patrick.net

The only responsibility of corporate leaders is to the stockholders.

Ya all better have a job that adds economic value ...or else you're gonna be so f¿cked

No job, no money, no house, no honey

Even though I am deeply immersed in technology, every once in a while I think Luddites had the right idea. Humanity diverging into Morlock and Eloi?

The Morlocks got a bad rap in that movie.

Anecdata here, so assume that nothing which follows has statistical significance.

I have seen generally flat pay over the past three years, but more frequent layoffs. The smart ones are heading toward contract work or job-hopping when possible.

The biggest changes seem to be behavioral: you can smell fear in the office. Among those still of the cubicle-through-retirement mindset, there is now a subtle undertone of mutual suspicion, and cutthroat, I'll-do-what-I-have-to behavior. I have seen a much higher frequency of conflict and general nastiness lately.

The drones are not happy. A habit of denial, so necessary for surviving day-to-day office politics, keeps many cubicle dwellers from thinking about what's coming, but the sense of what could come next is eating away at them with razor-sharp incisors of fear.

I believe that the more sentient and resourceful ones have left for freelance work, or to start their own firms, or are planning such a move. Others know what's coming, but are terrified of having to market themselves or live off the land - they want packaged meat from the store, and have no idea how to kill their food themselves.

I suspect we're heading toward a freelance world for most skilled labor. This will kill off some of the very corporations who have laid off these workers repeatedly, as such people will learn to sell themselves directly to the consumers of their works; while some temporary staffing companies and consulting firms will prosper, others are in for a big surprise.

The good news is that many middlemen, who pay you less than their getting for your services, will disappear. The bad news is that only those skilled at reinventing themselves and building their own brand will prosper; I fear some tech workers and managers are headed for a gruesome downward spiral in earnings.

It might be a good idea to unload any debt not secured by rock-solid assets, to head for the exit if you're still in a cubicle, and scale down spending as much as is compatible with being reasonably comfortable. You may not make as much freelancing, but the toll on the psyche of the average corporate worker is about to grow immeasurably, so that earning a little less will be more than repaid by avoiding the health effects of sticking it out with the dead-enders at the cubicle farm.

El HydroCabron says

I suspect we're heading toward a freelance world for most skilled labor.

I'm not seeing that as a good thing.

I have several friends who have freelanced for decades. One is barely scraping by. Another took advantage of the situation to take every penny he had on high-paying defense work, which was "freed" of being invested in pensions and benefits, and put it into Phoenix real estate. A third is doing great he says, but when I visited his small apartment he didn't even have a kitchen table, and I think he's just putting on a good front. A fourth seems to do less and less actual work, and more and more..... Sugar Mama-hopping.

Vicente says

high-paying defense work, which was "freed" of being invested in pensions and benefits, and put it into Phoenix real estate.

Well, hell: He can't lose with a bet like that!

I wish humans would lose the desire to keep their eggs in one basket.