Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for June 05, 2024

Too many chiefs, not enough indians.

Reducing staff to increase efficiency is like narrowing the highway to make cars go faster.

They’re looking forward to their year end bonuses for cutting labor costs.

May we assume that “collective bargaining” will not include a massive pay increase?

How long before that last man has a nervous breakdown and/or collapses from overwork and exhaustion, leaving no one left to do the work?

I guess the poor b@st@rd will be ‘collective bargaining’ with his manager – see how far that gets him … On the other hand, since he’s the only one left actually working …

They’re going to form a “collective”?

Oh, hey. It almost looks like a primary care doctor doing prior authorizations for imaging studies and medications. What fun! The suits are the insurance companies. sad

Looks like at least one guy left the chair but took the desk. Most he could get out the door in lieu of money.

At first they worked from home, but then they had no home.

This looks kind of like a government office with one guy doing all the work. What’s missing is all the other people doing nothing, complaining and raking in more money.

This is why the wealthy and business owners are embracing AI: Robots and algorithms don’t need pay, benefits, workers comp, fair wages, etc.

Yeah, he’s so desperate for help, he’ll agree to anything! Mwahh-haha!

It’s actually the result of collective bargaining. The workers won a big pay raise but many of them were fired to pay those who remained and were given more work and duties to fill than previously.

It’s never the right time. If they don’t like working there, hire somebody else. (But, you have to be a fair employr too)

Looks like Apple in the 90’s

Exactly the opposite.

it’s perfect for the worker. He’sw the only employee they have left. If he leaves they are out of business.

Normally when companies cut costs, they lay off their most expensive employees. These are usually their most experienced employees.

That’s sort of like a ball club selling off their best pitchers and hitters. It makes it tougher to rebuild.

Looks to me like a slam-duck for the union to win the election. 1 man, 1 vote! And then the strike vote should be equally easy to pass, However, one person can’t picket effectively, nor can that one person do much about scab labor.

At least the last guy gets the most comfortable chair.

I hope he has good insurance for when he gets his heart attack

Taken to the extreme, “Do more with less” becomes “Do everything with nothing.”

Not enough Resources or Talent to effectively accomplish tasks? Time to transition to Agile / Scrum to further impede and emphasize the ineffectiveness of your company’s business practices. High turnover, no documentation and zero data integrity? No Problem! Welcome to Spaghetti Land! Now fix that overly complicated mission critical report that management uses to determine revenue streams that’s been inoperative for 3 months without any clue on how it works in “half a sprint”

Clearly the ‘collective bargaining’ was last month; all his former colleagues first got raises, then pink slips.

Reducing the staff speeds things up by reducing unnecessary filtering of information, but sometimes a big scoop of sand makes it into the cylinders.

For those interested, the “rule of thumb” for staffing – if your overtime is over 10%, you are understaffed; if it’s less than 5% your overstaffed.

There is nothing good to say about this.

I once had that kind of job security.

Don’t believe the mythology of corporate excellence and genius. The truth is that the only thing modern corporations are really good at is firing people. The slightest hint of a catastrophe or rumor of recession triggers layoff every time, not sometimes, Always ! Happy Wednesday everyone !

When the copy machine breaks down from the rush of all the employees making copies of their resumes, it’s time to leave.

Collective bargaining? is that when you try to get a discount from the Borg?

favorite saying of the day.. “in the long run we’re all dead”

A multi-million dollar merger is announced with great fanfare.

Three months later there are massive, unpublicized layoffs to cover the cost of the merger

A strike or slowdown could have more impact than you’d expect.

Not really unless you want to do his job…..

Actually, now is not a good time. If he gets upset, he may do something you really wouldn’t like done … leave.

Company in Birmingham

Now: All the essential workers have been fired, we can hire a temp agency to fill in for them.

Two years later: Our margin has tanked. Fire the temp agency. And farm out our core business.

Six months later. The bankruptcy proceedings are going well. We are making 50 cents on every dollar of infrastructure, the pension fund has been diverted and the lawyers have settled for stock in our new company.

We Americans want it both ways: we all want to win the capitalistic lottery (self-made billionaires like Bezos and Musk), have affordable health care, keep our piecemeal excuse for immigration policy (full of choke points and inefficiencies), enjoy our cars and pay the lowest tax rates on the planet.