During his latest "My Take," "Varney & Co." host Stuart Varney discusses the employer-employee relationship shift within the tech industry, arguing bosses are "now exerting authority" as companies change the work landscape amid massive layoffs.
STUART VARNEY: It wasn’t that long ago that a job with Big Tech was the best job in the world. Times change.
Virtually every tech company has announced layoffs.
Hundreds of thousands of mostly young techies have been pink-slipped. It’s quite a turnaround for those people who would’ve thought even a year ago, so many people would have been let go.
And if you’ve still got your job in tech, many of the perks are going, going, gone.
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Fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal about the disappearance of the "Goodies" that enticed workers to Big Tech in the first place.
Facebook ended free laundry and dry cleaning. No more to-go containers so employees can’t take home free food.
Salesforce: No more fancy baristas in the office and no more heading to a wellness retreat for yoga and hiking.
Twilio, the online real estate people, no more month-long paid sabbatical for certain employees.
Across the board, free food, massages, birthdays off, out the door.
And those bars and game rooms, which some employers used to entice workers back to the office, mostly gone.
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What’s going on here is a reversal of the employer-employee relationship. The boss is now exerting authority. It’s inevitable.
If the profits stagnate, and you’ve hired too many people in the first place, you cut back on people and the perks.
The next battle, and one that’s being fought right now, is the status of remote work. Most bosses, not all but most, want ‘em back in the office. And that’s another thing that will upset a lot of young techies.
This is a very fast turnaround in employment. It is the pandemic and the squeeze on Big Tech, that’s done it.
The third hour of Varney is just getting started…