

You're Hired (And Fired) - The Future Of Work - jmartens
http://futureofwork.glider.com/the-finite-job-you-are-hired-and-fired/

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mooreds
Uh, how about having an open conversation between employer and employee on how
to foster the employee's growth within the company?

I've only worked for a few companies, but when I was hired as a full time
employee, there was no expectation I'd be doing the same job _forever_. If
anything, there was an expectation that I'd grow in role and responsibility.

Now, being a contractor is different--in that case you typically are hired to
perform specific duties, and if the duties change, the contract should be
updated to reflect that.

Some of the other issues I can see from following Rick's approach): * short
termism, especially as you get to the end of your working period * loss of
good people as they move on after you fire them * workforce ridigity ("I
wasn't hired for that")

In short, I appreciate the provocative nature of the post, but see some real
fundamental problems in his solution.

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mosqutip
It seems like many posts could be boiled down to that simple attitude: why not
talk about it? If you're unhappy in your position with your employer, or vice
versa, start a dialog to try to change things. Don't allow yourself to hate
your work, or start slipping in quality, if you don't have to.

Having an open dialog with management could allow you to change positions,
roles, or, if necessary, leave the company for another.

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turoczy
Totally agree. And I'll try to write some stuff about facilitating that
communication in future posts.

I didn't mean to come off like a cranky passive aggressive ass. I mean, I am.
I just didn't mean to come off that way ;)

This was just a hack at providing some definitive timelines to an often
nebulous arrangement.

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mcdigman
The problem with this is that then there is no institutional memory. Many
student groups in colleges (at least at my college) fight the same problems in
a recurring cycle every 4 years, because no one remembers why it didn't work
out last time - the groups that avoid this are the ones that maintain
connections with alumni or have a stable mentor. And this is for small groups
that know each other well. If you had a corporation with 100s of people, it
couldn't hold itself together with 25-30% annual employee turnover.

This articles mentality only really works if you are being hired to do a
specific project, as an independent contractor, in the context of a larger
team. Its also better for young people whose skill set is changing rapidly and
may become better suited to different positions more quickly, as opposed to
someone who has years of domain expertise and needs stability.

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turoczy
My question about this is: Have we reached a point where "institutional
memory" is more of a liability than a benefit? I often wonder about this.
"That's the way we've always done it," "We tried that before," or "That's not
how we do things here," are all institutional memories that hamstring
innovation.

