Those are very rare - especially for technical jobs. And they probably knew going it would be a temp job. @Beancounter was saying something completely different.
No, he was never informed that it was a short-term job. But, both that consulting firm and Pan Am are long gone, while my brother is alive and kicking.
2 Likes
I learn from my mistakes and offer help to those starting out. Don’t you?
1 Like
The factory overhead includes all of that expensive automation. That’s why they can’t sell anything cheap anymore. They saved on labor but built in a heavy new load of cost.
That likely ended in the 70s or 80s when companies weren’t allowed to hire independent consultants to avoid benefits anymore. Once they had to consult through a contracting company, that company had an incentive to keep their employees working somewhere. This was for jobs that would ordinarily be employees but found it more attractive to work for somewhat less total compensation and take it all in salary. Consultants that worked on specific issues for a predetermined short term could still be traditional consultants. I’m not sure exactly how it works since I’ve always been an employee with traditional benefits.
Consulting hasn’t ended. The rules changed somewhat. I’ve hired consultants directly on a 1099 or through a consulting company where I pay the consulting company X amount above the rate of the consultant (usually around 20%). I consulted for years during the 90’s. My wife had a good job with benefits and thus I didn’t need benefits. Consulting pay was 30%+ more than the same fulltime engineer doing the same job - but no benefits. I could be very lucrative. If you get paid direct via 1099 there are some added benefits like SEP which allows you to put in a lot more money into a tax free retirement account than a 401k. Consulting really only makes sense if you are single and buying medical benefits just for yourself or if you’re married and you wife has a good job with benefits.
While I wish that were true and I think that’s less prevelent today as Temporary Consulting has become more acceptable and the supply of labor varies but some current examples are:
The current Federal terminations of “Probationary” employees (less than 1 year employment) and cancellations of Projects and Grants. I’m betting that a lot of new graduates didn’t see that coming.
More generally at commercial firms, what happens if you staffed up anticipating continuing contracts or continuing project development that doesn’t pan out?
And then there’s built in seasonality in areas like construction and tax and auditing.
You’re talking about GOVERNMENT contracts. Most corporations don’t work on Government contracts. Or contracts of any kind. They design and build a product to sell.
I’ve worked for a few large corporations. Their approach is more ruthless. In the case of a loss of business or change in direction, they almost immediately institute a RIF. At one very large company (to remain nameless) they would give notice to the entire team, regardless of your standing, capability etc. You could then apply for another position within the company and hope for the best.
Some smaller companies I have worked for that were not public, the owner would make the call. If they saw an uptick coming in the near horizon, they would try to ride it out to save precious resources that are hard to replace.
Most companies now will first offer early retirement packages, followed by furloughs and then terminations. Terminations without cause need to follow some rules that involve justifications for the choices being made. Probationary employees have little leverage and are first to go after contractors, part time and other non full-time employees.
1 Like
In most cases for the companies I worked at we moved on to a different project. One company I worked for I was a manager for a team for R&D. Probably only about 20% of our research ever panned out. But that’s what the team was for. Good corporations don’t dedicate large resources for projects that they didn’t research in the first place. We also have marketing team to determine what our customers want/need. Many startups are people with a vision of what they perceive to be something missing in the market or a better/cheaper way of doing something. I was lucky to be in a field that was growing faster than people entering the workplace. I’ve worked for several startups that didn’t pan out. It’s a risk you take. But I was able to find new work in a couple weeks or less.
My father in law worked in food manufacturing. Occasionally he looked for better jobs. He interviewed at PepsiCo and found out that they fire 10% of their employees every year. He didn’t care to be in that environment. He figured that he wouldn’t be fired, but he didn’t want to be forced to determine which of his employees he had to fire each year.
When I worked in a steel mill, one of our customers was Michelin. They said that if someone came up for a promotion and didn’t get it, they were fired. Michelin said that the employee’s future with them was a dead end and they didn’t want to hold them back. Seems like doublespeak to me. The folks I worked with in the rod and wire mills agreed.
1 Like
I certainly wish that more firms had that long term approach but my experience with a large variety of firms, large and small, has been otherwise and has gotten worse. Driven by investors’ demand for immediate results and CEOs compensation based upon “this year’s profits”, long term vision has taken a back seat.
And since most overhead costs Buildings, Plant, Equipment are fixed, the only way to a “quick fix” is Payroll. And today we’re seeing that play out on the Government level as well.
As I told my kids, “There is no Corporate Loyalty anymore so your only job security is your Trade, Education and your ability to find employement elsewhere.”
i.e.A Skilled Trade or a College Degree from a quality school in a demanding Major and keep your skills current.
1 Like
Most firms do have that long term approach. Just to name a few - Microsoft, GE, Oracle, AT&T, Apple.
They have that approach until the market dries up. I have LOTS of friends and former colleagues that were contractors to NASA. Their projects were cancelled and there are significantly fewer new ones. As NASA dramatically shrinks, the govies fill the remaining jobs and the contractors find some place else to work (hopefully).
Sorry, I worked for GE Medical and they were very ruthless when it came to employee retention. Sure, they were quite focused on the top 1%. In fact, as a resource manager, if I lost one of my defined top 1% ers, I was called on the carpet to explain how I let that happen. But they were notorious for canning entire teams if the project was cancelled. They also subscribed to this same philosophy-
Same at GE. They wanted to have turn over and figured it was healthy.
There are books written on how to survive in the GE culture. I worked there and have first hand experience. These policies left a bad taste but I also survived and thrived there.
1 Like
Must be your division. I worked for GE Aerospace and also GE Energy. Many times, project ended and workers found work in other parts of the company. Every company has layoffs. But very few I’ve seen have mass layoffs of dead projects. Most people are absorbed into other parts of the company. I’m sure there are times that people did have to get let go. But it’s far from what Beancounter is talking about.
You may have missed what I said above-
Some fraction of the selected team would find other opportunities within the company but it wasn’t guaranteed by any means. A lot would depend on the state of the economy and how many programs were internally funded as to how many “openings” existed at the time a team was selected due to a project being cancelled.
I worked in both Development Engineering as well as Research. Development Engineering was a bit more stable in that you had a more defined project/program with lower risk. Research was less stable in that they could decide at any time to stop funding some program and then there was a scramble to see what opportunities in Development existed. Often, there would be numerous candidates vying for the same opening so no given…
1 Like
Several in the news with hundreds of layoffs. Target and Gm battery plant. Target wouldn’t be doing this unless they felt the heat to adjust their direction.
Once you are past a certain age, all the degrees in the world will not enable one to get a job. I’ve got an accounting degree and many years as a successful director of accounting for a large corporation and I can’t find a job.
1 Like