This week, the company forcing U.S employee to take a week off without pay. What is the point of flexible time off if a salaried employee does not receive paid time off? If you can't afford to pay people, reinstate PTO. So people get comp if they getting fire or term!!
Exactly what @3ifo+1lz1p8WI said.
Leverage this time for applying and interviewing
As exempt employees, we work toward our goals. Company does not pay our overtime hours. So while overtime hours have never been counted in the formula, now one week off was precisely calculated and deduct from paycheck. This doesn't make sense to me. If company does have financial crisis, it should start a percentage of pay cut for all employees; not just the furlough for US employees only.
When we switched away from PTO, we were paid out the outstanding holiday.
I sounded fair but then too much money was "spend" and the bonus was at that time almost zero, even though it was a good year.
So basically the allocated bonus money was transferred to paying out the earned vacation.
When we still had PTO, we would be forced to "spend time with family" meaning to have shutdowns during Thanksgiving to use up the holidays all same days.
After the "unlimited vacation system", the shutdowns stopped. Why forces an engineer not to work if it does not cost anything to WD to let the engineer work during xmas, New Year ...
Why not just a paycut?
FTO is an unfair system for employees who took less time off.
FTO takes advantage of the fact that the vast majority of employees are conscientious and want to do a good job. Studies have found that employees actually take LESS vacation when they have FTO vs PTO. And yes - PTO requires the company carry that liability on their books. So, if you're the CEO, why wouldn't you want to have people work even harder with less financial liability? I wouldn't call it a scam. I take guilt-free time off because my boss isn't an a-hole and knows even when I'm not in the office I'm still working.
The furlough is to save cash, period. There aren't a lot of things a company can do to preserve cash in the same quarter that they are in. Layoffs don't preserve cash in the short term.
That being said, don't get me started on the DG leadership team. What a disappointment.
@wvn+1lDjmNCp last year's early pay raises came back to bite us all in the a**!
@skj+1lDjmNCp no, rumor is the cuts will be in April or May
Sure, employees have the illusion of flexibility and autonomy, but it benefited the company more than anything else. WD could appear progressive and employee-focused while simultaneously saving money and increasing productivity by creating a culture of always being "on" and available. In the end, it's clear that UTO is just another example of how WD prioritized their bottom line over employee well-being. Who needs happy, healthy, and well-rested employees when you can work them harder and have a few more dollars in the bank, or is that had a few more dollars.
Our leaders are a--holes that are being paid well to destroy a once great company. That is all.
have all the cuts been done?
Is this even legal?
This furlough has nothing to do with FTO or PTO. They just wanted to cut the spending. That being said, we're doing FTO because they want to save money too. Accrued vacation is liability in the book. FTO gets rid of it. That's why FTO is the one of the biggest scam in corporate world.
I think a pay cut and no days off would have a point for WD. Then more can be done with less people and less salary.
The current scheme might be good for employees. One can practice to apply for unemployment benefits for a week and see if rejected.