this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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[–] alex@jlai.lu 255 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Being emotionally detached from really stupid leadership decisions is harder than it seems

[–] Carighan@lemmy.world 63 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Took me a lot of years to not think it's my company that is being run into the ground. I should not - and nowadays could not - care any less.

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[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 185 points 1 year ago (5 children)

The company doesn't care about you. The company doesn't care about you. The company doesn't care about you.

[–] ME5SENGER_24@lemm.ee 86 points 1 year ago

My uncle spent years preaching to me about the need to be loyal to a company. I never drank the Kool-Aid. He spent 21 years working for an investment banking company in their IT department. 4 years before he was set to retire with a full pension, etc. his company was acquired by a larger bank. He lost everything except his 401k. He then spent the next 12 years working to get his time back so he’d be able to retire. He died 2 years ago and the company sent a bouquet of flowers.

THE COMPANY DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU!!

[–] HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml 58 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The company cares about you in the same way a beef farmer cares about his cattle.

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[–] XEAL@lemm.ee 35 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not even if you do valuable or efficent stuff for the company. You're disposable.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The company is always on the lookout for ways to replace you with somebody who will do more for less.

And in the meantime, they will squeeze you for every drop of effort they think they can get away with.

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[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 133 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

The most important traits for doing well at work (in this order):

  • clear, effective, and efficient communication
  • taking ownership of problems
  • having your boss and team members like you on a personal level
  • competence at your tasks
[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 year ago

I'm halfway through scrolling this long thread, and this is the first comment I've seen that isn't overly cynical. It's also correct.

I've been working for 38 years, and I've been someone who makes promotion decisions for 15 of them. The third one is helpful, not essential, but the others are super important. The people who rise to leadership positions aren't necessarily the top technical people, they're the ones who do those things with a good attitude.

The other thing I'd add is that they're people who are able to see the big picture and how the details relate to it, which is part of strategic thinking.

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[–] incogtino@lemmy.zip 110 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Your employer does not care about you. You are not important or irreplaceable

Take your time and energy and put it into your life, not their business

I have had coworkers die (not work related) and by the time you hear about it (like the next day) they have already worked out who will get the work done so the machine doesn't have to stop

[–] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 37 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I had a workmate develop a chronic illness after an infection of COVID, and he had to leave under hardship. People that hung out with him as best mates for years stopped talking to him in a matter of days.

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[–] jbrains@sh.itjust.works 100 points 1 year ago (6 children)

There is no ideal place to work where they "do it right", whatever kind of "right" you care about right now. When you change jobs, you merely exchange one set of problems for another.

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[–] Polymath@lemm.ee 83 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The longer you work anywhere -- and I mean ANYWHERE -- the more you see the bullshit and corruption and crappy rules or policies and inequality all over.
For me it has been about the 3 year mark anywhere I've worked: once you get past that, you fade away from "damn I'm glad to have a job and be making money!" and towards "this is absolute bulls#!t that [boss] did [thing] and hurt the workers in the process!" or similar

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[–] Abrslam@sh.itjust.works 77 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Sometimes it's better if your employer doesn't know everything you can do. If you're not careful you'll end up Inventory Controller/shipper/IT services/reception/Safety officer, and you'll only ever be paid for whatever your initial position was.

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[–] demlet@lemmy.world 74 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Success is mainly about sucking up to the right people. No matter how good you are at your job, you have to know how to play work politics. Most bosses don't know how to evaluate actual ability, and they're much less objective than they think. Usually they favor more likeable employees over capable ones if forced to choose. Human life is a popularity contest, always has been, always will be. That's the side effect of being a highly social species...

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[–] superfly_samurai@lemmy.one 70 points 1 year ago (9 children)

There's no such thing as quiet quitting. I prefer acting your wage.

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[–] oce@jlai.lu 65 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

HR protect the company first, the employees second.

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[–] dansity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 59 points 1 year ago (2 children)

People in your workplace don't know shit. There are a few who know stuff but the majority is dumb, careless or the combination of the two. Surprisingly the higher you go the more dumb and careless there are. We are designing monster billion dollar construction projects and some of my colleagues have problems with understanding written english. Others cannot learn a software that has literally 3 buttons in them they have to press. I don't even know sometimes why I am trying.

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[–] Durotar@lemmy.ml 58 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My company laid off a few very efficient workers, who sacrificed a lot of time and mental health for the company, because people working remotely in India are cheaper.

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[–] Signtist@lemm.ee 57 points 1 year ago (38 children)

Efficient workers get more work if you're in the office. I work from home, and that allows me to work efficiently until my work is done, set up scheduled emails to go out at the time I would've otherwise been done, then do what I want until then.

[–] Black_Gulaman@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I see your work doesn't have invasive programs that check idle mouse and idle keyboard behaviors.

this is an old one but i can't help thinking, what if they installed it without my knowledge, after all, my work laptop was given to me already pre prepared by our IT department.

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[–] CaptObvious@literature.cafe 56 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Loyalty is vastly overrated. The only rational course of action is to complete exactly the tasks to which you've agreed for the wage they've determined. Your employer will demand loyalty but never reciprocate. Don't let them manipulate you.

Also, never ever let them see you sweat. It doesn't matter how good your employer is, at the first hint that you're insecure, they'll pounce and you'll be treated like garbage. Always have your briefcase packed and a box to clear out your desk on a moment's notice.

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[–] masquenox@lemmy.ml 55 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I learnt meritocracy is a joke long before I discovered that it was literally invented to be a joke.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)
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[–] Comment105@lemm.ee 51 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I believe the exact same thing is true.

I have yet to see an employer even attempt to prove it wrong.

Showing up and working sluggishly is the most stable pattern. Getting it done quick and then relaxing only attracts attention and criticism, and as mentioned: More work for no extra pay.

[–] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Getting it done quick and then relaxing only attracts attention and criticism, and as mentioned

The trick is getting your task done quickly and then pretend to still be working on it while actually doing nothing.

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[–] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 49 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Yeah, looking busy is way more important than being productive a lot of the time. You always need to be doing something, so you just go through the motions of doing things because otherwise you'll get shit from your employers. Waiting in good faith for more real tasks to emerge isn't enough, so you must invent chores.

At least, that was very consistently my experience in retail.

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[–] krayj@sh.itjust.works 48 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Your employer is ALWAYS looking for a way to either get more work out of you for the same compensation, or replace you with some one or some process that produces the equivalent output for less cost. The entire idea that employees should be loyal to their employers is one of the most successful propaganda campaigns ever spawned by capitalism.

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[–] lazylion_ca@lemmy.ca 43 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

We don't have time to do it right the first time, but we will make just enough time to redo it wrong a few more times before the customer complains loudly enough that the boss pulls someone from another job which will now not be done right because we don't have time.

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[–] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 37 points 1 year ago

The more someone is paid, the less actual vital work they tend to do.

[–] patomaloqueiro@lemmy.ml 36 points 1 year ago

Minimum wage, minimum effort

[–] logen@lemm.ee 36 points 1 year ago (12 children)

That everything I buy can be measured as totalCost/wages*0.82=hoursCost.

I love measuring things in hours.

Let's assume I make 12/hr. Is 24 cans of soda really worth more (taxes) than an hour of work? 12 bucks might not sound too bad, but over an hours wages does.

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[–] MapleEngineer@reddthat.com 35 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Working for the federal government in Canada I learned that following the process is far more important than getting anything done.

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[–] pH3ra@lemmy.ml 34 points 1 year ago (5 children)

That, given the chance, always choose a smaller company: having a direct contact with the person that pays your salary gives you a better shot in terms of professional growth

[–] ours@lemmy.film 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The downside is that in smaller companies, assholes have a bigger impact on you.

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[–] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hold on dearly to any leverage you might have over your employer

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[–] CoolBeance@lemm.ee 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's suffocating to be in a middle management position because you get squeezed by the higher-ups and your own team. If the higher-ups make a decision that your team dislikes or vice versa, you're going to be in the shitter with whichever party suffered every time even if you had the best intentions.

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[–] Wakkawakkawakka@lemm.ee 32 points 1 year ago (132 children)
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[–] LillyPip@lemmy.ca 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My biggest lesson was that decades of work means nothing if you become disabled (in the US).

You can end up with literally nothing and lose literally everything if you become disabled. Even if you still have skills, even though you worked hard to contribute to society for decades, it can all go away overnight and you can suddenly not afford food anymore. There’s no safety net, and you won’t learn that until you need it.

Because fuck you.

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[–] gandalf_der_12te@feddit.de 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If the company claims that "you need to work overtimes because we are short on stuff", then that's definitely their failure to hire more people. NEVER work overtime, except if you get appropriate compensation for it.

"No" means "no", also in and especially in the work environment. If your boss asks you to stay longer to "finish the task", just say "no" and walk away.

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[–] Elw@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 1 year ago

Boundaries. Establish them and defend them with every ounce of your being. If you don't, most employers will grind you in to the dirt and send you out to pasture when you eventually crack under the pressure. Better to establish healthy boundaries up front. Not only will you find yourself more frequently surrounded by people you like and share mutual respect with, you will be happier and land fewer "shit" jobs because employers looking for people to send to the meat grinder will see that they can't grind you down and you'll be filtered from the hiring pool before you ever have to suffer at their hands.

[–] SmartDebbie@lemm.ee 27 points 1 year ago

Never do more than you are asked, especially for free

[–] Sused@lemmy.sdf.org 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It has taught me that imposter syndrome fucking sucks.

On a more serious note, it’s taught me to be a solid ally for colleagues but always be skeptical of the business owners and decision makers themselves. I woke up to a layoff along with 5 other people and was laid off for 3 months before I found a new gig. Don’t allow emotions to cloud your job search. It’s all a negotiation and you should push for whatever you can get in terms of salary, PTO, etc. Never sell yourself short because the company sold you some story about how they need help.

[–] 77slevin@sopuli.xyz 25 points 1 year ago

No matter how much you invest you're time and effort for your job: You are expendable, and the only people who will know you were absent from home because of work 20 years later, will be your kids.

[–] Echo71Niner@lemm.ee 24 points 1 year ago

The company doesn’t care about you. The company doesn’t care about you. The company doesn’t care about you. The company doesn’t care about you. The company doesn’t care about you. The company doesn’t care about you.

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