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this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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Well those are going to be the best workers ever ๐.
Jesus these people are delusional. Imagine having a happy motivated workforce.
We lost 50% of our team this year. They all cited a shitty work environment as a reason. (Like most people who quit.) Also unworthy pay.
I'm trying to get the boss chain to understand that it takes a fresh person a year to be fully operational. If you have to replace someone, it directly costs you money, let alone the likely higher salary.
If you as a boss feel like your team is "underperforming", it's your job - not the team's - to come up with KPIs and evaluate if your feeling is just greed or if there's an actual issue, and if there is, it's also your job to remedy it. You need a strategy for that - you know, the kind of thing a boss does.
But since only sales reps get promotions because they're good at selling themselves and bring direct income, we're all fucked. They only know competition and their responsibility stops after their signature, be it a sale or a job contract.
As someone who has been in that situation, at some point you need to realize that poor leadership is the issue, and there is no way you can fix that from lower on the totem pole.
Also, reputation is everything. If your department has a bad reputation in leadership's eyes, no matter what you do personally, you will also be associated with that reputation.
It's best to leave these kinds of places for a fresh start.
Yeah, that's what I'm worried about, too. I came here specifically because I know the CEO and he wanted me as a remedy, so I want to try to get him to listen before jumping ship again.
If you know the CEO then you have a fighting chance. But he needs to want to change.
I'm really sorry for what you have to endure (likely) in the USA. I can only say that it is very different here in Europe.
Its also shitty and annoying but on a completely different level aka much better in general (of course not every country or company). Everytime I left an employer they were sad to see me go for two reasons: money/invest of course but also regarding the impression I left.
Nope, Switzerland. Boss trash talks ex employees after they leave, e.g. "not sad to see them go since they were low-performers" in his imaginary world of instant gratification.
I do think the extent is atypical, though.
Oof shit sorry. I had a friend who once worked in Genf but I didn't hear of those business habits there from him.
But why do that when you can wantonly exploit your workforce for obscene profits? /s
See, they don't need the best workers, isn't like they are going to be partaking of the services or products they are shoveling, they just need obedient workers who will meet a minimum threshold of quality; anyone who falls below the threshold can be used as an example to ensure the rest keep working.
They aren't delusional, they are owning class capitalists and their incentives are fundamentally different from ours as working class people.
Hm, yes to what you're saying but I'd still call them delusional.
The reason being taking established business management knowledge. Yes, you want to maximize profit (there's more to that, but let's leave it at that for here). You calculate how to do this and it is known on general that the positive reinforcement works better and more reliably than the negative path.
So for me, they're delusional in holding on to wrong beliefs. And they're bad managers too.
And let's not get started on the morality of course.
This is just how the system of capitalism naturally degrades into fascism. Eventually they can't squeeze enough out of the established methods and must tighten their grip. Positive reinforcement only gets you so far, and the owning-class wishes to go further.
And what makes a "good/bad" manager depends on the incentive structure. To us, the way they manage things is considered bad by our interests but, to them, they see it as good management because it is still fulfilling their interests.
But in the sense that they are holding the "wrong beliefs", I guess you could call them delusional, with their delusion being of the owning class. It is just very unfortunate our society is built to reinforce that delusion.
Ah but the fulfilling their needs is not what it does. Only short term. And I'd like long term money if I were in that position. Anyhow, nitpicking I guess.
Had to stop myself from quoting star wars grip tightening quote.
In the end, I'm totally with you regarding capitalism. We could all have a nice life, especially with all the advancements and working together. Star trek has a nice society. Providing what you're good at and like would really benefit all.
Anyhow, won't work with humans I guess. Best of luck to us though.
It is not nitpicking. It's actually a good point. You think that because you have the perspective of the present conditions. You're thinking of what you would do with those resources to solve the issues you see with that perspective. Yet, the owning-class don't; they only have their perspective of what is immediately important in their lives and maintaining it. It fulfills those needs now and that's what they care about, the rest of their issues they still believe they can solve by throwing at it money and the labor of others while they go stroke their egos; gorging themselves on luxury and decadence assuming they are to powerful to be touched by the problems the masses struggle with.
That is the insidious problem with systemic issues. The princess didn't tell them to eat brioche out of spite but because she was blinded by her position being so far separated an experience from that of the common masses. They, the owning-class, too are only human and can only see what they see from their individual, limited perspective. The system is working just fine for them and they want to ensure that continues to be. That inherently jades the logic of their internal reasoning. It's why they don't think like me and you.
That egalitarian society might seem distant, and it is, that doesn't mean it is impossible. We know it potentially can happen as anthropologist David Graeber said, "The ultimate goal of our oppressors is to limit our imagination about what is possible without them, so that we might never imagine more for ourselves and the world we live in. We can only imagine what is in front of us because the power structure decrees that there are no alternatives other than what currently exists. We humans have lived the alternative for tens of thousands of years. We are capable of building a free society, a brighter future, because we already have ideas about what that might look like. We know what societies without bureaucracies are capable of."
It's just gonna take a LOT of work and we are on the back foot in the present moment. Yet, as Ursula K LeGuin said, "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings." We just have to built that society in the here and now, within our communities, in whatever way we can.
Thanks for this delightful back and forth. Keep the hope alive. It's all we have currently.
Thank you, too!
'Unless....'