obscurestarobscurestar@mastodon.social
Aug 10, 2026, 4:57 PM@NanoRaptor Or starts noticing that the contractors are doing work a half hour before clocking in and 3 hours after clocking out.
Replies
Sieffre Plays 🎮sieffreplays@mastodon.socialAug 10, 2026, 6:31 PM@obscurestar When I did contract work for Google, we were given set amounts of time that a task should take. If we did a task under the time given, we were only paid the time it took. If we did a task over the time given, they would only pay us the given time. Of course they told us to bill for time worked, rather than allotted time for legal reasons, but if our submitted time was off by more than 5%, we risked termination for "low productivity." I'd usually work 9-10 hour days for 8 hours pay.
Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPETimWardCam@c.imAug 10, 2026, 8:54 PM@sieffreplays @obscurestar Why on earth would anyone put up with that?
I would expect a common response to be to complete the work in the allotted time. "Good fast cheap, pick two." If they insist on "cheap" they lose one of the others, presumably "good".
- obscurestarobscurestar@mastodon.socialAug 10, 2026, 9:18 PM
@TimWardCam @sieffreplays Because most of the big companies don't direct hire anymore. They use temp agencies so they can fire at-will without cause, and temp agencies will stop finding placements for agents if they get let go too often. And what choice do people have? Let their children starve? Lose their apartment/mailing address?
- Sieffre Plays 🎮sieffreplays@mastodon.socialAug 10, 2026, 11:52 PM
@TimWardCam I'm disabled with multiple sclerosis, autism, and ADHD, plus I don't have a college degree, so I'm basically unhirable and it was what paid the bills.
Even better, when I got laid off in 2024, Google gave us 3 months notice, and then started artificially restricting task availability to coerce people to quit. I worked 24/7 for 3 months, getting in 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, an hour here, and napping during periods of unavailable tasks, to get my hours in.
IqrashahIqrashah@mastodon.socialAug 11, 2026, 8:15 AM
"This is pure corporate exploitation! Big tech companies preach freedom and innovation while squeezing their contractors to the bone. No wonder people are moving away from them."
tessarakttessarakt@mastodon.socialAug 10, 2026, 6:33 PM@obscurestar @NanoRaptor What do you mean by "clocking in" and "clocking out"? Are they contractors (who are paid for specified services) or employees (who are paid for their time during which they are subject to the employer's directions)?
- obscurestarobscurestar@mastodon.socialAug 10, 2026, 9:14 PM
@tessarakt @NanoRaptor People working for large companies through temp agencies are also contractors. The employment market is bad and they can be fired without any cause, so many of these large corporations bleed them. Get fired too many times and the temp agency won't hire them out anymore.