Ridiculous Employers

Why is it that some employees are so ridiculous and crummy to their employees? Husband's work giving people a hard time for not coming into the office.

This is not an emergency or essential company. The work isn't F2F even. They all have laptops and cell phones and there's not much they can't accomplish the same way from home so why be such pricks?!?!?!

Totally agree, this company is crazy for putting the employees safety in jeopardy.

good question. my company does allow me to work from home, especially in these conditions so I don't get the insistence that people who can just as capably work from home come in.

We go through this every year in our business. It absolutely sucks. There is nothing critical about what we do, but they never shut down for a storm. Worse yet, we are daily employees, so if we refuse to come in they can just replace us.

And I'll add that my husband has never once called in sick in 8 years, has never been late and typically makes it in even in snow where most people can't. But he has a Camry, our street hasn't even been touched yet and it's supposed to just get worse. He's on the phone right now with customers just as he would in the office.

The company president just sent an email to everyone saying they'll be taking a vacation day away from anyone who doesn't come in. complete jerks. They should all now just shut off their phones and close their laptops since they are in "vacation"

My office is closed today but we either have to use vacation time or take a no pay day.

now they've backpeddled on use of a vacation day and are calling (yelling) at people to get in or be fired. Time to find a new job.

and an example of doing what's right (my company email)

To All North America Full Time, Part Time, and Project Employees

Due to inclement weather and dangerous conditions impacting the North East and Mid-Atlantic, we have decided to close the following locations today:

Allentown

King of Prussia

Lancaster

Wilmington

Parsippany

Melville

Norwalk

Burlington

Boston

East Berlin

Warwick

Princeton

In-office events will be cancelled and rescheduled for a later date. All staff will be working virtually to support client and candidate needs throughout the day. Main phone lines have been transferred and will be supported by an Operations team member.

We expect the offices to re-open on Friday, February 10th. Should this change, we will send out additional messages as required.

If you have any questions, please contact ...

Sent on behalf of Operations Support Services

Old school. Is the company relatively small and/or privately owned?

conandrob240 said:

now they've backpeddled on use of a vacation day and are calling (yelling) at people to get in or be fired. Time to find a new job.

I'm sure you can't say where he works, but I'd love to know.

After seeing Max's predictions, I pre-emptively reviewed the adverse weather policy at our department meeting yesterday, and mentioned the likely snow totals. Right after the meeting, the boss decided to head to the ski slopes. (Thanks, Max!)

Obviously this is not the case with Conandrob's husband, but this is also a huge issue for retail workers. Especially when people insist on going out to the store during inclement weather, not for emergency medicine, but because they're bored and they try to justify it because "they have all wheel drive." Yes, you might, but do you think the employee working the cash register for minimum wage has that too?

Also, staying home if you can also makes it easier on workers who have to come in since they will have less vehicles on the road to deal with. And by "workers who have to come in" I'm not talking about people with unreasonable bosses, but actual essential employees, like fire, police, ems, hospital employees, nursing home employees, dpw, pse&g, etc.

My company insists on remote working. After hurricane Sandy most offices were immobilized for close to a month and yet they still had to pay employees, they had enough. Within 12 months every worker (where possible) in the country had remote access. Now business can run uninterrupted and if you choose to use a snow day because the kids are home you must use a PTO, because well, you can work.

spontaneous said:

Also, staying home if you can also makes it easier on workers who have to come in since they will have less vehicles on the road to deal with. And by "workers who have to come in" I'm not talking about people with unreasonable bosses, but actual essential employees, like fire, police, ems, hospital employees, nursing home employees, dpw, pse&g, etc.

Yes! My husband is a firefighter and had to go into work this morning. He could not believe the amount of people on the road. Please stay off the roads unless it's absolutely necessary.

Yup! Small and old school. This was because old boss got in so he was probably annoyed he was there all alone.

yahooyahoo said:

Old school. Is the company relatively small and/or privately owned?

conandrob240 said:

now they've backpeddled on use of a vacation day and are calling (yelling) at people to get in or be fired. Time to find a new job.

If it's a blizzard, essential people and emergency situations are the only reason to be on the road. Safety issue driving, causing accidents, taking police/fire/EMS away from life-threatening work.

For my husband, if all these people go into his office, that now means parking lot can't be plowed properly and the buildings facilities can't salt properly, etc.

If you threaten employees with punishment when they are concerned about their safety with reasonable justification you're going to get the ever loving **** sued out of you if someone gets hurt.

Bonus stupid points for putting the threats in an email.

Find a new company. This one is run by idiots.

ElizMcCord said:

My company insists on remote working. After hurricane Sandy most offices were immobilized for close to a month and yet they still had to pay employees, they had enough. Within 12 months every worker (where possible) in the country had remote access. Now business can run uninterrupted and if you choose to use a snow day because the kids are home you must use a PTO, because well, you can work.

I think that is a fair response. Since they were - are paying the people, they should work. The danger of having to drive in snow was removed.

Yes, he knows they are idiots. He's just been reminded that they also lack human decency.

Jackson_Fusion said:

If you threaten employees with punishment when they are concerned about their safety with reasonable justification you're going to get the ever loving **** sued out of you if someone gets hurt.

Bonus stupid points for putting the threats in an email.

Find a new company. This one is run by idiots.

the thing that gets me (we have similar annual issues, with floods and fire) is that most places that aren't purely walk-in retail or F2F service delivery have some kind of business-supplied email and phone equipment you use remotely. You'll use those. It's obvious you're working: Accounts and Payroll can easily check up to verify your claims.

E-commute instead of claiming workers' compo - it's a wiser business choice!

II feel bad about going out to a store or restaurant in weather like this..even calling for a delivery and will only do it if absolutely necessary...if people would stop using businesses in bad weather (and holidays), they wouldn't bother opening

?

My last job when I lived in Maplewood was also terrible. I worked in the NY office and was expected to be in the office during snow, hurricanes, etc. or else forfeit a PTO day (I was told they also made people come into the office the day after 9/11 when the city was virtually closed). Yet the Newark office routinely closed the minute a snowflake hit the ground and their employees were paid for those days. Another reason why I'm so grateful I don't work there any more and fully believe in karma.

That's RIDICULOUS. What a ****** employer.

boomie said:

That's RIDICULOUS. What a ****** employer.

You can say that again! Do you wonder why they're my FORMER employer?