Slashdot Mirror
Beyond Pay?
An anonymous reader asks: "I was wondering if Slashdot readers have encountered harassment in the workplace, and how they have dealt with it. In particular, when working for
technology-based companies. Examples of this include the company forcing employees to put in extra (unpaid) hours, with the implicit/explicit threat of loosing the job if they don't, to actual personal harassment in the work place by management staff. My experience is that even in cases where the employee is completely right, it is impossible for her to win the case, given current employment law."
Telling you to work overtime or you'll be fired is not harassment, but it could be a violation of some labor laws (IANAL) depending on the nature of the job and the way you're paid. For example, if you're paid hourly, then they have to pay you for overtime. If you're on salary, you may or may not be entitled to paid overtime. Most states now are right-to-work states, which means that they can fire you for no reason, and you can quit for no reason, and nobody can do anything about it.
Actual harassment, such as sexual harassment, physical intimidation, etc., is a whole other can of worms. You can and should fight this sort of thing, if for no other reason than to ger the person doing it fired. You can easily find a lawyer who will represent you for a percentage of the settlement. Just be prepared to find a new job when it's over.
- Vincit qui patitur.
At my old job, my boss had something against me. I have about 10 years of experience in the field, but I look young. I'm around 30, but look more like early 20's. At first I thought my boss was kidding around when he'd make comments about me not knowing something or "my many years of experience", but after awhile I realized the guy actually thinks because I look young, I must not know anything.
Projects that I was on before he started were slowly being given to other people, and he joking around finally got to me. I asked him to stop, and it just got worse. And he got spiteful about it.
Eventually it escalated to the point where I told him to fuck off and I walked out. Yeah, probably a bit childish, but I don't wanna be in a workplace where I have to go to HR and deal with jackasses who can't look past a person's physical appearance.
I guy that was younger than me, with less experience and definintely less knowledge, got promoted to a position I applied for, but he looked much older than I did. That kind of shit is plain wrong, but almost impossible to prove. And it happens everywhere.
Change "her" to "him" and you'd be right. In the past year alone I've seen two men be fired, on the spot, without a chance for any rebuttal because a woman claimed sexual harassment. Of the four times I've seen a man claim he was sexually harassed by a female empoloyee, NOT ONCE was the woman fired, or even punished. In fact, in one instance, the man was fired!
As far as being bullied into working unpaid hours, don't. It's that simple. You don't want to work for a company that bullies it's employees. The employment market is bad, but not bad enough to stay in a situation like that.
So you hate the place you work? Why are you still working there?
Look at it this way. You are the victim of a faulty syllogism:
Why do you have to be a software engineer? Is it because you like the job? Well, taken as a whole you don't appear to like your job.
Is it the pay? Well, do you have time to enjoy the pay?
I don't want to oversimplify this, because if you demand respect, you may end up with respect but no job. But if you start from the position that you need this job to survive then your prospects are grim.
On the other hand if you start from the attitude that you can survive without this job, and that every person has a right to dignity and a personal life, you can make a rational decision about where to draw the line. You have your line, your boss has his line, and the space in the middle is where you can negotiate changes without having to issue an ultimatum. If you're boss's line is behind your line, then you have to look for another job.
So, we've established that you should attempt to negotiate working condition improvements. How do you do it? There's no magic formula becuase it depends on your boss. Of course, if your boss is a narcissitic jerk, then there is no hope, and you have to pull the plug on the relationship. I'd suggest that you point out he can get more out of his employees if they are happy and willing. Appeal to his sense of leadership. A little fear now and then is a good thing, but a constant atmosphere of fear and powerlessness is poisonous to productivity.
I manage a highly productive development team. Any one of them would, if I asked, willingly put in an 80+ hour week. The key here is willing. My management problem is that I actually have to throttle them back so they don't repeatedly throw themselves into the breach. Today I have people taking an enforced four day weekend because they gave up their last weekend. I just tell other managers they can't keep going to the same well over and over without consequences in quality and productivity. I express sincere gratitude for efforts above and beyond, and find various little ways to reward and acknolewdge them. The result is we have a lot more fun, and in an emergency I can call any of them on 8PM on a Friday and they will gladly come in for the weekend. Respect and cameraderie are incredibly powerful management tools.
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