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Microsoft Asks For a Refund From Laid-Off Workers [updated]
An anonymous reader writes "The large print giveth, the small print taketh away. Microsoft, which recently laid off 1400 employees, is now claiming that some of those lucky schmoes were inadvertently overpaid on their severance package. A letter from the company, which was subsequently circulated on the internet, states: 'We ask that you repay the overpayment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to you.' Microsoft has confirmed the authenticity of the letter, but it's not known what the amounts in question are, or how many of the 1400 were affected." Update: 02/24 14:00 GMT by T : VinylRecords writes "Well, now Microsoft has recanted, saying that the situation has resulted in unfortunate amounts of bad press and public relations. 'This was a mistake on our part,' said a Microsoft spokesman in an e-mailed statement. 'We should have handled this situation in a more thoughtful manner.'"
I guess that depends on what you define as well. My flatmate worked for them once, and yeah he got lots of perks like unlimited free food and drink and other stuff, but in his experience he was expected to be at his desk almost permanently, working 18-20 hour days every day. You want the free food, you can eat it at your desk whilst you work. They also hated it if he had any form of life outside of microsoft, although I don't think that was too much of a problem for him :-P
Could just be the office he worked at, but that sure doesn't sound like treating your staff well.
People wonder why the rest of the world tends to only accept a watered-down version of market economics. This kind of thing answers that: capitalism is ugly. True, excess gov't can also be ugly, but lows are less low. Capitalism has higher highs and lower lows in terms of both income levels and swings for any given individual. It kicks you harder when you are down.
Table-ized A.I.
Microsoft has a history of abusing their employees.
They were taken to court a couple of decades back because they didn't want to pay their cleaners overtime.
They were taken to court over "perma-temps". Ask anyone from the "BOGUS. badge" time (people wearing badges that said BOGUS, which stood for "Bend Over, Grease Up Sucker, 'cuz I'm vested and you ain't") how bad it was.
They have a culture of abuse, including screaming at people, as well as paranoia - you have to be at your desk at least as long as your boss, or you're not a "team player" - but you don't get overtime.
A headhunter was looking for c/c++ programmers in the early '90s, and I told her I was interested - unless it was Microsoft. She wanted to know why. Even then, their "culture" was well-known.
Microsoft products are crappy for a reason. You treat people like crap, they're going to produce crap. After all, GIGO - garbage in, garbage out.
People need a life away from work. That's not being a "team player" or a "'softie."
They should learn The Toyota Way - quality as consequence. Then change their actions.
Okay, I replied to this post on another thread, but I have to link the screenshot here too since the same MS propaganda site has been posted to this thread as well. My last visit to "Get the Facts": http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s294/morghanphoenix/msreliability.png