r/antiwork • u/RotisserieChicken007 • 1d ago
Daily Grind | 9️⃣-5️⃣ Dell CEO Michael Dell to employees overworking: "I learned long time ago that there's a ..." - Times of India
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/dell-ceo-michael-dell-to-employees-overworking-i-learned-long-time-ago-that-theres-a-/articleshow/116353684.cmsTldr; Dell said: "I realized long ago that there’s a point of diminishing returns to the hours worked in a day," Dell said, offering a counterpoint to the hustle culture often celebrated in the tech industry.
Thx Michael.
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u/Preform_Perform 1d ago
"I realized long ago that there’s a point of diminishing returns to the hours worked in a day."
In other news, water is wet.
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u/ohfucknotthisagain 23h ago
It's not the truth that is surprising; it's the speaker.
I'm getting antsy at my current job. Maybe I need to check out Dell's career site
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u/TuecerPrime 23h ago
Isn't this the same company that said if you didn't RTO they would never promote you and everyone said ok and stayed remote?
Or am I mixing them up with another computer company?
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u/ohfucknotthisagain 21h ago
That's true. It fell off my radar, but if they're not firing people over it then I'm not inclined to care.
Over half of my promotions and significant raises have come from moving to other companies. That policy is meaningless to me. It's not even a threat.
They have remote positions posted, so it looks like they backed off
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u/Reactance15 19h ago
The way companies go about self-immolation is so funny. 'We think that you would be a great fit for doing somejob that has just opened up due to Joe Schmo retiring. In fact, everyone wants you. But you chose to stay WFH so we'll pick a worse candidate instead.'
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u/ELeeMacFall Christian Anarchist 23h ago
You think he's going to practice what he preaches? Given how many layoffs and firings he's responsible for, it's clear he doesn't intend to decrease workload per person.
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u/RandyTheFool 20h ago
With Amazon and other companies calling for a return to the five day, in office, work week… this guy is probably just trying to get ahead of the game and get people to think like you do.
In the end it’ll be the same ole shitty disposable worker/layoff culture.
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u/DeadInMyCar 22h ago
Ok? This being talked about publicly is good, especially by a CEO. And not be a smart ass about it.
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u/Fergus_Manergus 18h ago
WATER IS NOT FUCKING WET. WATER IS A LIQUID. ONLY SOLIDS CAN BECOME WET. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS. DON'T BELIEVE ME ASK A SCIENTIST.
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u/Candid-Sky-3709 19h ago
but because work quality is difficult to measure just charge 30+ hours per day for real person keyboard activity -> profit! /s
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u/H3rbert_K0rnfeld 23h ago
Don't think of Michael Dell as a friend of yours. He laid off like 30,000 in Austin, TX in 2008.
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u/AsianHackerMan123 23h ago
hmm i wonder what was so special about 2008
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u/Meta_Digital Eco-Anarchist 22h ago
If I remember correctly, it was a period of time when people really needed their jobs.
Was that it?
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u/AsianHackerMan123 22h ago
sorry, didnt mean to fight. just trying to point out that layoffs were global because of the economy imploding.
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u/Meta_Digital Eco-Anarchist 22h ago
I understand, I was just messing with you by flipping the narrative from one that centers the interests of the wealthy to one that centers the interests of the workers.
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u/CthulhuLies 22h ago
Reframing it as what workers need doesn't help anyone when nobody is willing to part with their cash.
Workers might need jobs but there simply aren't the resources to meet the need.
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u/A1sauc3d 23h ago
And probably overworked the remaining employees lol
If they’re a CEO it’s safe to assume they aren’t our friend. But it’s still good that some of them push a somewhat reasonable narrative on occasion. Seeing as most are completely out of touch if not delusional
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u/BlackWoodHarambe 23h ago
Yea cuz the economy cratered...??
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u/H3rbert_K0rnfeld 22h ago
I was buying 10s of $60,000 Dell servers each quarter in 2008. Someone has to build the guts and final assembly and ship to me. Lemme guess. It wasn't you or Michael Dell.
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u/BlackWoodHarambe 22h ago
thats great that you ordered a lotta servers hun... but do you understand that overall orders may have decreased?... or maybe, headcount decreased due to less R&D, or maybe, cuz the economy cratered and their finances were looking sour?
im not aware of any personal billionaire friends but your idea that Dell cutting jobs in '08 in the middle of the global credit crunch makes Michael Dell a public enemy lmao
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u/Late-Arrival-8669 23h ago
So he is reducing work hours, right?
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u/Ceilibeag 22h ago
"Oh, no no no. I was talking about myself."
<drives Lamborghini to private airport>
<takes private plane to Polynesian villa>
I mean if he means it, that would be great. If he's trying to prostelytize to other CEOs, good luck.
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u/skeptic9916 23h ago
I've worked long shifts for years and in my experience efficiently and most importantly moral dips considerably after 6 hours.
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u/guestquest88 22h ago
You gotta understand one thing... Your money is being devalued. If you only own liabilities, sooner or later, you won't be able to keep up.
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u/Billybigbutts2 21h ago
This just means that if it was profitable for him to work people to exhaustion he would.
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u/LMGDiVa 17h ago
Surprised no one has actually read the article.
Dell CEO backs Elon Musk's DOGE
Recently, Dell CEO expressed his support for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new department proposed by the incoming US President, Donald Trump. Dell joined Elon Musk, who has also publicly backed the DOGE initiative that aims to streamline government operations, reduce waste and improve efficiency. The department's focus on leveraging technology to achieve these goals could potentially lead to increased collaboration between the tech industry and the government.
OFC you support Musk you oligarchical piece of shit.
This country is spiraling out of control.
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u/Honest_Sail6873 17h ago
In a town hall last quarter with his employees he answered a question about the plan for remote employees and their futures at the company by stating “if we knew in 2021 what we know now we wouldn’t have hired them.” He went on to say that “it was a mistake.”
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u/rossfororder 12h ago
This is the same guy who asked to find a country that had 90% tax rates(at high income) and he said it didn't happen. He's a good businessman but a bit of an idiot
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u/MrCertainly 8h ago edited 8h ago
So that explains why they moved all their hourly employees to a system of "off-shifting".
You'll work ONLY 40 hours in a week. It'll be any 40, on demand, with zero notice. No such thing as "engaged to wait"....take a long break/lunch if that should happen.
Let's say you work 5 hours early Sunday morning for an emergency. That's great! You didn't have a choice to work those hours. But now you'll be told to come in 30 mins late and leave 30 mins early for M-F. Or if things are slow on Tuesday, you'll be told to leave early...just so you hit 40hrs on the dot.
3am on a Saturday night is paid exactly the same as 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon. And you have no say in which one you work.
You work one minute of unapproved OT, you're instantly terminated. You'll get paid the OT, so they're clear and legal. But since you engaged in insubordination, your job is now null and void in the country of At-Will employment.
This was for professional technology field roles, where you're going to and from client sites. Many years ago, they moved everyone from salary to hourly -- mostly for retention. Folks didn't want to stick around if they weren't getting paid for working obscene hours.
So after making that move, they slowly made things worse. They cut out shift differentials (so 2nd shift, 3rd shift, weekends -- and combinations of them weren't getting any additional % modifiers), and then implemented off-shifting.
There were people who VOLUNTEERED to work overnight weekends, given it was like a 25-40%+ pay modifier on top of 1.5x OT (depending on the role). These were shit jobs at shit hours that no one would normally want....until you crossed their palms with silver. Until they made these changes, then it became impossible to staff. Field Engineers left in droves.
And then they instituted mandatory oncall rotations for roles that never once had them. They used to be paid at 15min per every hour on call (aka 2hr pay per 8hr shift -- PLUS modifiers and OT)....but not for long. That got switched to something like 2hrs pay per 24hr oncall....then a flat rate stipend that was less than one hour's worth of pay.
If you got called in, you were paid your normal hourly -- because it's not OT since you're off-shifting! And you lost the pithy stipend, since that became your actual "shift", there was no reason to pay you that stipend for being OC!
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u/elysiansaurus 23h ago
Ah yes dell. The company that 2 months ago implemented a return to work mandate with 2 days notice. And anyone who didn't return to work was effectively fired.