More Than Ever, Employees Want a Say in How Their Companies Are Run (qz.com)

Two readers share a report: While workers have traditionally looked to unions to address their grievances, a new generation is trusting in the power of petitions to force changes. At the Wall Street Journal, 160 reporters and editors, delivered a letter to their managers protesting the lack of women and minorities running the organization, Business Insider reported yesterday. "Nearly all the people at high levels at the paper deciding what we cover and how are white men," the letter read. IBM employees are circulating an online petition objecting to the tone of CEO Ginni Rometty's letter to US president Donald Trump, and calling on her affirm what they call the company's progressive values. [...] Other employee petitions call for Oracle to oppose US president Donald Trump's second travel ban, and to let men who work at US regional supermarket Publix grow beards. Employee petitions are now so popular there's a website, coworker.org, devoted to hosting them. In some cases, the campaigns work: Starbuck's relaxed its rules about visible tattoos and unnatural hair color for baristas after thousands signed petitions asking for a change. Sometimes, they fail disastrously. Interns at one (unnamed) company described in a blog about being fired en masse after signing a petition asking for a more relaxed dress code.

Comments

Re:Translation

[dcw3]

1. Dress codes (outside of safety) have little to do with working hard and more to do with enforcing unnecessary conformity.

If you're an employee who deals with customers then suck it up. Your employer has every right to demand you dress appropriately, else you could be costing them business. Don't like it?...gtfo. Our office has a business casual dress code...don't come in wearing shorts or flip flops. If you want to be a slob, go somewhere else.

I've also had occasion to ask HR to talk to a female employee about her exposing a bit too much...every day. I'm no Puritan, but sheesh, the office isn't a place to share your cleavage, or wear skirts that expose your panties.