management

I have been discussing work and work place environments with some younger folks, including my sons and their friends.  I find the results to the extent they are indicative, a bit scary.

When I was first promoted to be a team leader, some decades ago, I spent most of several weeks in classes my employer paid to have me attend.  We covered everything from paperwork to motivational techniques.  I was fortunate to have an entire week of lectures on these subjects from the Wharton School.  If I recall correctly, my exalted status as a team lead came with a salary slightly lower than third shift computer operators were making with their normal overtime and shift differential pay.  None-the-less, I was a 'manager' and I therefor had to be acculturated as one to the company's then current standard.

I was taught that a non-trivial part of my job was to assure that relevant State and local laws and corporate policies  were implemented.  So for instance, I was required to know and obey the rules regarding breaks, lunch hours and vacations.  Scheduling those in a fair way was an absolute requirement.

Lately I feel like a dinosaur as I

• chat with a young woman whose entire job description was changed a week after she started without any discussion, promotion or consent;
• talk to a another  who tells me of seeing people fired for asking for a day off for family business
• chat with an attorney friend whose cases have included claims against employers who fire someone to hire a younger person at a lower salary

I also have been talking to other older adults.  They are experiencing similar conversations.

I think that the attitude among many entry level employers is that employees are disposable.  This is not merely stupid, it is morally repugnant.  And it will carry an inevitable cost.  This recession won't last forever even with the democrats efforts to do just about everything wrong.  (I am sure the republicans would find other ways to do things badly were they in charge.)

When the recession does end, employers are going to need the younger workers they are busy teaching the lessons of class warfare.  They will surely be shocked, SHOCKED when those young folks join unions and demand more regulations.   But those are precisely what they set themselves up for when they treat people badly.  The wind is forming, the storm is coming.