[MUD-Dev] Totally OT... (Or is it?) (yes it is ;)

[Jon A. Lambert]

On  9 Jan 98 at 17:36, JC Lawrence wrote:
> On Wed, 7 Jan 1998 17:20:10 PST8PDT Ola wrote:
> 
> > Spoke to a norwegian friend working in the US today, he
> > confirmed my observation (along with american professionals'
> > observation), the attitude is that the employer "owns" the employee
> > much more there than over here. (I know this is different in some
> > game houses)
> 
> This varies a lot, both by industry and locale.  For much of the IT
> industries here in the valley employers of necessity must play court
> to their employees.  If they don't, the employees just get up and
> leave, very very aware of the fact that they can have 5 other job
> offers, likely paying more, within a couple hours.  Part of that
> playing court is often ensuring that the stock value grows
> sufficiently fast as many employees are not interested in their
> (often) pitiful salaries, but in the extra incomes from their stock
> options.
> 
>   Story: A company I interviewed at early last year had a 1 year slump
> in their growth rate (starting right after my interview oddly enough),
> dropping from a pervious average growth rate of 150% - 175% per year
> down to about 14%.  By the end of slumping year (now) they had lost
> over three-quarrters of their technical staff as they'd all left of
> other jobs with better futures/options/etc.
> 
> It happens all the time.
> 

Of course you, I and likely many on this list are in high demand
technical fields (or are studying to be).  The mean lies somewhere in 
the vast other 80%+ of the economy.  It is the competition for labor and 
current economic boom which is causing owners to give employees benefits 
and rights. These benefits can be immediately curtailed, modified and 
revoked at the whim of ownership.  This is far, far different than a 
government imposed regulation on employers, which in good times is hardly
noticeable, but in bad economic times, it can destroy whole industries.  

--
Jon A. Lambert
"Everything that deceives may be said to enchant" - Plato