I had made another post earlier about quitting my job because of getting a better offer. But it made me ponder about worker's rights more generally.
As I said, I work in IT, which is one of the better places to work. The joke goes that we get paid to stare at a backlit rectangle all day. The pay is good and it allows me to have money to spend on my hobbies.
But on a deeper level, it isn't that rosy. Despite making good money for where I live, I'd still need to take out a bank loan of at least a decade or more to buy a house. The only reason I have savings is because I'm single and take the company bus to work. I don't care about owning a car, but if I wanted to, I'd not have much left over either. My married colleagues are broke at the end of every month. Overtime is always unpaid. I am simply expected to work long hours when clients have urgent deliverables, because god knows they won't stay late. Not that they do the work anyway. It's all us. They just take the credit while claiming how much of a “team” we are.
But the fun really begins when you want to switch jobs. Look at the openings on job sites. Some of them drove me up the wall. For a job more or less like the one I'm doing now, companies ask for experience in five different technologies, a decade of experience, and all other random things. There will be umpteen rounds of interviews. My division was acquired by another company a few years ago, probably 2017 or 2018, so we switched to being employees for the new company. A colleague wasn't happy so he started interviewing with the old company to take him back. Despite being a former employee, he was made to sit through eight rounds of interviews. I don't know what glue they were sniffing because I can guarantee our jobs don't require so many interviews. He was unfortunate to have begun the process in late 2019 or early 2020, because after these eight rounds, the pandemic hit. Immediately the company slammed the brakes on all hiring, and he got no further. He is still at his job in the new company two years later since they never got back to him. So much for “company loyalty”, eh?
I had a similar thing happen before I got my current offer. A friend of mine who had worked in one of my earlier companies told me they were hiring like crazy and had a soft spot for ex-employees. I was desperate at the time and decided to take a shot since my friend had gotten an offer very quickly. I applied for a job I was overqualified for. Colour me shocked when about a week later, my profile was rejected since the company currently didn't have “openings that matched my profile”. All this after I looked up the numerous openings and applied specifically to the one that matched my skillset.
That's not all. Some of these openings will be very clear that they won't accept candidates who can't join immediately. Since every company has long notice periods, this means you can't even apply to some of the best openings because they won't wait. On the other hand, when the company fires you, you'll be kicked to the kerb immediately. Altogether, the rules are setup to make it really hard for you to leave, while making it easy for the company to get rid of you if they ever wish to.
I know what I outlined above is still better than many of the horror stories I've read. Despite the shortcomings, the IT industry is stable and growing since we are moving towards an ever more technologically driven world. Many openings do let you apply even with a lengthy notice period, and for the most part, companies don't fire people willy nilly. They prefer to work through an employee's issues rather than fire them, and every employee is given fair warning if they are on thin ice. But I am under no illusions as to our worth to companies. It's no coincidence that instead of an employee's department, we have an HR department. Since when did living, breathing people become “human resources”? The very term “HR” drives me up the wall.