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White-Collar Sweatshop: The Deterioration of Work and Its Rewards in Corporate America
How corporate greed and mismanagement ate the American dream. In the 1990s, before the bubble of the "miracle economy" burst, corporate America grew fat on the miseries of the American worker. Media attention has focused on dot-com disasters, massive layoffs, and explosions of corporate violence. But for those millions of Americans who have neither been laid off nor "gone postal," life at the office has become a seven-day-a-week workloads; reduced salaries, pensions, and benefits; virtual enslavement to technology; and a pervasive fear about job security. With facts, figures, and telling case histories, the author chronicles this catastrophic sea change in industry after industry. Her book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of the American economy...or worried about his or her own job.
290 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 31, 2024
ARE WE WORKING HARDER AND LONGER, FOR LESS REWARDS?
Jill Andresky Fraser is an editor at "Inc." and Bloomberg Personal Finance, and the author of 'The Business Owner's Guide to Personal Finance' and 'The Best U.S. Cities for Working Women.'
She wrote, "If there is any lesson that the 1980s and 1990s have taught white-collar workers, it is that they can be replaced easily." (Pg. 35) She adds, "Some corporations maintained robust hiring schedules after, or even during, layoff phases. This gave them the option of replacing higher-paid, older workers with less expensive junior staffers and part-timers or consultants who would not qualify for costly benefit packages." (Pg. 41)
Noting that "most businesses, despite having thrived during the past decade, have cut away at their benefit packages even more than at white-collar compensation levels... It's another facet of the work-harder-for-less-mind-set that drives today's cost-conscious business leaders (many of whom are sheltered from the pain by supplementary benefit packages reserved for chief executives and top corporate officers)." (Pg. 58) She observes, "layoffs, downsizings, and other human-resources-related cutbacks have thrived, all within a healthy business world. That's because the 'sweatshop' economy is insatiable and its ultimate arbiter is Wall Street. Its goals are governed by a single overriding assumption: the only bottom line that matters is the corporate bottom line." (Pg. 68)
She records, "Not every employee stayed on at a troubled company... But large numbers of men and women did---accepting heavier and heavier workloads, often while their salaries and benefit packages were frozen or reduced... many found it difficult, if not impossible, to cut ties when they still believed in the 'rightness' of a business world build upon mutual loyalty." (Pg. 126) She asserts, "Corporations... encourage executives and surviving employees not to dwell too much on any of the human costs involved in cutbacks... if staffers DID spend too much time thinking about the suffering of their former colleagues... job-stress levels might rise so high as to prevent people from meeting the ever-increasing productivity goals that usually accompany workforce reductions." (Pg. 167)
She argues, "Workloads have gotten so heavy that free time really does seem an unimaginable luxury for men and women in all kinds of jobs and industries across the United States. Cell phones, laptops, and other workplace technologies loom as inescapable, since without them white-collar staffers cannot hope to meet the '24/7' demands of their employers... many instead lost the ability to relax, concentrate on their families, and pursue leisure interests safe from intrusions from their workplaces... Americans were working harder by the end of the 1990s than their counterparts in Britain, France, Germany, and even Japan... What was it all for?" (Pg. 200)
This is a very insightful analysis of an increasingly prevalent problem in the modern workforce.
Jill Andresky Fraser is an editor at "Inc." and Bloomberg Personal Finance, and the author of 'The Business Owner's Guide to Personal Finance' and 'The Best U.S. Cities for Working Women.'
She wrote, "If there is any lesson that the 1980s and 1990s have taught white-collar workers, it is that they can be replaced easily." (Pg. 35) She adds, "Some corporations maintained robust hiring schedules after, or even during, layoff phases. This gave them the option of replacing higher-paid, older workers with less expensive junior staffers and part-timers or consultants who would not qualify for costly benefit packages." (Pg. 41)
Noting that "most businesses, despite having thrived during the past decade, have cut away at their benefit packages even more than at white-collar compensation levels... It's another facet of the work-harder-for-less-mind-set that drives today's cost-conscious business leaders (many of whom are sheltered from the pain by supplementary benefit packages reserved for chief executives and top corporate officers)." (Pg. 58) She observes, "layoffs, downsizings, and other human-resources-related cutbacks have thrived, all within a healthy business world. That's because the 'sweatshop' economy is insatiable and its ultimate arbiter is Wall Street. Its goals are governed by a single overriding assumption: the only bottom line that matters is the corporate bottom line." (Pg. 68)
She records, "Not every employee stayed on at a troubled company... But large numbers of men and women did---accepting heavier and heavier workloads, often while their salaries and benefit packages were frozen or reduced... many found it difficult, if not impossible, to cut ties when they still believed in the 'rightness' of a business world build upon mutual loyalty." (Pg. 126) She asserts, "Corporations... encourage executives and surviving employees not to dwell too much on any of the human costs involved in cutbacks... if staffers DID spend too much time thinking about the suffering of their former colleagues... job-stress levels might rise so high as to prevent people from meeting the ever-increasing productivity goals that usually accompany workforce reductions." (Pg. 167)
She argues, "Workloads have gotten so heavy that free time really does seem an unimaginable luxury for men and women in all kinds of jobs and industries across the United States. Cell phones, laptops, and other workplace technologies loom as inescapable, since without them white-collar staffers cannot hope to meet the '24/7' demands of their employers... many instead lost the ability to relax, concentrate on their families, and pursue leisure interests safe from intrusions from their workplaces... Americans were working harder by the end of the 1990s than their counterparts in Britain, France, Germany, and even Japan... What was it all for?" (Pg. 200)
This is a very insightful analysis of an increasingly prevalent problem in the modern workforce.
March 17, 2016
Naïve me, coming of age right before the recession, thought grim job prospects and less than desirable working conditions were a product of post-recessionary measures.
Looks like this is an old story; it seems like things have been this way for a long time now. Despite the book's age, it reads like it was written recently--these complaints are ever-present today. I can only imagine work is even more intrusive now, with the ubiquity of pernicious technology. I imagine an updated book may even be more disheartening; this book was written before panopticon management software was standard-issue in corporate offices.
Worth a read; it's a grim book, but it's nice knowing your situation isn't unique.
Looks like this is an old story; it seems like things have been this way for a long time now. Despite the book's age, it reads like it was written recently--these complaints are ever-present today. I can only imagine work is even more intrusive now, with the ubiquity of pernicious technology. I imagine an updated book may even be more disheartening; this book was written before panopticon management software was standard-issue in corporate offices.
Worth a read; it's a grim book, but it's nice knowing your situation isn't unique.
February 14, 2009
Not really the type of book I wanted to read right before I graduated college and it's a bit more depressing now that i don't have a "real" job. Basically the book goes into the details of how white collar workers are working longer hours for less money, lack of benefits and pensions, and even when vacation time is granted workers are often still working on their vacation.
Really makes me wish I could marry a rich CEO and do what I want with my time. ;)
Really makes me wish I could marry a rich CEO and do what I want with my time. ;)
June 10, 2010
Not really much new to be learned from this if you've been paying attention to work trends over the past couple decades. Helpful enough as a primer if you don't already know it (or have already lived it). Odd how dated it seems in places, talking about technology in particular, given that the book is only eight years old.
January 19, 2016
Possibly the most depressing book I've ever read, and still incredibly timely despite being written 15 years ago. Every working generation, particularly young ones, should read it for a broader understanding of their role in the work place.
July 17, 2007
Only an idiot could have written this book
January 11, 2008
A long hard look at how white-collar work is disturbingly coming more and more to resemble sweatshop work. Technology, downsizing and corporate earnings play in to this and affect millions.
June 22, 2013
A book that becomes more relevant by the day.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews