Monday, December 8, 2008

More fun work decisions

So Samsung has been hit by the recession, at least to a degree. There are varying rumors about how many people will not have their contract renewed. (But apparently there is also a social contract with the government ensuring that Samsung will not fire a large number of people during a recession. The amusing element involves the various cost efficiencies they are imposing however. They now turn off the lights at lunch ("You must go to lunch now!"), at GSG they took away our coffee-maker, they took away the plastic cups in our coffee maker in Suwon (to put it in perspective, we have one of the cheapest coffee makers here, so I am not surprised that this one is still here.

The other amusing element involves the short-term focus of this place. A quote from a senior (very senior manager) to a friend of mine: "2 year plan is great, but what about my next 6 months?" Long-term plans?

Monday are Mondays, right? I nearly lost it today with a security guard (not a good idea). I found out the bus to Suwon was 30 minutes later than I expected. So I sat down to wait (next to a group waiting in line. A security guard came over to tell me that I need to get off the stone wall (or stand in front of it). I mean do people really have anything better to do? "Wait, this MIGHT reflect badly on Samsung, or annoy a senior exec, therefore..." again, wow.

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