We're seeing something in the computer hardware industry out here in Colorado that is rather troubling. And we're wondering if anyone else is seeing the same in their industry in other parts of the country.
It seems American companies are trending away from hiring employees, using instead contract/temporary labor that they do not pay "industry" wages for, do not provide any benefits to (medical/dental/retirement) nor have to consider any severence pay when they dismiss the lot on a moment's notice (like Friday at noon for Monday morning unemployed). This seems to be this industry's answer to competing in the world market. A skeleton of full-time upper management employees and a mass of temp workers whose numbers change on a quick ebb and flow. These companies DON'T WANT employees.
The company my husband works for was bought out by another. For six weeks there has been no decision. His boss has been training my husband to take over his (the boss' job) figuring he (the boss) wouldn't get picked up by the new company.
Today, many of my husband's co-workers came to him asking if he had been hired by the new firm because they hadn't been (and all rolls over on Monday am). Turns out that TWO out of a couple hundred workers have been hired (and no, he's not one of the two). We'll see what Monday brings.
Thankfully we have a side business that has been out-earning one of our incomes. The industry I'm in is expanding so fast that the company is having trouble getting enough people trained fast enough so I'm relatively secure (if there's such a thing in business!) Maybe this is the boot we needed make our business a full-time venture.
Still, we find this trend rather disturbing. A downsizing of the American worker lifestyle?
Thoughts?? (Maybe this would make an interesting poll)
It seems American companies are trending away from hiring employees, using instead contract/temporary labor that they do not pay "industry" wages for, do not provide any benefits to (medical/dental/retirement) nor have to consider any severence pay when they dismiss the lot on a moment's notice (like Friday at noon for Monday morning unemployed). This seems to be this industry's answer to competing in the world market. A skeleton of full-time upper management employees and a mass of temp workers whose numbers change on a quick ebb and flow. These companies DON'T WANT employees.
The company my husband works for was bought out by another. For six weeks there has been no decision. His boss has been training my husband to take over his (the boss' job) figuring he (the boss) wouldn't get picked up by the new company.
Today, many of my husband's co-workers came to him asking if he had been hired by the new firm because they hadn't been (and all rolls over on Monday am). Turns out that TWO out of a couple hundred workers have been hired (and no, he's not one of the two). We'll see what Monday brings.
Thankfully we have a side business that has been out-earning one of our incomes. The industry I'm in is expanding so fast that the company is having trouble getting enough people trained fast enough so I'm relatively secure (if there's such a thing in business!) Maybe this is the boot we needed make our business a full-time venture.
Still, we find this trend rather disturbing. A downsizing of the American worker lifestyle?
Thoughts?? (Maybe this would make an interesting poll)