I imagine it’s legal as long as they’re salaried, and not hourly. There are certain protections in place for hourly workers that don’t apply to “exempt” workers- compensation requirements (time-and-a-half, breaks, etc…)
What he’s doing sure seems to skate awfully close to constructive dismissal, which is when someone resigns due to a hostile work environment having been created. And that’s generally illegal, although as I understand it (IANA employment lawyer), the remedy is generally requiring employers to pay severance in that situation.
And what I really don’t get is why anyone would stick around for Twitter. I mean, I sort of see the vision behind SpaceX and the idea that you’re doing something really cool, pushing boundaries, exploring space, going where few men have gone before, etc… And I can see why some people might want to be on board with that, even with oppressive working conditions. But Twitter? There’s none of that visionary, boundary-pushing stuff there. It’s a social media platform. It’s not really changing the world anymore, if it ever really did. So why work 80 hour days or whatever? Just bail, work 40-50 somewhere else, and in all likelihood, get a bigger paycheck from your new employer for doing so.
Yeah, I’ve never really got that myself. I’ve worked for many companies, and they’ve all wanted us to have the company’s goals in mind, some sort of team attitude, and put the company first whenever possible.
I came to the conclusion that most of that rah-rah company stuff, “company culture” and “professionalism” are all just bullshit that companies put forth to try and get you to do more than they’re actually paying you for, by way of making you feel guilty if you don’t, because it’s “not professional”, or it’s “not the way we operate” or whatever.
Which is exactly what Musk seems to be relying on here, just in a more insane way.
Were you a contractor or a W-2 employee? I ask, because most employers in the United States do not have worker agreements like this with their employees.
There’s hostile work environment and then intolerable working conditions. A hostile work environment refers harassment due to membership in a protected class. If your boss has a habit of making snide comments about women, that’s probably a hostile work environment. If he’s a raging asshole, bully, or is making unreasonable demands not based on membership in a protected class it’s probably an intolerable working environment. Constructive dismissal can apply to either situation though.
It is possible to get people to care about that, but it takes vision, not drive. You can get people to invest effort in attaining a future objective (like ‘outr company will be the best loved supplier of affordable widgets’), particularly if you are able to tie that journey in with skills development, benefits and recognition maybe remuneration (but not necessarily).
But so many business ‘leaders’ have a ‘corporate vision’ that is little more than profit number go up. If you’re not going to share that profit in some way with your people, they’re not likely to care what the number does.
People will work to see the completion of a compelling vision even without financial incentive, but they won’t be so eager to work for a purely financial goal that only benefits the top bods
Still, they are ways to rebel. My last company was good in not laying off people after the Great Recession. Not many raises, but still. They stayed with the no raises for 70% of the population when things improved. Lots of people left, but just before I retired we got a screed from HR saying that the noticed few cars in the parking lot before 9 and few after 6. It seems that people were giving themselves raises by cutting their hours.
My boss, to his credit, could hardly keep from cracking up as he read this at a staff meeting. Musk will get lots of resistance, at least until the good people leave.
Early in my work life I was at a couple of start-ups making digital road maps. The whole thing was very entrepreneurial, and I felt very connected to the company and the mission, espirit de corps, etc. and would not hesitate to make some sacrifices when needed to get something done. It was not always a fire drill, but when it was, we all showed-up to ensure the company, and we, succeeded. We were doing something new and it was both fun and rewarding, and the management was right there in the trenches with us. That kind of environment is inspiring and was occasionally “hardcore” (not like @Gatopescado definition, tho ).
This ultimatum to ‘be this way or get out’ will not inspire people to make sacrifices necessary for a successful vision the way Musk is distorting it.
Or do “Comp time” which (to me) makes no sense as an exempt employee. You either got you job done or you didn’t, Having a doctor’s appointment should make no difference in that equation. Like Mrs. Cad having to be in the office for 8.5 hours (half hour lunch in there) starting at 7:30am because one of her duties is to be there on-site so that coworkers can talk with her about things. Umm … cell phones? Email? Oh and yes people call / email her outside that 7:30 - 4:00 (minus lunch hour) and window and she always answers/ responds.
Have you ever heard of the 212 - The Extra Degree training. The idea is that at 211 degrees water doesn’t do anything except sit there like a loser and be all hot. But at 212 degrees it turns to steam and powers steam engines and steam turbines and steam games. So you need to put in that extra 1 degree of effort to make steam.
I.E. work harder so that executives and stockholders (but not you) make more money.
Yeah, it’s really rare. We had a few at my old company (like a few dozen out of about 16K employees), and they were eventually all either reclassed as completely exempt or non-exempt.
Speaking for myself - my career was sales and consulting- I sort of found the opposite was true. I hit a point where I was making a good living servicing lots of long term accounts, and if I had wanted, I could’ve worked twice as hard and increased my business by maybe 10%. That’s when my work/life balance ethic kicked in, it totally wasn’t worth it.
Big Boss: “So what you’re saying Ann is that you could be working twice as hard.”
Unspoken: And make my stock options 10% more valuable. For free no less.
Big Boss: “Now you understand what it means to give that extra degree. Go make steam.”
Unspoken: That reminds me, we need to stop giving employees free donuts on Friday.
I saw the comment today that Musk has a five-year-old’s understanding of how business works:
“We need to cut expenses by half. I know - I’ll fire half of my employees, then make the remaining half work twice as hard. Same production, half the employee expenses! There’s no way this can fail, why doesn’t everybody do this? I’m a genius!”
It was W-2. I didn’t actually see the text of the agreement, I was just led to believe this was required by labor law (though all my stubs specified that I was an exempt, my hours were 50 hours per week, and my wage $40/hr).
Employer was a very large corp not known for a generous or progressive mindset, so I have to assume it was a statutory requirement.
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