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Antiwork

Salary Employee Exploitation

I’m a salary employee for a large healthcare corporation. As managers, myself and 3 other colleagues handle a large number of issues from ~20 medical centers on a daily basis. Without getting into too much detail, our department provides support for about 1500 patients a day and we operate 24/7. To divide up the constant bombardment of issues, or “escalations” as they’re referred to, we work weekends on a rotational basis in addition to being available in the evenings and on our off weekends. We are given “comp days” for working the weekend (2 weekdays off a month). The work is stressful and constant and the comp days are the only saving grace. On one of my recent comp days, an administrator from one of the medical centers attempted to get ahold of me. I was unavailable because I was sleeping and this resulted in a complaint to my direct…


I’m a salary employee for a large healthcare corporation. As managers, myself and 3 other colleagues handle a large number of issues from ~20 medical centers on a daily basis. Without getting into too much detail, our department provides support for about 1500 patients a day and we operate 24/7. To divide up the constant bombardment of issues, or “escalations” as they’re referred to, we work weekends on a rotational basis in addition to being available in the evenings and on our off weekends. We are given “comp days” for working the weekend (2 weekdays off a month). The work is stressful and constant and the comp days are the only saving grace. On one of my recent comp days, an administrator from one of the medical centers attempted to get ahold of me. I was unavailable because I was sleeping and this resulted in a complaint to my direct report. After a rather awkward and unpleasant conversation with my direct report about being available on my off day, I was advised that I could be required to work 80 hours a week and be available 24/7, if they required me to make me do so. I was also advised that the comp days would likely soon become a thing of the past. Of course, I contacted HR and asked if there was some sort of labor law against this in California and I was advised that there is not. I then contacted EAP (confidential counseling for employees) instead of quitting on the spot and EAP provided some job counseling services and relaxation app suggestions. I have been with the company for many years and this only really became an issue post-pandemic with the department continuing to operate remotely. I have been casually looking for another job since late last year and have had several interviews but nothing has quite panned out just yet. I don’t want to quit before I find another job but I will if I have to and I’ll be okay for a few months. I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this. The real burner is that this company claims to be an advocate for work-life balance and healthy living while treating their employees like this.

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