I Don't Want To Go To Work

Sorry, but every form of government is, at its root, a kleptocracy.

Most of the bosses I have had fall into two categories.

1, Doesn't matter how good you are at what you do you are as a replaceable cog as anyone else. Raises are not based on merit.

2, Recognizes your worth, gives out raises based on what you do, lays you off and hires someone at the rate you started with.

Of course when you actually turn out product rather than push paper your work output and quality shows.

PAGED!!!

No need to be sorry, I fully agree with this statement.

It can be further refined to the axiom "all bureaucratic organizations are inherently self interested and will seek to expand themselves to infinity or until the organization collapses, which ever happens first".

This is why I am a fan of as little government power as possible, and whatever they do have should be as local as possible. Anarcho-capitalism gives the least amount of power but itself creates a whole other set of issues that we would consider "very bad". Communism gives the most power possible, while also creating a different set of issues that we would consider "very bad".

This ... isn't how that works, at least not at the leadership level.

It's obviously biased from the limited PoV of the "work to pay bills" selection, which again is not bad. The employment contract is exactly that, a contract. The employee agrees to sell their time / skills / knowledge to the company in exchange for compensation from that company. Consulting companies straight up outline this, FTE try to mask it with nonsense but it absolutely exists. Every single person from the janitor to the CEO has an imaginary number over their head which represents the cost per unit of output (profit / etc..) they represent. The better that number is, the more valuable they are to the company because the truth is that absolutely everyone is replicable. The only question is "what would it cost in time / effort" to replace that individual.

There is no such thing as "loyalty" in this equation, just lots of people attempting to make the best risk balanced decision they personally can, including every executive. It sounds depressing and dystopian but it's the hard true and has been the hard true since humans first expanded beyond primitive hunter gatherer tribes. This is why I always push people to constantly hone and improve existing valuable skills while also developing new valuable skills. It grants a large piece of mind when you can operate in a "worse case is I get a change at a promotion and a raise" mindset.

While I agree with most of your post I was NOT talking about leadership level.

I was talking about my experience as grunt on the production level. This isn't even at factory level as I have always worked at or owned small shops.

My experience is not typical. Yours may not be either.

It was the analysis of your "boss's" and the resultant categorization. What you described is a finger shadow on a wall, not what is happening. Which is why I explained how workforce compensation is an economic decision based on that invisible ratio of profit per employee.

In a free society nobody is owed a job. Also in a free society business's are not owed employees. They enter into a free contract to exchange value. At any time the employee can decide their time / effort / knowledge is worth more somewhere else and leave that contract. At any time the employer can decide the employee's time / effort / knowledge is not worth the compensation and terminate that contract.

The power dynamic is only shifted due to knowledge. The business will contract with specialized companies to do position analysis and come up with market rate salary bands for everyone. HR does this every year or every other year, it's how they control workface compensation budgets. Workers rarely do honest market analysis on themselves, and instead just imagine they are "worth more then X" and create a fiction value narrative in their heads to support that conclusion.

I'm explaining all this as a way to help people successfully navigate todays insane labor market. Off shoring and H1B has dramatically driven down the value of time and effort while driving up the value of knowledge.

My work: After ditching module feedback (from students) a few years ago, which was mostly ignored anyway, a new thorough system has been implemented. This system specifically asks the students to make comments about individual staff which I can see being used vindictively by students. I can already predict it will result in yet further dumbing down of content and reduction in expectations, and staff will grade higher to keep students happy and avoid spiteful comments on said "feedback" forms. Which are probably all intended outcomes. RIP education. Just adult daycare centre now.

37 years my work history now half pension just doing temporary gig jobs last 7 years as nurse.. 23 years FFXI history 65 till full pension..