I need help! I work for a large company that used Coronavirus to downsize our staff with the thought that every person would work tons of overtime in order to keep up. They eliminated day shift and now have us working 5 days a week 10-13 hour shifts from early afternoon to morning. Almost all of the guys who were kept were on 1st shift since it’s all based on seniority. It is a very physical job and we get paid by performance. The whole department is upset and these are hard jobs to fill. It takes an average of 2 years for people to build the strength and endurance to do well. Most guys do not last long enough to ever get good. Please give me some ideas on how we can get management to listen. How should we go about it? Do we try to unionize? Do we give them an ultimatum that if they don’t change the hours most of us will quit? Or do we have the larger group of us all separately give notice on the same day and tell them it’s due to the major schedule changes that have taken place. These are things we’re thinking of but if you have any better I would be very appreciative!

anybody home? damn

So, today I told a coworker that she needs to stop eating random fries that see finds on the counters in the kitchen. The kitchen guys have been purposefully dropping fries on the ground and in the trash can and then leaving them around for her to eat. This has actually been going on for a few weeks but honestly I can't stand this woman so I let it continue. But we just sprayed for bugs 2 days ago and I really just thought "well if she gets sick this could potentially lead to a law suit". I quietly pulled her aside this morning and just said that she should stop because the food might have messed with and that the counters were probably really dirty. She thanked me for telling her but was clearly upset. And I thought that was the end of if. I was fucking wrong. So she ends up walking out shortly after this and never comes back. The owner pulls me into the office and asked me where she went. I told him what I said to her and he fucking exploded on me. Saying I never should have said anything to her and it wasn't my place!? Then he goes back in to the kitchen and asks the guys what they were doing and he uses my name. They obviously denied it and now they're pissed at me. So then he accused me of making this up so she would quit! Like what the actual fuck. Theses guys were bragging about how they were giving her "trash fries" for the past few week. Multiple employees heard this too. So a server comes to my defense and says that I'm not making this up. She gets yelled at too by the owner. I suppose what I'm most upset about is how the owner handled the situation. Like he shouldn't have used my name when talking to the other employees, causing my working relationships to become terrible. But can anyone tell me how I should have handled this better? I honestly feel like I should never have said anything with how much shit this gave me today. Silver lining: she was the shittiest server I've seen in awhile.

The company I work for will be starting to use Workday. I'm a little worried about privacy issues with it. What information will be shared? Should I decline participation?

I work at an IGA grocery store as the Frozen Department Manager and Grocery Clerk and have been there for 3 years now. I have often times overheard my stores Assistant Manager talking bad about my coworkers. I'm the kind of person who comes in, does their work, and doesnt talk much more than necessary for the job so I typically ignore her gossip. This time however I'm beginning to get tired of it. My girlfriend (Named Kim) who also works at the store (as a cashier) is very friendly and chats with customers cheerfully as they go through her line. My assistant manager seems to take issue with it however. She was walking through my department one day with another coworker talking about the schedule. The employee asked which Kim was working that night (as we have two kims.) And my assistant manager replied "The Loudmouth." This really upset me but I kept it to myself. Fast forward a couple months and my Assistant Manager is talking with another cashier while my girlfriend is cashiering one checkstand away. The assistant manager looked at Kim who was laughing and joking with a customer and said to the other cashier, "Doesnt Kim ever shut-up?" Kim heard her say it and became very upset and hurt. This is the second time I've heard the AM talk bad about Kim, and probably the 10th time ive heard her talk bad about other employees. I can only imagine I'm being talked about as well and I'm at a loss as to what I should do about it. I'm the longest Tenured employee in the grocery department having even helped train this Assistant Manager to be my boss before she was promoted. I've even been at the store longer than the Store Manager himself. He was transferred to our branch about 1 year ago meaning I've worked here longer than any upper management or employee in my departments. I dont say that as a bragging point at all, but rather to explain that I value my job highly due to my age and position. (I'm only 21.) I'm good friends with my Manager and he often looks to me as an equal, however the Assistant Manager has been known to backstab and manipulate to move up. She has also several times called our stores Corporate Boss when she needed to get around our Managers directions. I want to report her for creating a hostile work environment but I fear she could target me and pull strings to have me fired. What should I do? My girlfriend plans on finding a new job, so that should clear up soon, but nonetheless I feel that something needs to be done. It's a dog eat dog workplace at times and I want to protect myself and others as best i can before she takes over as Store Manager someday. Sorry for the really long post, but I've been holding my opinions in for a couple years. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any advice you can give!

I am new to this sub, but it seemed like the best place to ask this. I am in the odd position of being a lead without the title. It's been this way for about 6 months since our lead quit. The company, due to location and reputation, has a hard time attracting talent. I told my boss I'd like the position, being the most experienced and, subject matter wise, the most knowledgeable. As of yet however, no one has been named or hired as lead. Myself and another co-worker take on the role together.

We like to keep an attitude of equality in our team however I've recently had an issue with a more junior team member. He always seems, to me, to fight the advice of his seniors and often proposes things that are the antithesis of good practices. Usually I try to listen and continue my advice, explaining myself in a different way maybe or trying to address the concerns he has and help him grow. In the last few days though we've been ramping up for a new project and he seems to be fighting every effort I put forth and today I unfortunately showed my irritation. It wasn't bad, nothing was outright said but the feeling was communicated.

So, we discussed it later over Slack and I told him my concerns. I told him that I valued his opinions and did not want him to cow, but to realize that experience gives me and others insights that maybe he doesn't have.

In this explanation I told him he is in fact the most junior on our team. He responded by assuming that I was meaning tenure at the company but even after clarifying he asserted that he thought we were all leading together and that he didn't see anyone as senior or junior basically.

I had just taken for granted that someone in their second year of experience would understand that someone with nearly a decade of work should at least be thought of as deserving some reverence. I don't wanna stifle my teammate, but I work in a field where there are right and wrong answers and we can't seem to get him to understand.

(TL;DR) My ultimate question is, while maintaining equality and encouraging democratic discourse in our group, how do we still account for experience?

I work at at a CPA firm in an office of about 300 people, and while some of the top partners are from other parts of the world, I would not call my company diverse per se. To try and overcome that, our regional recruiter has been making annual trips to Puerto Rico and has hired 1 or 2 college grads per year from there for the past 5 years or so. The issue here is that the aspired diversity is being forced. The kids coming out of there speak perfect English, but the school's CPA pass rate is drastically lower than that of all other major schools that my firm recruits at. The accounting program there is subpar in general.

Sadly enough, each of these Puerto Ricans are the worst (not just among the worst) in their respective recruiting class. Lowering expectations for them to qualify for employment at the firm is inherently racist. A few of them are going to get cut this year and I feel bad for them because it isn't their fault. The blame falls on those who look at the color of one's skin when trying to staff a position rather than merit alone.

You should never force diversity, but if you really want to make your company more diverse, make sure the minority candidate is just as smart as the guy standing next to him or her. If I am equally as qualified for a job as the Latin American man standing next to me, and you want to give him the job, then I can't argue with that because I genuinely believe diversity is a good thing. But if I am even remotely more qualified than he is, skin color should be a non-factor.

Some might argue that minorities will never be able to advance in the workplace if we don't make these sacrifices and lower the bar for them so they can raise up in the future. That is a lie because it has nothing to do with clearing a path for them, and everything to do with that person's personal determination and/or culture. How can one say that success in the workplace is paved only for white people when when Ghanaian, Nigerian, Indian, Chinese, Pakistani, and many other Americans all make more money than Caucasians. People from those cultures value education and hard work way more than other parts of the world. They don't need a handout. No one needs to lower the bar for them, nor should it be lowered for anyone else. The best way to achieve diversity is to treat everyone equally.

If there is no comfort amidst employees, it’s likely that most of the talented workers will leave rather than be inventive, productive and customer-centric. Here are 5 secrets to make the happy workplace.

I've been at my job 3.5 years. I work in NYC for a very prominent real estate developer. Most people in my business are men. Women are relegated to admins, accounting, marketing, etc. I've had an amazing run, was only supposed to stay 2 years for one project and stayed almost 4. My company has a strong history of constantly renegotiating commissions and I'm always having to fight for my Team who is amazing. Anyway,flash forward to my end date in the near future and my "bonus". They refuse to guarantee it and the 2 men I report to literally cannot wait to get me out. The owner of the company has frequently sided with me during my tenure but at end of day, these 2 men got him to agree with them to not create a permanent position for me. They just want me out. Bottom line, I KNOW, that if I stay then next 7 weeks until I'm supposed to leave, they are going to try to screw me out of what amounts to about 23k. They are not trustworthy and simply cannot wait until I'm gone.

They refuse to guarantee the bonus. I'd say it's 50/50 whether I actually get it. Trying to focus on the future and be mature but this is beyond irksome.

Well, if any of the 27 or so subscribers as of 7-2-2017 have any input please join in. As of now I will be posting information on worker cooperatives and workplace democracy to broaden the discussions on what it means to develop democracy in one of the places where society has it least - the workplace.