Employers expect too much from their employees

Working for anyone but yourself past the calendar date of 1998 is slavery. This is because Boomers refused to retire like previous generations, and frankly, the get off sexually by hogging and denying all the good jobs.

I absolutely agree that many employers exploit their employees with high demands and little reward. I am a contractor and am expected to travel 100 miles for 50 dollar work and mileage reimbursement in my own vehicle, or measure 20 buildings for 165 dollars. This does not include the travel time, the time to measure 20 buildings, report write up time, photos, my own computer and my own vehicle usage. As long as you don't say anything, they won't say anything. They think it's fair. It is unheard of goes beyond right and wrong. It is no different than a sweatshop. But I am comforted from a wisdom perspective, knowing companies like this won't last forever because their only focus is money and and a lack of respect and consideration for people.

I've been wondering if the office I work in is unusual in their demands. After reading through the comments here it would seem that they aren't.
I work in a payroll office that has cut the staff literally in half over the past few years. Not one of the downsized workers was "let go". All quit or retired. However, we are still doing the same amount of work. Those of us left behind are loaded down with tons of work, and have been told that we "must do anything necessary to get our jobs done by the deadlines". The others in my department have personal situations that allow them to work endless amounts of overtime. I do not have that luxury, and refuse to work more OT than my personal obligations allow. I know they won't fire me because they can't afford to lose another person. What frustrates me is that the others I work with don't seem to see the ridiculousness of the situation. They only see dollar signs and/or fear losing their jobs if they say "No". This type of thinking is most of the reason that companies are getting away with taking advantage of their employees. Unfortunately, this overwork has created a very unhealthy environment in my office, with two people in one week leaving due to serious, stress-related illnesses. Still, management does not seem to grasp the fact that THEY have created this awful situation. I suppose they think its a wonderful reflection on the company that some are willing to risk working themselves practically to death.
Although I'm within a few years of retirement, I'm seriously thinking of looking for another job. However, I'm beginning to wonder if I won't simply find the same situation wherever I go.

My employer is same. I'm repeatedly ask how im travelling all day. They provide no chairs for lunch, a fridge so small for the coffee machine (installed to keep u working). No one stops for morning or afternoon tea unless u count this time to make a cup of tea. It is written in my contract that i am salary paid only thirty eight hours n must work 40 with half n hr unpaid lunch break. When i would goby o comments would be oh u want lunch which they no longer ask me as of course I want a break my arse is knumb from not moving. But no this wasnt good enough with my manager requesting me do extra at five fifteen when knock off is five that was going to take me an extra half hr to do it right. I obviously refused. Than my manager got into a habbit to request extra of me at five to five. Whilst working i am continually interrupted to do something which takes u out of the area u r in, which is really poor management. Than u have a look at their procedures n asked to follow their procedures to find out other staff to meet deadlines completley ignored all fundamentals of accounting n didnt even run the procedures to lodge statutory requirements which can only be incorrect as the work wasnt done to get to lodgement stage, wow. Besides being micro managed by my manager u have the owner boss who tells me it is more than reasonable to expect me to do two hrs extra every week under a salary n he was very angry that i refused to do it any longer. Than tried to validate my feelings for me when i said its exhausting me telling me that two hrs extra every wk is not exhausting me. Where i work payroll is one of the jobs for clients, the boss tried to compare my paid rate with the minimum award of 18 per hour: so now im sick with a cold as the stress of listening to him and working in freezing conditions is sickening. U cant grade the work i am doing with the minimum of 18 per hr n tell me im paid well above that. U grade by the award im under n the level of work that im doing that aligns with by that award. I havent actually been paid this low since i was 23 n now ive got 18yrs experience with what im doing! Added to this i have a pension card that said i didnt have to work fulltime until i got better n this man tries to screw out everything he can from you that his already made me sick...added to this ive never felt so undervalued in all my life working. So its best i leave before im fired since i already know i work hard n i want to work where things are done correctly not rushed.

I can see your point if you have a 1099 contract and provide service on a fee basis. If however, you're an employee and paid by the hour than it's a bit harder to feel empathy.

I've had jobs where I worked 6 days a week and worked well past 8PM everyday.

I worked 19 hours everyday for 10 days straight while on a management consulting assignment once. (No I was not paid some incredible sum either due to some wack job compensation plan).

I agree 100%.
Legally if the contract says 37.5 hours and they make you work longer on average over the year you should be entitled to overtime and legally you shouldn't be allowed to work more than an average of 45 hours a year ad should be paid over time if you work on average longer than your contract states this is a widespread issue of exploitation so though it would add some expense a system to clock out and in should be mandatory for business over a certain size to count the hours employees work.
Also there should be an anonymous complaint system.

I agree with this article, and sadly in this "New Economy" as the mainstream puts it, its normal and trendy to be a slave to corporate masters asking way too much out of each employee they haven't fired or laid off or cut hours of, to make record quarterly profits and then dodge as many taxes as possible. Thats how they do things now, it was all rigged to begin with sense and probably way before 2008. They now see they can have a team of 2-3 people do the work of a team they had before of 12 or more people. home Depot, Wal-Mart, target, many retailers just to name a few. I'm sure this is the same for places like Subway. McDonalds, Chili's, etc. in the food industry. but let's face it....the majority of jobs created are part-time, and minimum wage types. they are all of a corporate Corporate chain on way or another and they are lobbying to close most other local businesses and factories down so people are FORCED to work these horrible jobs because most cannot afford a Degree that may or may not be completely useless upon graduating depending on what fast as light business trend is trending. Workers are HUMAN BEINGS. and this is AMERICA, not China, or another third world country were slave labor and threats are how the economy runs, however I'm thinking that si rapidly changing for all of us.

Sure, sometimes its how it is and you have to bite the bullet, but its becoming the norm and it doesn't matter were you work these days, employers and the top brass at the corporate fat cat offices have NO COMMUNICATION SKILLS or DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS on the stores they run. If your Manager, or Assistant Manager is manipulating pay roll, time punches, and records then submits them to corporate making their workers look bad or as if they are the cause of the store not doing well, they never get questioned! Only if they get sloppy, but most of them have "Friends" in high places that allow this behavior and it eventually leads to a high turn over rate that explodes every financial quarter, because its easier to hire and fire on Uncle Sam's dime and the Tax Payer's dime then it is to keep a worker who may get wind of whats really going on. Not to mention the ACA doesn't cover part-time workers, so the employer does not have to cover them. when you have Obamacare killing jobs alone, that is reason enough to cut all full timers to part-time and they are forced to pay more in every day life ro be fined and loss all taxes they should expect at the end of the year. It's no wonder we have so many freeloaders on the system today. You do better to freeload then to work at most places unless you "Know somebody".

Sounds like conspiracy theory, but most of this is indeed fact and if you dot he research on corporations profits every quarter for the past 5 years alone....you will see it is exactly whats going on. Everybody is forced to betray co-workers to get by. Bosses betraying employees, employees forced to betray bosses and new trainees, just to get ahead. Corporate is trying to keep up with online demand and online companies like amazon, EBay, and many other warehouse retailers that are blowing in profit margins, that dwarf said retailers in store level practices. The name of the game is to do whatever you want, just don;t get sloppy and don't get caught. If said employees cannot prove it without a reasonable doubt in court once they finally get there, the case will be dropped. You will get away with it and record profits will pour in!

Now, I don't mind working hard, i do it daily but I can tell you the past few jobs I've had are doing all of this and more. They keep cutting back staff, and teams all together, changing policy all the time and causing their own hardships and then blaming employees. They fire way too many people and depend on third party globalized online companies to staff their stores and workforce now. Yet, they keep falling behind, so they do it again and again, and find more ways to cut corners to make a profit. Trust me, they find ways and many are indeed illegal, but sense the Labor Department seems to be basically bought off, and congress itself runs on lobbyists from said corporations to fund their campaigns to stay in power or rise to the next level, there is no hope for the american worker and we are forced, to be slaves.

Just recently at my current job, our last Manager just up and Quit. she stated corporate is asking the impossible and even though she was doing a trulyl amazing job, they wanted MORe....way more or she was facing being fired and that they could EASILY replace her. So...she quit. It took the company 3 months to replace her and ran the store without a manager for 3 months while the district manager kept it this way as long as possible to rake in profits and make himself look good. Now, the company wants a "By-The_Book" Manager to take over, and shes already putting 2 3rds of the staff on the chopping block before she even introduces herself. Needless to say we are all looking for another job ahead of time as the district manager has no idea what hes doing. Hes going to allow this corporate manager to do what she wants and destroy his store, and his facade to the main company is going to be seen for what it is. I just do not get it. You work as hard as your body will physically allow you, and its simply not enough for the main corporate offices, to work their logistics, statistics, and numbers with to pitch to investors. They want super humans basically, and they want to sell whatever lie they can with some truth but they cannot do it if they cannot even communicate with said stores, to make it possible. Their answer, fire, hire and fire again. don't worry, we do not pay much to do it as Uncle Same and our record number and rising subsidies will cover it. :D

Sadly, many people cannot get a job full time anymore, because of just Obamacare and greedy corporations working with high level politicians who cannot get enough. So we are FORCED to work like this and the last 80 years of workers rights are out the window because of Oamacare, and things like the TPP. all done without the peoples approval and behind closed doors. Employers are exploiting employees, and working with the powers that be to rig and perpetuate a falsified economy and its conditions, and with mainstream news publish falsified data and numbers that in all reality even if true, mean nothing.

It's getting really bad out there, and I'm sure we all see ti with the way people treat each other now, the shootings, the bombings, the stuff going on globally. Most of it has to do with financial reasons, and not being able to make ends meet. No excuse to what is occurring, or why people do what they do, but its a cause...a big one and it will only get worse, the more we allow this and the more we endure simply to keep what we have left.

i agree, the list of tasks keeps increasing to the point that you are running around like a crazy person, working through breaks and still forget to do some jobs. I'm first in and last out on a daily basis and even when i'm not supervising the floor, staff still expect me to solve all their issues. We've lost a few employees since i started which resulted in the remaining staff having to work extra hard to cover this which is ridiculous. You can't expect 8 people to do the work of 12 on a permanent basis! But because we've managed they are reluctant to hire more staff. the result is everyone is under pressure,we rush to get the job done and errors are increasing. some days i don't even get chance to read my emails even when i come in 20 minutes early specifically to do so. what are you to do when management refuse to listen ?

Employers excel at expecting too much, especially from entry level employees. They don't blink twice about changing company policies and adding new skills which can make a once enjoyable job nearly impossible. They also love to skimp on hiring so they can get the work of two or three people out of just one person. Jobs like these usually have absolutely hellish attendance policies as well. If you are struggling with your job and it is causing you to experience anxiety, depression, insomnia, etc. Speak with a psychiatrist and attempt to get FMLA. FMLA is your best friend because it gets you out of work for a few days per month. Its actually easier to get FMLA than you think, especially if your doctor is friendly and empathetic to your situation. Some jobs should come with a surgeon general's warning as they very well can be hazardous to your mental health.

I thought I was the only one too.
It's so frustrating. My employer expects staff to stay over quite often but if it's quiet and you could leave early.. no chance
It might seem little but on top of a 68 hour week I'd rather be asked to stop over not assume that I will

Employers do expect too much but also having no time out and rest for a job 1. Isnt efficient 2. The company wont produce anymore 3. Isnt good for the employer or employee theres no evidence its more efficient

I so know what you mean. I will occasionally come in 15-20 minutes early. And the two bosses jump on me and say i need this & i need that. I do not even have a chance to sit down at my desk. Also it does not bother them whatsoever to disturbed me on my lunch break. And if i finally do leave for lunch because i get angry at them bugging me all the time, they then get upset because i am not there. 1st of all i am not paid for the extra time i come in early or when they disturbed me on lunch. The problem is that i have always done and answered their questions. Being at my job for 13.5 years has started to wear thin. When i am gone on my lunch they want to know where i am. What business is it of theirs. And one time they told me they were afraid i was looking for another job. Well if they think that then treat me better you jerks.

Nice update from the Origianl Poster there
Its good to see staff vote with their feet instead of being too scared and putting up with poor conditions from their bosses.
At the end of the day companies will end up with the staff they deserve.
If they go under because of their shoddy treatment of employees then it will be their just desserts.
And end zero hours contracts too while we're at it. I can't not take on other work in case company or agency number 1 decides to call me 1 day in 2 weeks. Get real I ve got bills to pay. They get a salry whether or not I'm getting any hours and money.

That's as may be but I think an employer should offer a job replacement is resonable. To me you were unreasonable in demanding your old job. you needed a little while to clear your head, it proved to be your undoing. so why not take the replacement job you were offered, but having said that, you still need a P60 form to keep for your records.

The Owl and The Pussycat

...
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.