QuoteDelta Air Lines is seeking out volunteers to staff one of its loyalty lounges at Atlanta airport, as its regular contractor could not find enough workers for the job.
Several companies across the nation are facing staffing shortages as the economy begins to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Delta's request was sent out in an internal message to salaried and management employees, who the airline has stated are eligible volunteers, according to Bloomberg. The Sky Clubs are currently short over 100 workers, the outlet noted.
"Just come to the ATL airport for a few hours to help with cleaning, wiping tables, running food, restocking food buffets, etc," Delta wrote in the message, according to Bloomberg.
Delta also advised potential volunteers to wear business casual attire consisting of black pants and white shirts when they arrive for their shift.
"Ideally we'll be working each week to fill volunteer slots for the following week," Delta wrote, adding that volunteers would be limited to working three days per month.
Employees who volunteer to work in the Sky Clubs will not receive compensation for their time, Bloomberg reported.
The employees won't receive any pay or compensation for helping out at the loyalty lounges. Delta has utilized volunteers for its busy travel seasons in the past using its "Peach Corps" program.
"We have asked Atlanta-based, salaried employees to volunteer in our Atlanta Delta Sky Clubs to help meet the rapid, recent increases in customer volumes and ensure that our teams continuously deliver the elevated club experiences our customers have come to expect," the carrier reportedly said in a statement.
https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/553185-delta-seeking-volunteers-to-help-out-in-loyalty
lolwut? :huh:
I think I see a possible solution to the labor shortage I've heard about.
So many worthy charities I could volunteer for but instead I am going to donate my time to help my employer take care of its richest and most privileged customers? :hmm:
Tempting I am sure.
What's the punishment for not volunteering?
Quote from: DGuller on May 12, 2021, 03:17:12 PM
What's the punishment for not volunteering?
This is the real question, especially considering they are asking their salaried employees to do so.
Airlines behaving like scum is certainly not even a "dog bites man" kind of news story.
I know British Airways had a cabin crew strike a decade or two back and asked for volunteers from the office staff to fill in.
They didn't pay them extra but they did give them free holidays as part of it.
Wtf is delta playing at. The other jobs are so awful people will be happy to do something else?
Seems reasonable to me. Not every person in the world thinks of their relationship with their employer in adversarial terms.
They're called loyalty lounges. Duh.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 12, 2021, 04:59:10 PM
Seems reasonable to me. Not every person in the world thinks of their relationship with their employer in adversarial terms.
They should not be viewed as adversarial indeed. They should be looked at as transactional. What people here are confused about is what the "volunteer's" gain in this transaction other than the avoidance of management's scorn and an adverse effect on their career within the company.
So, essentially, if anyone it is the employer being adversarial here.
Looking it over again...there is an important detail missing.
If salaried employees are being asked to help out during normal business hours (when they'd otherwise be working on spreadsheets, manning reports, or some other admin drek), I actually think that is fine.
If it is "hey, can you stop by for a few hours after work and bus the buffet instead of being with you kids...for no pay...thaaaat'd be great", then yes...scum.
Quote from: Tamas on May 12, 2021, 05:26:23 PM
They should not be viewed as adversarial indeed. They should be looked at as transactional. What people here are confused about is what the "volunteer's" gain in this transaction other than the avoidance of management's scorn and an adverse effect on their career within the company.
So, essentially, if anyone it is the employer being adversarial here.
They gain the continued and possibly profitable operation of their employer and the continuation of their jobs in a going concern which doesn't have to lay off people. Those employees who have an exposure to Delta equity (and since we're talking about salaried staff they probably all have either options or shares in their retirement plans) gain an increase in shareholder value.
Remember back at the beginning of the pandemic when we were talking about companies choosing to not lay off staff? This is the reciprocal of that. We'll take care of you when times are tough and you take care of us later.
Yeah, I don't have a fundamental problem with an employer asking for volunteers like that, but it presupposes a store of goodwill built up from the employer with the employees. If the company has, in fact, been taking care of the staff.
If it's a way to cadge unpaid work out of the staff with an implicit thread ("the company will not be doing well" or "it'd be best for your career if you did this") then that's scummy.
I don't have a sense of how Delta operates, so I can't say... but my assumptions would not start on the generous side.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 12, 2021, 05:34:17 PM
Quote from: Tamas on May 12, 2021, 05:26:23 PM
They should not be viewed as adversarial indeed. They should be looked at as transactional. What people here are confused about is what the "volunteer's" gain in this transaction other than the avoidance of management's scorn and an adverse effect on their career within the company.
So, essentially, if anyone it is the employer being adversarial here.
They gain the continued and possibly profitable operation of their employer and the continuation of their jobs in a going concern which doesn't have to lay off people. Those employees who have an exposure to Delta equity (and since we're talking about salaried staff they probably all have either options or shares in their retirement plans) gain an increase in shareholder value.
Remember back at the beginning of the pandemic when we were talking about companies choosing to not lay off staff? This is the reciprocal of that. We'll take care of you when times are tough and you take care of us later.
Congrats you're dumber and less moral than Tyr.
Well, that's like you're opinion man.
Your undermining of civil society amounts to Bolshevik sabotage. You are a traitor and are damned.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 12, 2021, 04:59:10 PM
Seems reasonable to me. Not every person in the world thinks of their relationship with their employer in adversarial terms.
:yes: It can be adversarial if you want to make it that way, such as by not volunteering your time off work for the company, but it doesn't have to be this way. ;)
Quote from: DGuller on May 12, 2021, 07:08:06 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 12, 2021, 04:59:10 PM
Seems reasonable to me. Not every person in the world thinks of their relationship with their employer in adversarial terms.
:yes: It can be adversarial if you want to make it that way, such as by not volunteering your time off work for the company, but it doesn't have to be this way. ;)
In Minnesota it's illegal for an employer to even suggest off the clock work.
I'll be nicer to Yi and simply call it investor mentality. That the mere existence of the company is a good thing for people.
It's not.
We civil servants "volunteer" all the time. It takes a few years to expand the number of staff. In the meantime, if there is anything, they call up people to "volunteer" on Sundays, evenings or whatever. Happens all the time.
Why the scare quotes? :unsure:
Quote from: DGuller on May 12, 2021, 08:03:45 PM
Why the scare quotes? :unsure:
Because they are not actually volunteers. They are staff being required to do uncompensated work. Happens all the time in authoritarian regimes.
Happens frequently in democratic ones too.
Quote from: Oexmelin on May 12, 2021, 08:56:43 PM
Happens frequently in democratic ones too.
A lot of (most?) office jobs here have "all in" contracts, meaning that any "necessary" overtime is paid for in the monthly salary (though special rules apply if extra time is on a Sunday or public holiday). When I worked in accounting that e.g. there would be crunch time around year end where I would work 50-60 hour weeks for 6-8 weeks without additional recompense.
Studies indicate that employees on such contracts often feel additional pressure to work overtime (even if not necessary) and that the avg. pay per hour is lower than for people who get paid overtime.
I think there's distinction for regular overtime for salaried employees and this Delta thing, however. It's one thing to say "the project you're on requires more effort to complete on time than anticipated, please work extra within your actual job description" and quite another to say "yeah, I know you're an accountant but we'd like you to wipe some tables and restock the napkin dispensers at our business class lounge."
Quote from: Jacob on May 13, 2021, 01:14:11 AM
I think there's distinction for regular overtime for salaried employees and this Delta thing, however. It's one thing to say "the project you're on requires more effort to complete on time than anticipated, please work extra within your actual job description" and quite another to say "yeah, I know you're an accountant but we'd like you to wipe some tables and restock the napkin dispensers at our business class lounge."
What if the extra work happens every month? I was not always affected, but I've had coworkers who worked lots of overtime middle of the month and end of the month because of corporate deadlines. Some of them often had 2-300 hours overtime at the end of the year (not to mention a lot of untaken vacation days).
But I see your point. You're thinking more of if the company calls you on the day the office is closed because you move to a new location, only you get a phone call at 8 am if you would be able to help because as it turns out hiring the cheapest possible moving company was not such a great idea, and then you spend your day from 9 am till 3 am hauling furniture with a few other "volunteers" and need to be back in the office next day 8 am for a team meeting? Purely hypothetical. :P
(And to clarify: Austria had at the time laws that prohibited workdays over 10 hours plus breaks - since raised to 12 - but of course people go over all the time and just move around the hours on their time sheets, if they record the hours at all - because since they don't get paid for them, why should they? And the employer can claim ignorance if it comes to inspections).
From a search it looks like Delta asks for volunteers any time that it is short staffed at a particular location. To my mind that seems to devalue the work that employees do if it wants people to offer unpaid time when Delta management has mishandled staffing.
On the subject of the company being good to employees, I guess it hasn't fired them, but it also isn't paying them. ;)
https://employeebenefits.co.uk/delta-saves-voluntary-leave-schemes/#:~:text=Delta%20Air%20Lines%20has%20saved,%2D19%20(Coronavirus)%20pandemic.
QuoteDelta Air Lines has saved 24% in salary and benefits costs after more than 45,000 employees choose to take voluntary unpaid leave.
The airline introduced the option for employees to take voluntary unpaid leave in June 2020 to help it deal with the financial ramifications of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/09/delta-ceo-asks-employees-to-take-more-unpaid-leave-in-2021-d.html
QuoteDelta CEO asks employees to take more unpaid leave in 2021 as industry continues to struggle
Delta Air Lines CEO on Wednesday asked employees to sign up for more unpaid leave with a slump in travel to continue into 2021.
"Our voluntary unpaid leave program will continue to be essential to positioning Delta for the recovery, and we will need participants for the foreseeable future," Ed Bastian said in a note to staff. "I ask everyone to consider whether a voluntary leave makes sense for you and your family."
...
More than 40,000 Delta employees have opted for unpaid leaves of absence at the company's urging. Roughly 18,000 accepted buyouts and early retirement packages, cutting Delta's pre-pandemic head count by about 20%.
You have to wonder why the usual contractor could not find sufficient personnel. Maybe they should offer more. Georgia has 250.000 unemployed persons.
Quote from: Zanza on May 13, 2021, 02:46:16 AM
You have to wonder why the usual contractor could not find sufficient personnel. Maybe they should offer more. Georgia has 250.000 unemployed persons.
That seems to be a common theme for low paying jobs at the moment that people don't want to take them (and the increased unemployment money doesn't help). Now, if those jobs were paying a living wage the matter might be different, but that seems unlikely to happen.
Do we have evidence that Delta is actually hiring or was there first step (while swathes of their employees are still on furlough) to ask for volunteers?
Delta could always issue some shares and use them to pay the "volunteers" if there is a cash shortage :lol:
But that would go against the rules of actually remunerating the people doing the grunt work properly.
Many service jobs today are what manufacturing jobs were back in the day.
Jobs like delivery drivers, logistics center workers, kitchen or hospitality staff, etc. take fairly little skill, are often physically demanding (at least more so than office jobs), personnel is interchangeable etc. Without higher wages (maybe from unionization) the sector will stay low productivity, hindering societal growth.
Manufacturing on the other hand has mostly moved on. The worst parts are done by robots and workers in Western World manufacturers have well-paid, medium to high skill, often not physically demanding jobs with extremely high productivity.
We certainly need drone parcel delivery to become standard. Just checking my balcony when I get home to see which goodies I got today would be sweet.
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 03:59:55 AM
We certainly need drone parcel delivery to become standard. Just checking my balcony when I get home to see which goodies I got today would be sweet.
I wouldn't be interested in more things whizzing about in the air.
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 05:04:43 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 03:59:55 AM
We certainly need drone parcel delivery to become standard. Just checking my balcony when I get home to see which goodies I got today would be sweet.
I wouldn't be interested in more things whizzing about in the air.
Then tick the "no drone delivery" box when you order.
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 05:39:14 AM
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 05:04:43 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 03:59:55 AM
We certainly need drone parcel delivery to become standard. Just checking my balcony when I get home to see which goodies I got today would be sweet.
I wouldn't be interested in more things whizzing about in the air.
Then tick the "no drone delivery" box when you order.
Presumably they will still whizz about even I chose not to use them? And unfortunately, I've not yet reached secluded manor status.
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 05:59:34 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 05:39:14 AM
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 05:04:43 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 03:59:55 AM
We certainly need drone parcel delivery to become standard. Just checking my balcony when I get home to see which goodies I got today would be sweet.
I wouldn't be interested in more things whizzing about in the air.
Then tick the "no drone delivery" box when you order.
Presumably they will still whizz about even I chose not to use them? And unfortunately, I've not yet reached secluded manor status.
Your personal preferences should matter to other people because?
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:10:14 AM
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 05:59:34 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 05:39:14 AM
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 05:04:43 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 03:59:55 AM
We certainly need drone parcel delivery to become standard. Just checking my balcony when I get home to see which goodies I got today would be sweet.
I wouldn't be interested in more things whizzing about in the air.
Then tick the "no drone delivery" box when you order.
Presumably they will still whizz about even I chose not to use them? And unfortunately, I've not yet reached secluded manor status.
Your personal preferences should matter to other people because?
This is a discussion forum and we are also discussing our preferences and opinions?
Also, weren't you express a preference when you said you'd like have drones delivering parcels to your balcony?
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 06:19:39 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:10:14 AM
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 05:59:34 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 05:39:14 AM
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 05:04:43 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 03:59:55 AM
We certainly need drone parcel delivery to become standard. Just checking my balcony when I get home to see which goodies I got today would be sweet.
I wouldn't be interested in more things whizzing about in the air.
Then tick the "no drone delivery" box when you order.
Presumably they will still whizz about even I chose not to use them? And unfortunately, I've not yet reached secluded manor status.
Your personal preferences should matter to other people because?
This is a discussion forum and we are also discussing our preferences and opinions?
Also, weren't you express a preference when you said you'd like have drones delivering parcels to your balcony?
OK if you don't object to other people's stuff whizzing about in the air then I'm perfectly fine with that.
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:10:14 AM
Your personal preferences should matter to other people because?
Using public space for private endeavors, be it commercial or non-commercial, needs a certain degree of societal consent as the freedom of those using public space might infringe on the freedom of those prefering non-usage.
Quote from: Zanza on May 13, 2021, 06:24:13 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:10:14 AM
Your personal preferences should matter to other people because?
Using public space for private endeavors, be it commercial or non-commercial, needs a certain degree of societal consent as the freedom of those using public space might infringe on the freedom of those prefering non-usage.
The law handles that.
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:22:58 AM
OK if you don't object to other people's stuff whizzing about in the air then I'm perfectly fine with that.
I don't take issue with you have a preference, but I was communicating that I wouldn't want anybody's things whizzing about. Sounds dangerous and not worth the benefit from my perspective.
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 06:26:37 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:22:58 AM
OK if you don't object to other people's stuff whizzing about in the air then I'm perfectly fine with that.
I don't take issue with you have a preference, but I was communicating that I wouldn't want anybody's things whizzing about. Sounds dangerous and not worth the benefit from my perspective.
Dangerous? If you think there are reasons not to have them that go beyond your personal preference then those I think are very relevant to other people.
Brain seems to have not gotten enough sleep last night. He's crankier than usual.
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:25:44 AM
Quote from: Zanza on May 13, 2021, 06:24:13 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:10:14 AM
Your personal preferences should matter to other people because?
Using public space for private endeavors, be it commercial or non-commercial, needs a certain degree of societal consent as the freedom of those using public space might infringe on the freedom of those prefering non-usage.
The law handles that.
The law is the way it is partly because of how garbon feels about other people having their packages delivered by drones. That's how it should be when externalities are involved.
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:28:56 AM
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 06:26:37 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:22:58 AM
OK if you don't object to other people's stuff whizzing about in the air then I'm perfectly fine with that.
I don't take issue with you have a preference, but I was communicating that I wouldn't want anybody's things whizzing about. Sounds dangerous and not worth the benefit from my perspective.
Dangerous? If you think there are reasons not to have them that go beyond your personal preference then those I think are very relevant to other people.
Yes, who will be making sure they don't run into things and people?
I've no idea what you are saying with your second sentence. Of course preferences about what should be allowed in public spaces impact other people.
Quote from: DGuller on May 13, 2021, 06:31:04 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:25:44 AM
Quote from: Zanza on May 13, 2021, 06:24:13 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:10:14 AM
Your personal preferences should matter to other people because?
Using public space for private endeavors, be it commercial or non-commercial, needs a certain degree of societal consent as the freedom of those using public space might infringe on the freedom of those prefering non-usage.
The law handles that.
The law is the way it is partly because of how garbon feels about other people having their packages delivered by drones. That's how it should be when externalities are involved.
"I don't like it" is a horrible way to make law.
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 06:32:04 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:28:56 AM
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 06:26:37 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:22:58 AM
OK if you don't object to other people's stuff whizzing about in the air then I'm perfectly fine with that.
I don't take issue with you have a preference, but I was communicating that I wouldn't want anybody's things whizzing about. Sounds dangerous and not worth the benefit from my perspective.
Dangerous? If you think there are reasons not to have them that go beyond your personal preference then those I think are very relevant to other people.
Yes, who will be making sure they don't run into things and people?
I've no idea what you are saying with your second sentence. Of course preferences about what should be allowed in public spaces impact other people.
An example: I think the trend among some car and bike enthusiasts to have the "rusty af" look is horrible, looks like ass, and I don't like it. However, I don't see a reason for this preference of mine to be considered relevant when society makes decisions about which cars and bikes that should be allowed on public roads. If I had thought that there was a safety problem with it though, then that would have been relevant. There's a big difference.
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:32:40 AM
"I don't like it" is a horrible way to make law.
The public space belongs to all of us, and you're within your right to do as you wish with your space for whatever reasons you wish. Since there is more than one owner of the public space, however, passing laws is how we exercise control over the public space that we all co-own.
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:36:16 AM
An example: I think the trend among some car and bike enthusiasts to have the "rusty af" look is horrible, looks like ass, and I don't like it. However, I don't see a reason for this preference of mine to be considered relevant when society makes decisions about which cars and bikes that should be allowed on public roads. If I had thought that there was a safety problem with it though, then that would have been relevant. There's a big difference.
I highlighted my concern was danger vs benefits.
Quote from: garbon on May 13, 2021, 06:38:32 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:36:16 AM
An example: I think the trend among some car and bike enthusiasts to have the "rusty af" look is horrible, looks like ass, and I don't like it. However, I don't see a reason for this preference of mine to be considered relevant when society makes decisions about which cars and bikes that should be allowed on public roads. If I had thought that there was a safety problem with it though, then that would have been relevant. There's a big difference.
I highlighted my concern was danger vs benefits.
And as I said I think those kinds of concerns are very relevant to other people. Unlike personal preference, which is fine as conversation but shouldn't be a base for decision-making regarding the use of public space.
Quote from: DGuller on May 13, 2021, 06:36:57 AM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 06:32:40 AM
"I don't like it" is a horrible way to make law.
The public space belongs to all of us, and you're within your right to do as you wish with your space for whatever reasons you wish. Since there is more than one owner of the public space, however, passing laws is how we exercise control over the public space that we all co-own.
Exactly.
Quote from: Jacob on May 13, 2021, 01:14:11 AM
I think there's distinction for regular overtime for salaried employees and this Delta thing, however. It's one thing to say "the project you're on requires more effort to complete on time than anticipated, please work extra within your actual job description" and quite another to say "yeah, I know you're an accountant but we'd like you to wipe some tables and restock the napkin dispensers at our business class lounge."
I've had to do a lot of outside work related stuff: participated in a bunch of "volunteer" activities for charities the company sponsored, I "volunteered" for years to be a microphone handler at annual shareholder meetings, and I somehow got my arm twisted into being on a company heritage committee. I bet everyone has similar stuff.
I think the real reaction here is that you have high value employees doing menial work. It isn't that they are being asked to do extra work outside of their job responsibilities. It wouldn't be a story if Delta was asking for "volunteers" for some nonsense local business roundtable they were participating in.
I'm sure they're rather ask the menial workers, but fucking unions ruin everything.
If my employer asked for me to do unpaid work (in this sense, ie not in any way connected to my normal job for which I get a salary) I would assume that the company was close to going under (which I suppose Delta may well be) and I would likely do some volunteer work but I would also start looking for a different employer (but if the crisis blows over I may still stay).
Delta is an air major they never really go under, they just change names or merge in with others
I don't think they're in imminent danger either way.
I think this is more akin to what D4H mentioned, the corporate guys see it as sort of a nudge to the white collar staff to take a work day to work in the hospitality lounge instead. Most salaried white collar work isn't strictly tied to clocking in a 8:30 and clocking out at 5:00 or whatever, so likely they would just be expected to "make up for" any work they would have normally done during that day's time. For a lot of white collar workers you probably only do 2-3 hours of real work per day anyway.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 12, 2021, 04:59:10 PM
Seems reasonable to me. Not every person in the world thinks of their relationship with their employer in adversarial terms.
It's not reasonable, it feels quite disconnected from reality. Assuming folks do have enough time in their life to volunteer for something, who would choose an airport lounge over another activity that benefits the community as a whole?
In totally unrelated news:
(https://i.imgur.com/nEvdsOR.jpg)
I find "wage theft" to be a bad term. Theft is typically concealed. When you take stuff because the victim would be wise to not protect it, it's called a robbery.
If these were exempt salaried people being asked to volunteer I do not believe it would be considered wage theft anyway, considering as per the terms of their employment they likely could have been subject to being ordered to do this.
I have a friend who is an exempt, salaried chemical engineer with a major chemical company. While it's not happened in about 15 years, they actually train all the engineers to also work production plant jobs (many of those jobs are not technically very involved); the reason being the engineering staff is not unionized and is all salaried and exempt from overtime. So if there is ever a strike, they can be pressed into filling production roles. This has actually happened at his factory in the past (before he worked here.) No wage theft is involved since he is an exempt (from overtime) employee.
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 07:10:29 AM
If my employer asked for me to do unpaid work (in this sense, ie not in any way connected to my normal job for which I get a salary) I would assume that the company was close to going under (which I suppose Delta may well be) and I would likely do some volunteer work but I would also start looking for a different employer (but if the crisis blows over I may still stay).
But aren't you an engineer at a nuclear power plant? For better or worse, a lot of consumer facing companies have the culture "your job is to either sell the product or support the people who sell the product". Which I understand from one perspective, but from another means Home Depot is hiring high powered attorneys from Ivy League schools (I think it is a fortune 100 company) and then having them put on a smock and help people find what they need in the lumbar aisle.
It's not necessarily similar because it's not volunteering but I know everyone who works in TfL head office has a mandatory two week placement on the front line every year. The cushiest option if you can get it is the riverboats :lol:
Similarly I know all office and HQ staff in Royal Mail are required to help out on the front line in sorting offices or delivering mail over the Christmas period.
Quote from: Sheilbh on May 13, 2021, 01:28:59 PM
It's not necessarily similar because it's not volunteering but I know everyone who works in TfL head office has a mandatory two week placement on the front line every year. The cushiest option if you can get it is the riverboats :lol:
Similarly I know all office and HQ staff in Royal Mail are required to help out on the front line in sorting offices or delivering mail over the Christmas period.
Presumably they're paid their regular wages during these placements?
Quote from: Jacob on May 13, 2021, 02:56:56 PM
Presumably they're paid their regular wages during these placements?
Yeah - in both cases I think it's part of the job, I think there's something similar with some retailers in the run-up to Christmas too. For Royal Mail it's certainly that it's their busiest time of year and the need everyone working some days a week on actual mail delivery/sorting so it's part of your job in December/November - everything non-essential stops and everyone moves to just getting Christmas cards into people's doors :lol:
In TfL I think it's more of a thing about everyone working practically on the network ever year to I suppose stay in touch with what they're there for but also, in theory, maybe see practically things they normally just hear/read about.
Btw Delta's CEO made over 13 million USD in 2020. Capitalism is fun innit? :)
Quote from: Zoupa on May 13, 2021, 03:09:38 PM
Btw Delta's CEO made over 13 million USD in 2020. Capitalism is fun innit? :)
someone's gotta get paid to organize the volunteering :P
Quote from: alfred russel on May 13, 2021, 01:26:06 PM
Quote from: The Brain on May 13, 2021, 07:10:29 AM
If my employer asked for me to do unpaid work (in this sense, ie not in any way connected to my normal job for which I get a salary) I would assume that the company was close to going under (which I suppose Delta may well be) and I would likely do some volunteer work but I would also start looking for a different employer (but if the crisis blows over I may still stay).
But aren't you an engineer at a nuclear power plant? For better or worse, a lot of consumer facing companies have the culture "your job is to either sell the product or support the people who sell the product". Which I understand from one perspective, but from another means Home Depot is hiring high powered attorneys from Ivy League schools (I think it is a fortune 100 company) and then having them put on a smock and help people find what they need in the lumbar aisle.
Maybe I am and maybe I'm not. Who can say, really? Regardless, I'm sure there are big differences between American retail and what I do.
Quote from: Zoupa on May 13, 2021, 03:09:38 PM
Btw Delta's CEO made over 13 million USD in 2020. Capitalism is fun innit? :)
If only somebody would cut that dude's taxes.
It would surely trickle down to his volunteers. Damn Demoncrats.