I first heard about this yesterday, and this was the conversation that popped into my mind:
REPLACEMENT H-1B WORKER: “Hi Mr. X, I was told I could call you for advice on the code you wrote for this process before they laid you off and hired me. We added a new process, and the code doesn’t work. Could you help me fix it?”
LAID OFF MR. X: “Sure. Just un-comment this line here, comment out this line and recompile. That should fix it for you.” Click.
Later...
REPLACEMENT H-1B WORKER: “But sir, I did as Mr. X suggested, and it wrote data to the wrong part of the database, and we can’t undo it...our records are unusable, all the key fields have been overwritten and the backups are no good!”
This sounds vaguely rotten to me, and I'm not sure I would agree to it -- but I don't know how large the severance package might be. But in any case, workers who have been paid should not be said to be "required to work for free". It is not accurate.
It’s a given that what SunTrust has done is not ethic.
Additionally, I can’t see how this meets labor regulations, labor decision case precidents?
Coerced work obligations without pay in their severance package?
And how the hell can this practice be Sarbanes Oxley, Payment Card Industry, and HIPAA compliant?
Identity Access Management and Privileged User Management standards usually require individuals to have a continous employee or vendor recertification for privileged user access.
Once an individual is terminated, they’re supposed to lose access.
Reclassifying terminated employees as unpaid contractors and letting them have privileged access to sensitive financially significant systems doesn’t seem like that would pass compliance audits.
Idiotic bastards.
As an ex-techie, I am SO looking forward to all of the comments and further installments about this story.
It’s Buttered-popcorn time!
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, companies were run by executives from manufacturing and sales. To rise in the organization they had to lead people and value people. Employees were generally loyal to companies and companies were loyal to their people.
In the 1970’s companies shifted from appointing operating executives to senior roles to appointing financial managers and lawyers. This generation of executives viewed employees as an expense, not an asset. Hence three decades of downsizing, offshoring and restructuring have virtually eliminated employee loyalty toward company. It has also resulted in poor management and leadership skills within organizations.
Perhaps the mellennial generation will force organizations to develop better leaders and begin viewing employees as assets to be nurtured instead of wage slaves to be discarded.
Someone is actually using F#???
Number-cruncher: “Say! We can get THREE Indian IT resources at the same salary as one of our American IT resources, AND we don’t have to pay them benefits!”
IT (technical) manager: “The American resources work much more efficiently, design better code, are always available outside of business hours, and they speak clear English.”
Number-cruncher: “But THREE instead of one?! AND we don’t have to pay them benefits? C’mon! Surely you could train them to perform at the same standards as the American worker. Where’s the downside?”
IT (technical) manager: “Historical and anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise, and American resources are here, face-to-face, and they’re easily managed versus a resource on the other side of the planet.”
Number-cruncher: “I’m sorry, but the big boss man is going to appreciate having a bigger bonus check more than he will with what you deem to be higher quality staff.”
IT (technical) manager: *sits back and folds his arms across his chest* “Well you surely know how to do my job better than me, so please, by all means, let’s go for it. When the systems are smoking heaps of garbage in eight to twelve months, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
F# is that like FORTRAN 2015? I could do that.
Go ahead, let me back in to your system after you fire me. I dare you.
The comments following the story at the Register tell the tale. Not sure what SunTrust was thinking. Have been involved in projects where the majority of the new code is from offshore. Management had a hard time figuring out why their cost-cutting measure didn’t improve their bottom-line. Really.
I work in IT support, servicing many companies, and see the disaster this practice has done in corporate America. On the side, I have advised many personal friends whose companies (number-crunchers) were considering laying off their IT staff and hiring a “managed services” company (usually based out of India) to really consider the longterm costs. However, the number-crunchers are usually planning to take their bonus for “saving” the company so much $$$ and jumping ship before hitting the iceberg. I probably should write a book on my observations and experiences with this “practice”, but will have to do so after I am retired or replaced, as the powers that be would not be happy with the expose....
Sun Trust is insane for this sort of behavior. If I had a nickle in that bank, I would take it out immediately.
I have made it a point to OFFER to be available to former employers, but to BE REQUIRED might make my code a little less stellar.
I would hope I would not make any fatal coding errors, but you never know.
How many folks on this forum know what a BOFH is without looking it up? How many people on this forum have ever been a BOFH?
I agree with those who suspect there’s more to this story. As stated this is absolutely suicidal. It’s like telling your heart surgeon just before the transplant operation that you’ve wrecked his car and got his daughter pregnant and hey, I hope we can still be pals...