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I was The Manager for a while. I took the job hoping Id be able to help workers, treat them fairly and stuff. It didn't happen because it couldn't. I dont mean employees took advantage, some did of course, but never in any meaningful way when weighed against what we did to them
Mostly what I realized is that from a corporate standpoint workers are an obstacle always. I was literally trained into talking people OUT of taking bereavement leave (i never did) or how to properly low ball wages in interviews (i always outright offered the max amount)
To make it work they used my greed as a weapon against my employees. If I was able to save money by hiring someone for 16 bucks an hour when we would have went as high as 18 it went towards my bonus. We were trained to identify employees who were too smart for their roles
And then we were trained to get rid of them because advancement is a lie and smart capable people with ambition do not make good Frontline workers. Better to weed them out.
For the interview process you aren't allowed to specifically ask about medical issues so we were trained in ways to get the interviewee to volunteer that information so we would avoid hiring someone who needs healthcare.
Early in my career before I did interviews alone I remember a woman who wanted a custodial job because she took care of her live in Mother with MS. my boss refused to hire her because having a sick family member means she might miss work.
There's no way to be a good manager in a corporate setting because you are trained over and over to view workers as the enemy. If you don't view workers as the enemy you won't get a bonus and you won't advance.
I remember a cleaner I had that who's schedule I modified so she started 20 min later due to bus schedules (it allowed her an additional hour home with her kids in the morning to arrive 20 min late instead of 40 min early)
She was one of the best workers I've ever had just a joy to work with. When my bosses found out via here timecard readouts they tried to punish her but I said no I allowed it. They put a stop to it and she rightfully quit.
The point if it all is to dehumanize
The point if it all is to dehumanize
They remove the decision makers from the front line and place a middle manager in between. Its all carefully designed to make sure the ppl making decisions never have to see the consequences. The middle managers get to be the enemy but of course they're also only following orders
The point is, you can't be a good boss in a corparatized infrastructure. Its designed so you can't and the middle manager making 20% more than the Frontline workers are surely assholes a lot of the time but they're not the real enemy. The real enemy is the people who make them
Obviously a machine needs every cog to function and im not saying cut your boss a break (never cut your boss a break ever) but just understand that your boss has no actual say. Middle managers are only their to remove the decision makers from their decisions.
I left that career 2 years ago and now I work for a smaller company doing for the first time in my career, ethical work. Im extremely lucky and privileged to have the role i have. I'll never ever take another job managing people as long as I live.
Just remembered another anecdote. I used to encourage my employees to hang out in the break room until their exact moment their shift started. I used to give them shit if they started early (playfully) and my district manager overheard it and dragged me into the office.
She said 'we like people starting early just make sure they don't time in until the minute their shift starts' and I was like 'no, my employees start when their shift starts' and less than 4hr later there was a memo out with a new policy that employees must arrive 15 min early
And to clock in not before their shift starts but to use that 15 min to 'prepare your work station and plan your day' and at at the end all in bold it said WORKPLACES ARE NOT A SOCIAL GATHERING
I was such a bad manager lmao. Used to also tell people 'don't work too hard the only thing I can give you for going over and above is a thank you so just do your work'
Also important to add: though it was never explicitly stated there was a strong unspoken encouragement to hire immigrant and non native workers because they are easier to exploit. One of my past jobs was very guilty of this, the other one not as much (that I saw)
