It's Almost the Season for WOTC layoff!

[Banshee16]

Would have to beg to differ for being the only good reasons.
Case in point, the big three auto manufactures used to use layoffs in the event of factory retoolings and what not.
By using the layoff, and the fact the retooling was taking 6+ weeks it made their 'former employees' eligibile for all their unemployment benefits. Had they simply said a work furlough, the employees wouldn't have been eligible for any benefits. As long as it took more than 6 weeks than the employees remained eligible and could be 'rehired' back to the line again. Though this has been changing in the last 20 years.

Yes......and we can see where those practices got the big three. One filing for bankruptcy, one surviving by pure luck since they refinanced pretty much *everything* a few short years before the crash hit, and the third almost going under. Two of them depending on extensive government bailouts to survive.

And overall customer satisfaction levels and quality of product at a low. It's improving....but I don't think anyone can claim that use of layoffs helped them.

My brother was an engineer with one of the big three, and eventually got out because of the instability. He had the foresight to abandon the whole Detroit/Windsor area and sell his house before everything crashed and home values plummeted.......overall there's a lot going on that the general public doesn't see, and I think it displays a short-sightedness in management that has had far reaching implications in the quality of their products.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

You also have the option of pay cuts. Are you willing to take a pay cut to keep Bob the Game Designer employed? Yeah didn't think so. I'd have you working for pennies on the dollar in a few years if that became the practice.

I have friends working in the IT industry (programmers) who were directly faced with this choice. The company said that they could either get staff to agree to work 1 day a week for free until things turned around during the recession (and I think it became 1 day for free one week, 2 days for free the second week), with the alternatives being layoffs. The employees voted and agreed to it, rather than start losing jobs.

Yeah, it sucked, but it was better than looking for work in a situation where so many companies were streamlining their staffing levels.

Anyways, it's been a year, and the company has restored pay to two of the days, so now it's just 1 day for free every two weeks.

I can't see a company using this tactic to get staff to work for pennies on the dollar. I mean really, that's just silly. Particularly in skilled professions, that's a one-way ticket to finding that you can't hire good staff..and consequently can't produce your product anymore. Employees (any smart ones) will typically understand their value on the market. A company needs to have a pretty good value proposition to expect to be able to hire good staff for less than those staff know they can get somewhere else. Otherwise, the company just ends up with the rejects that nobody else wants.

This particular company was just one example, but from everything I've read, it's by no mean an isolated instance.

And solutions like this tend to generate more loyalty from staff in the long run.

Banshee

 

[PaizoCEO]

Internships are a different matter - for me. They're standard in the US, but not in the UK. Economic pressures are forcing a move in the same direction which is not welcome. Twenty years ago going to university was free here and our students now leave with debts of $30K+.

Personally, I'd think it fairer to go beyond the standard and offer some kind of subsistence payment or gratuity/ expenses. The result, hopefully, would be a steady stream of even more loyal future employees, who you'd supported when it made a real difference to them.

What most people don't realize is that a lot of the folks who get internships aren't looking to get paid. As a matter of fact, for many of them, they are trying to get college credit while getting work experience and most of the college internship programs prohibit us paying the interns. I will say that we usually give them a small token of our appreciation on their last day of internship.

-Lisa

 

[nedjer]

You like her. You really like her.

Looks an awful lot like Sally Field to me. Not one of her better pics and she must be kinda older by now. However, she's a) intelligent, b) feisty and c) looked like this

 

[nedjer]

You like her. You really like her.

Looks an awful lot like Sally Field to me. Not one of her better pics and she must be kinda older by now. However, she's a) intelligent, b) feisty and c)

 

[nedjer]

How rubbish was that double post. Two lots of text and only one bikini pic

 

[nedjer]

What most people don't realize is that a lot of the folks who get internships aren't looking to get paid. As a matter of fact, for many of them, they are trying to get college credit while getting work experience and most of the college internship programs prohibit us paying the interns. I will say that we usually give them a small token of our appreciation on their last day of internship.

-Lisa

The system clearly kicks in earlier in the US, as what you're describing is handled through work placements for undergraduates in the UK, i.e. they're a student and, while expectations may be high, they're not expected to perform to the standard of professionals.

Graduate interns are the source of concern in the UK. I'll skip the emotive clips of weeping Interns and stick with a fairly objective take on it [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4_0CYTnPgg"]from the BBC[/ame]. Notably, the Conservative Minister, (very business-orientated), is pretty concerned himself, as there are almost two systems in operation, with some gaining really valuable experience and others (quite a lot) being treated very poorly.

I don't doubt that you're offering a really high quality internship; but I maintain that if companies are looking for a professional standard of work Internships should deliver a number of tangible benefits. You may be doing that on the last day, and through good references and taking Interns on to the staff when you can . . . However, while that all remains discretionary, a whole lot of Interns aren't as fortunate as your Interns

 

[Mark CMG]

Looks an awful lot like Sally Field to me. Not one of her better pics and she must be kinda older by now. However, she's a) intelligent, b) feisty and c)

Must spread around XP before . . .

 

[Erik Mona]

Looks an awful lot like Sally Field to me. Not one of her better pics and she must be kinda older by now. However, she's a) intelligent, b) feisty and c)

That old Sally Field picture gave me Boniva.

--Erik

 

[nedjer]

Having clearly established that Paizo offer a form of Internship that merits a solid recommendation . . .

Paizo have made a real success of exploiting a strong niche, added value to their core system, set up a tight e-commerce operation and made money. We now find them recruiting staff and, presumably, looking for further growth.

There may be more growth in out AD&Ding AD&D, but that doesn't grow the market as a whole or build a wider community. Which leads me to ask: do Paizo (or others) have plans or a commitment to making TRPGs more accessible to kids, youths and/ or female gamers?

There are regular threads here and elsewhere, (such as 'RPGs and Kids' or the current 'What Do You Do for RPGs'), which make it clear that parents 'in the know' place a high 'value' on getting their kids into TRPGs. The posts in such threads consistently show girls and boys getting involved at relatively early ages with positive outcomes reported time and again.

So, will anyone commit, on any level, to going beyond that short ,(well-intentioned), but unfortunate D&D Adventure that was aimed at kids (something of Hesiod?)?

For example, illustration heavy, short scenarios with flexible rails and a balance of gameplay elements alongside combat. Or special offer family bundle packs. Icon self-certificating of products by age, graphic violence and any sexual content. Videos/ cartoon videos that promote RPGs as a whole instead of a recent WotC Githyanki specific effort. A handy to carry, 'Starter/ Youth' Edition, which takes out Vanilla Dark such as Demons, Summonings, Devils and the kind of backstory in Dragon Age. (Large Tarantula Hawk Wasp variants and Vampire variants are just as scary, but less likely to leave a parent open to having to explain themselves).