Sleepless In Silicon Valley

[cyberpj]

Sleepless in Silicon Valley
Globalization, ‘offshoring’ lead to interminable workday
The Associated Press
Updated: 9:39 a.m. ET May 9, 2005

snip...

“It’s definitely a case of work creep — everyone in this industry is working harder right now because of e-mail, wireless access and globalization,” said Christopher Lockhead, chief marketing officer of Mercury Interactive Inc., a Mountain View-based consulting firm in 35 countries, including Israel, where Sunday is a normal working day.

“You can’t even get a rest on the weekend,” Lockhead said from his cell phone in the Dallas airport after sales meetings in Mexico. “The reality is that when you do business globally, somebody working for you is always on the clock.”

Some executives who ask workers to burn the midnight oil offer flexibility — longer lunch breaks, telecommuting privileges and complimentary dinner if you work past 6 p.m. Others dismiss complainers as spoiled or provincial — after all, customer service representatives in Asia have worked on U.S. schedules for more than a decade, so why shouldn’t Americans deal with time-zone challenges as the industry globalizes?

The staunchest advocates say whiners should find new professions. Richard Spitz, who leads the technology division of the recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International, says corporate clients want employees who embrace a 24-hour business cycle.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7781510/

[DBoon]

1. White collar sweatshops

time to start providing employees with amphetamine to keep them going

On edit: This sort of shift work was a hallmark of the "old industrial revolution". Unionized shift workers at least got paid a premium for working strange hours, though. They also paid for it in their health. Working and sleeping irregular schedules has been shown to contribute to diabetes and heart conditions. I bet these "corporate clients" don't want to pay more for health insurance to cover all this.

[losdiablosgato]

2. I have 3 emails addreses I have to keep up on, I have 2 phone numbers,

and I work in two offices. If I was anymore wired in I would have to be assimilated into the borg.

[losdiablosgato]

3. Espresso anyone?

[DBoon]

5. I predict there will be a thriving black market in Provigil

and an increase in 40-somethnig employees having heart attacks at their desk

[cyberpj]

12. another plot to decrease SS payouts I suspect. eom.

[wildeyed]

4. Hey Richard Spitz, bite me.

I am not going to work 24 hours a day so a bunch of rich investors can buy a second or third home in Vail. It is this attitude that, in part led me to start my own business. It is a job, not a religion. And this attitude is really anti-family, too, since the employees won't have any time with their families.

[WalrusSlayer]

8. Anti-Family

So true, and anti-family bias is very pervasive in American culture these days. Nothing like adjusting to life with a toddler to open your eyes to it.

So why the hell haven't the Dem's leveraged this? There's nothing quite so "Anti Family Values" as the hours Corporate America keeps pushing on workers. You know, the Repugs Best Friends? You know, the "Family Values" Repugs, who will move heaven and earth to prevent gays from marrying but won't raise the minimum wage so that fewer people need to work two jobs.

[wildeyed]

18. Corporate america and its unbridled greed is what is threatening

the american family, not gays getting married.

I hope the dems are able to craft a platform of family values based on economic justice, but you know, it is so much easier to demonize minorities than it is to get people to really think.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[bleedingheart]

9. I can't agree more. Work Creep is a bad thing, not a good thing

it is truly anti-family.

[cap]

6. since Asia has few worker protections, let's do likewise...

let's find the country with the worst working conditions and emulate them.

I remember the 80's when there was serious consideration given to the idea that we would actually start working a 35 or even a 30 hour work week. Productivity was going to help us decrease the amount of time we had to spend working for a living and usher in a golden age where non-monetary activities could be given more attention. Why not that as a goal?

[havocmom]

10. It IS the goal - of the uber rich. They are doing very well with worker

bees buzzing away 24/7 to make honey for the boss man. Lots of time for life's pleasantries for them!

Golden Age indeed. Look up Robber Barons and the Golden Age. The workers got sold a dream the rich are living it out once again.

And wages are not the only reason for outsourcing. US labor laws, what is left of them, environmental laws, all gonna be tossed pretty soon as US workers, begging for bread, will insist Congress does away with all protections so the corporate bosses will save them the last few crumbs.

Been howling for decades that the rich intend to make us a 3rd world nation. I actually got locked up once, but the shrink said I was the most sane person he ever met and set me free. He was one of the few who listened.

The scion of the Robber Barons are back in business and taking what they think is their due. Piss on the rest of us. We are just cogs in the machine which prints their money. They sold our kids and grandkids futures out and mortgaged their future incomes so the top 1% could have more mad money NOW. They will eat our young and put the old out to die without any remorse. "Should've planned for your old age" they say as they slash pensions and make hash of investments.

When they are fat enough, the poor will eat them and the cycle will go around again. Getting smacked by a comet is the only thing that will stop it.

[cyberpj]

13. I remember that as well -

efficiency would give us more personal time.

Seems they can sell us just about anything, doesn't it?

[NNN0LHI]

7. Duplicate story with different headline. Sorry

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBYROLRI8E.html

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - The traffic jam ended hours ago, the parking lot is nearly empty and fluorescent lights are dimmed at PortalPlayer Inc., where the nightly brainstorming session is about to begin.

Instead of gathering the few remaining souls from their cubicles, three managers move into a conference room to dial India, where engineers 12 1/2 time zones ahead are just arriving in Hyderabad.

As colleagues on opposite sides of the globe discuss circuit board configurations and debugging strategies for a project code-named "Doppelganger," it's just the start of another endless day for the company. Within twelve hours, Indian workers will end their day with calls and e-mails to California, where managers in the Santa Clara headquarters will just be waking up.

"We keep passing the baton between California and India, and that way we can cram a lot more work into a 24-hour period," said Jeff Hawkey, vice president of hardware engineering, who conducts evening meetings from the office or on his laptop at home. "A lot of nights, I go home, tuck the kids into bed and then get on the conference call."

more

[Robert Oak]

17. they fail to mention that an ex-Apple engineer does all of the work n/t

[JRob]

11. During 2002 I worked 65 to 70 hrs a week...

for a tech based company, not counting the time I spent at my desk at home. I spent maybe 2 hrs a day with my 2 year old son. At the end of July of that year (after I secured key contracts for my projects) they eliminated my position and put 2 low pay "customer care reps" in charge of dealing with my projects. The real pisser is that I developed the product, found and nurtured the clients (18 month process) and was "negotiation" performance based back-end compensation on my work when I was let go...

The personal financial repercussions were disastrous to my family which we're dealing with to this day. So not only do they DEMAND complete devotion and sacrifice, they will cut you up and throw you in the street if they think they can save a buck.

I've sense hung up my corporate shoes and live in a remote part of the country, happily spending a lot time with my family.

[FormerOstrich]

14. Can I ever second that......

it's all too long to tell but trust me when I say I understand. As I say, it may have taken me twenty years but I finally "got it". My corporate ladder climbing days are over.

[Robert Oak]

16. Welcome to DU! n/t

[Robert Oak]

15. remember all those who fought for a 40 hours work week? 1910 ?

I have a funny feeling they were called whiners too.

It's absolutely amazing that corporations expect people to work 24/7
while salaries are actually going down.

They force your job to be your life and then on top of it,
fire people with absolutely no notice and no reason.

So, there is a person, 24/7 and their entire world destroyed
upon firing, for working 24/7 means your social network
is nil..you have nothing else except that job to give your life meaning.

Frightening.

[wildeyed]

19. They have a reason for firing people.

It is called naked, all consuming, soul stealing greed. But they like to call it "maximizing shareholder profits".

I own a small business. I like making money. I expect employees to work hard. But I would not be responsible for some of the evil committed in the name of shareholder profits.

[Robert Oak]

21. I don't even think I know of a "slacker" engineer

I agree...it's one thing to push the envelope and bust your
butt, but this is just sociopathic outrageous greed...

what the hell is going on here? It's like any awareness of a society,
quality of life or anything not deemed profitable by "king midas"
is being trashed.

[Ambrose]

20. Stay away from Programming jobs!

I'm in "IT" and the stress right now is insane. I'm not working the hours these folks are yet but the company I work for is outsourcing everything they can get their greedy little hands around. I will continue to tell my children that if they even think about going into computer technology I'll cut off any and all contributions for them to go to college. It is a horrible industry.

BTW, anyone have any suggestions for what a 40+ year old programmer can choose as a "better profession?" I was going to ask W since he said we could all just take training and do something better but I don't think he can read so I didn't bother.

[Dover]

22. Sleepless in Silicon Valley

Sleepless in Silicon Valley
Globalization, ‘offshoring’ lead to interminable workday

Janet Hamlin / AP
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:37 a.m. ET May 9, 2005SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The traffic jam ended hours ago, the parking lot is nearly empty and fluorescent lights are dimmed at PortalPlayer Inc., where the nightly brainstorming session is about to begin.
Instead of gathering the few remaining souls from their cubicles, three managers move into a conference room to dial India, where engineers 12 1/2 time zones ahead are just arriving in Hyderabad.

As colleagues on opposite sides of the globe discuss circuit board configurations and debugging strategies for a project code-named “Doppelganger,” it’s just the start of another endless day for the company. Within twelve hours, Indian workers will end their day with calls and e-mails to California, where managers in the Santa Clara headquarters will just be waking up.

“We keep passing the baton between California and India, and that way we can cram a lot more work into a 24-hour period,” said Jeff Hawkey, vice president of hardware engineering, who conducts evening meetings from the office or on his laptop at home. “A lot of nights, I go home, tuck the kids into bed and then get on the conference call.”

Executives at PortalPlayer, which makes chips and software for portable music devices such as the iPod, say having 90 employees in Hyderabad nearly doubles the amount of engineering work that gets done in 24 hours. That shrinks production cycles and lets the 6-year-old company stay ahead of bigger semiconductor rivals....>

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7781510/

[brainshrub]

23. 12 months from now the American engineers will be unemployed.

[brokensymmetry]

24. That long?

Methinks you are an optimist!