thread.

In fact for the sake of it lets not say I work for one of the big companies. Let's say I work instead for a Medium sized company called Bootlickers (I don't) my name is Bob (it's not) and I'm contracted to perform work for the job.

In other words.
I work directly FOR Bootlickers
My job is on behalf of Bootlickers
My paycheck is addressed to Bootlickers
My time, schedule is set my Bootlickers
I use Bootlickers equipment (if they have it) Drive Bootlickers company helicopter, answer the door, phone, call, email, what have you as ''A Bootlickers Agent'' for the select few who can lick enough boots to get a number,

But I am not a actual employee of Bootlickers.

Here's a paraphrased edition of the email that was sent out to all employees.

Effective immediately
Attention (employ dog leash number) Name

Policy Update Alert

You do not work for us.
If you wish to keep working for us Sign this letter that states you do not work for us.
You have 6 hours to sign this document that you do not work for us or we will fire you.
If we are ever asked we will show this letter that you signed that states you do not work for us.
Additionally employees will no longer be able to (company perk) or (company perk) as this makes you think you are a employee.
you can no longer (company perk) use (company perk) or go to (company event)

The stark tone of this letter and candid matter shocked me.
now the letter did not impact me directly, since I had never gone around on a message board shouting HEY I WORK FOR name. But apparently this is what had caused the letter to be sent out.

And we lost some people. Some people balked. I do indeed work for ! how dare they!! this is unjust! some workers wanted to sue. They promptly got erased, all history of them just *blip* gone in the next moment as they were ejected from the office.
I say good effing luck in any lawsuit since I read our agreement on joinging and there's some interesting terminology that made the hairs rise on the back of my neck while I signed the sea witches contract.


But this got me thinking.
If this happens here.. it happens everywhere.
Everywhere. At any company. Even the biggest ones in the world where you would think you have some resemblance of security.

So do not ever..
for any reason..
think you belong at any slowlane company..
even the biggest ones in the world.

because you simply don't matter.
 
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Last edited:
D

Deleted50669

Guest
I work for a big company. a BIG one. actually no I don't.
I work for a contractor who works for a big company.
Actually, no I don't.
but we will get into that in a moment.

The startup I have been launching has grown into a massive one man operation.
Instead of hiring other people or outsourcing I use a CRM built with trello using the (GSD) System. Instead of paying someone to make calls I'm making them.
leads, IT and infrastructure..a milltion little tasks slowly tearing me apart all fighting for attention.

Things you could and should outsource to minions took time and effort to resolve.
So in a effort to fix this I made the decision.
''I should start working for a large company. One big enough that it pays the bills AND lets me pay for outsourcing, this way I can get more done.''

Yes folks, I'm talking slow-lane.
using the day to day doldrums of a desk job to pay the bills, keep food on the table and at the same time focus on my venture.

The choices for me to pursue were simple.

Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet or Apple.
Except not facebook because #F*ckzuck

Now while it might sound uncanny to simply think ''ah-hah! I'll simply work for one of the largest companies!'' That's simply exactly how I am.
I make a plan for what I'm working on then I charge after it, and I am meticulously good at figuring things out.

So to skip ahead a little bit.. not bore you with the boring interview details, I did it.

I have a desk job at one of the above companies where I perform work in exchange for hours. For me it's simply a means to a end.

But that's not why I'm withing this message after years of inactive silence (reading, watching, but hardly interacting because I don't feel my level of progress merits any share-worthy material.)

I want to instead talk about a letter.
A letter from Human Resources sent that highlights one of the biggest issues with working with a job.
Any job. Anywhere on planet earth if you are working for a company

Any place that trades work for hours, and what they truly think about you as a employee.
Again I'm sitting pretty. I could slip into mediocre life, get a picket fence and all the other gobbldygook we humans have been force-fed is the normal life. The job I have is not terrible. The car I drive is paid in full. (Screw you Loan Companies)
and is not purchased for want of a shiny pretty car, but dependency and resell value.

But I'm not about that life. What I'm doing is not for money, well not just for money its because I aim to help many people. Getting this job was simply a item on a task list.
and now that it's checked I'm back to full force working on my venture, this time with the ability to offload minor tasks.

But going back a min, lets return to that letter.
To explain this letter in full I need to first explain a tiny bit about my job.
In doing so I"m going to stick to the most generic of terms and leave parts out, both to keep in compliance with NDA's and to keep in line with the focus of this thread.

In fact for the sake of it lets not say I work for one of the big companies. Let's say I work instead for a Medium sized company called Bootlickers (I don't) my name is Bob (it's not) and I'm contracted to perform work for the job.

In other words.
I work directly FOR Bootlickers
My job is on behalf of Bootlickers
My paycheck is addressed to Bootlickers
My time, schedule is set my Bootlickers
I use Bootlickers equipment (if they have it) Drive Bootlickers company helicopter, answer the door, phone, call, email, what have you as ''A Bootlickers Agent'' for the select few who can lick enough boots to get a number,

But I am not a actual employee of Bootlickers.

Here's a paraphrased edition of the email that was sent out to all employees.

Effective immediately
Attention (employ dog leash number) Name

Policy Update Alert

You do not work for us.
If you wish to keep working for us Sign this letter that states you do not work for us.
You have 6 hours to sign this document that you do not work for us or we will fire you.
If we are ever asked we will show this letter that you signed that states you do not work for us.
Additionally employees will no longer be able to (company perk) or (company perk) as this makes you think you are a employee.
you can no longer (company perk) use (company perk) or go to (company event)

The stark tone of this letter and candid matter shocked me.
now the letter did not impact me directly, since I had never gone around on a message board shouting HEY I WORK FOR name. But apparently this is what had caused the letter to be sent out.

And we lost some people. Some people balked. I do indeed work for ! how dare they!! this is unjust! some workers wanted to sue. They promptly got erased, all history of them just *blip* gone in the next moment as they were ejected from the office.
I say good effing luck in any lawsuit since I read our agreement on joinging and there's some interesting terminology that made the hairs rise on the back of my neck while I signed the sea witches contract.


But this got me thinking.
If this happens here.. it happens everywhere.
Everywhere. At any company. Even the biggest ones in the world where you would think you have some resemblance of security.

So do not ever..
for any reason..
think you belong at any slowlane company..
even the biggest ones in the world.

because you simply don't matter.
Yep, it may have been sent from HR, but that was undoubtedly handcrafted by the legal department and then handed off to an intern to send out.

I'm not surprised, big companies clean house constantly. And it does highlight the perils of slowlane. It's not just the lack of income growth or environment control, it's the unpredictability of your future. You can't plan anything in life without controlling the mechanism that fuels the plan.
 

astr0

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This may be closely related to taxing...

Here in Ukraine, most businesses with employees that have some decent salary actually hire them as contractors. Few exceptions would be small high-margin companies that don't need to take the risk and big worldwide companies. I'm working as a contractor, but that's a little different story cause my "employer" is a US company. 90% of people in IT do.

The reason is very simple. Contractors can have max yearly turnover under around $180k (a few months ago was around $120k). They have to pay 5% revenue tax and $30/month fixed social security tax. Company doesn't pay anything for them, nor it is obligated to pay for some benefits like sick-leaves, vacations, etc. They still offer some just to make their "employees" comfortable.

On the other hand for employees companies have to pay around 60% of their salary in tax up to some amount that consists of many taxes, one of which is capped at around $1.2k per month per employee. They also are obligated to provide a lot of benefits. Including major ones like paying while an employee is in the army and 2-year maternity leave, reserving their jobs in both cases. Employees are not easy to fire too.

That contractor "scheme" has a major drawback - a company can be actually sued by the government for hiding an employee. Around $5.5k fine for that per employee. So they try very hard to make it formally look like their employees really are contractors. Papers have more value in the court than just words.

Still, everyone is abusing it. 5 to 2000 people companies do. We'll be doing it too cause it's impossible to offer a competitive salary for an employee otherwise.

Maybe Bootleaker company has an active lawsuit on this topic and trying to minimize consequences?
 
Last edited:

Charnell

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I was at a top advertising agency in NYC after graduation, and they lost a huge client. Massive client that they worked with for a number of decades and some change.

Well, with the loss of a client comes downsizing, and who do they let go? The senior most people that weren't part of the C-suite. 20+ years doing what someone with 5 years experience can do and we pay you twice as much? Tough, here's a severance package.

The worst part is (on the employee side) we knew it was coming down to the hour based on shared calendars, but there was no warning from higher. If we didn't know, they would have woken up like it was a regular Thursday ready to work. Nope, escorted out of the building.
 
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ItsAJackal

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The worst part is (on the employee side) we knew it was coming down to the hour based on shared calendars, but there was no warning from higher. If we didn't know, they would have woken up like it was a regular Thursday ready to work. Nope, escorted out of the building.

I had a similar experience. Was at an architecture/engineering firm in 2008 (right when housing market crashed) and we had monthly meetings to show all of the hours that were planned for the month. Everyone was given hours except me. My column was blank.

I spoke up during the meeting, and they fumbled around and said it was just an accident. I was let go that Friday.
 

Kruiser

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Sounds like the letter they asked you to sign was just a cya letter by the main company's legal department - and not a very good one. I wouldn't read too much into it. Companies prefer to hire contractors rather than employees as their tax and other liabilities are much lower. The IRS and other government agencies generally don't like that. The legal dividing line between employee and independent contractor gets pretty murky and courts will look at a whole ton of factors to determine whether an individual is an independent contractor or employee (regardless of how the employer classifies them). Sounds like the main company is just trying to line up a few more factors in its favor if things ever go to litigation. But a court isn't going to be impressed with a letter that says "I'm not an employee" if the big company has been treating contractors like employees.
 

sparechange

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Isn't it hilarious when you leave a job you ''need'' to put in your 2 weeks notice?

Yet getting fired is within a day!? LOL

Being in a job is just total slavery and you are always replaceable.

Great story thanks for sharing!
 
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Rabby

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But this got me thinking.
If this happens here.. it happens everywhere.
Everywhere. At any company. Even the biggest ones in the world where you would think you have some resemblance of security.

You might say this happens "especially" at the biggest companies. Having been through this experience, I imagine you would not do the same thing to someone you worked with every day in your own company. It's the distance, and the poverty of humane culture in larger companies, that almost guarantees this sort of thing will happen. They're more concerned about an article they read in "Human Resource Liability Management Magazine" than they are about treating their cubicle neighbor like a human being.
 

sparechange

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You might say this happens "especially" at the biggest companies. Having been through this experience, I imagine you would not do the same thing to someone you worked with every day in your own company. It's the distance, and the poverty of humane culture in larger companies, that almost guarantees this sort of thing will happen. They're more concerned about an article they read in "Human Resource Liability Management Magazine" than they are about treating their cubicle neighbor like a human being.

This is how smaller companies can overtake bigger ones.

Deeper connection to customers, employees etc etc.
 

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