Comments

1
Microsoft, the be-all and end-all of IT, is now being eaten alive by technological piranhas.

The question is...what will be left?

Desktops, eaten by Android?

Gaming eaten by declining interest and casual apps?

Office eaten by Gmail?

Mobile eaten by LG and Samsung?

Hardware eaten by Apple?

Intelligent systems eaten by IBM's Watson?

Social media eaten by Facebook?

SQL Server and .NET business applications...well, here they have a market, but it will require streamlining, and growth, in that direction.
2
That's similar to what tech friends that work in tech as 1099's at the big Bay Area companies must do as well. I believe a lawsuit against Microsoft in the mid-90's was the genesis of these rules, but I won't pretend to understand the nuances that allowed so may Microsoft vendors to skirt this rule until now.
3
Interesting. Microsoft is probably introducing this policy to confound their own managers given that they frequently jump through hoops to turn what should be A- positions into V- positions so they don't have to lose experienced workers for 3 months.

This is likely to very much screw up the business models for some companies that have been taking on more and more work at the Redmond campus in recent years.
4
I predict this rule will be violated routinely, possibly even repealed before 18 months passes.
5
This is how Intel works in the Portland area. It prevents temporary employees from ever being considered direct employees. It's all about cutting benefits.
6
I am glad to see this program go. As a former contractor I always felt abused by the system. While FTE's enjoyed basics like vacation, healthcare, and somewhat decent job stability, we were left feeling like others. We had desks, but didn't really move in. We never knew if we would be re-upped in 6 months and were never really fully brought into the conversation. As a consquence I never felt ownership of my work the way I do when I am fully employed. I also never felt loyal. Nor should I.

Nevertheless they put me in charge of work that was full time and needed a full time expert. More than 5 years later contractors are still doing what I did and I promise you that work will still be happening well after the layoffs. It was a mission critical job they never took seriously -- marketing and PR. That's why Apple is winning.
7
I just finished an 18-month v- contract and it was a great experience. I got good insurance, but not vacation, but the salary was fantastic.
8
My understanding (as someone who was an a- almost 10 years ago) was that the result of the class action lawsuit brought by eternal temp force employees during the early MSFT boom was this 365 days on 100 days off rule. Folks who did similar work, reported to the same manager, etc. either became millionaires (if FTE) or did not (if perma-temps). Whether you think that is fair or not (perma-temps got paid more from what I understand) is beside the point. There was a payout and new rules in place including the 365 on 100 off rule and the "this guy is not your manager but you report to him" rule (your manager was someone from the agency who came by once a month and said "wazzup?") The issue is that these new rules created the following interesting situation:

Certain high-value a- workers were basically guaranteed a rehire after 100 days (for years and years). This meant that certain jobs would sit idle in their absence. They were for all intents and purposes, key, irreplaceable members of the teams they worked for. When that happens, MSFT should HIRE the person full time. But they don't (no open head count for that team etc...). Having your co-worker who is super important to the functioning of the team take 3 months off every 12 months is hella inefficient for the longer term, but is just long enough to kinda eke by or have someone babysit the project until day 101.

The interesting thing about this new 18 month on and then 6 months off is it changes the nature of that job-on-pause situation. I would wager that you CAN NOT wait 6 months for RoboJoe to come back. MSFT will need the expertise in-house all the time. It also means that lots of a- and v- folks will either get offered a FTE position or will go find other employment instead of taking a long break - because 6 months is just too long between work (but 3 months is doable).
9
@7 in most european countries it is required by law that workers get a minimum of at least 3 weeks of vacation. Not giving vacation time is a violation of human rights.
10
@8 I think you are right. I hope this change forces managers to fight for the people they need and they are empowered to offer full time employment. It will make Microsoft so much better in the long run.
11
Hopefully this will reduce rent on the east side!
12
So, are these furloghed employees allwed to collect unemployment insurance during "off" periods? If so it sounds to me as if Microsoft has been using tax money to keep from hiring people into full time positions while avoiding payinf employee benefits such as insurance and sick leave. Anyone have any information on this?
13
@10 I think you have this backward. Moving forward most employees at Microsoft, except the chosen few plucked from college job fairs, are going to be temporary employees on 18 month contracts employed by an outside vendor. The industry is moving toward this as a standard so that Intel, Microsoft, etc. are not responsible for employee benefits. It is not a good thing for the workers.
14
Microsoft has not produced an "I gotta have this, it's amazing" product since about 1994.

Die
Already.

You suck.

And the rents here won't be too damn high.
15
I don't know if I understand this since I just having paid much attention to Microsoft.

Contractors are surprised that rules of the company they don't work for are changing.
Is that it?

Direct employees get a 60 day layoff notice when working for a company over a particular size and I'm pretty sure that would be Microsoft.
16
@12, yes, indeed they do qualify for unemployment benefits during their mandatory breaks. But of course their vendor agency is responsible for those payments, not Microsoft. And it suuuucks for the employee to have to pay COBRA for 4 months after every year, which will now be 7 months or so (because it never kicks in right away, does it?).
17
@15, The "direct employees" are getting screwed too, because they depend on their contract employees (a-) and vendors (v-) to actually get the work done. This is a game-changer at MSFT, and contractors are working normal business-critical jobs just like the FTEs, but with the added bonus of a threat of random and immediate contract termination hanging over their heads.

But hey, if you haven't paid attention to this stuff before and don't think it's something people should be upset about, then what's the big deal.
18
@12 - Yes, that is how it has been until now: the a- worker works for a year and is then eligible for unemployment benefits that last through the 100 days and pay about 2/3 of what their income was when they were working. My partner was a- for many years and we very much enjoyed the 100 days.
19
18 on, 6 off? This is a rule that is designed to ensure that the most talented workers go find other jobs. It reminds me of the old "stack rating" system that they had that caused so much internal backbiting. I'm guessing the same geniuses behind that one are behind this change as well.
20
#1, Android doesn't work on desktops. Bluestacks does, and Linux does. But Android completely lacks the drivers to run desktop hardware.

Also, gaming isn't declining. Gaming sales are on the rise in all markets, desktop, console, and mobile.

MS can and in the end will survive for one reason: Windows. 90% of the hardware out there will only run on Windows or Ubuntu, and the hardware vendors all sided with Windows long ago. MS has essentially created its own market, and those market forces will support MS because if they do not they will go out of business. MSI, EVGA, ASRock, and the like all told are worth billions if not over a trillion. MS is more important economically than the banks and car companies we've bailed out. If they are too big to fail, how does one expect MS to fail?
21
Whoops, this is much worse than the 1300 FTEs. Vendors definitely make up a large percentage of the local workforce.
22
@15: "Contractors are surprised that rules of the company they don't work for are changing.
Is that it?"

The labor market has always been fluid for contractors, but IIRC it's been consistent for the 18 years or so since the Permatemp lawsuit. This is a pretty significant change of policy going forward.
23
@13 maybe you're right, but it isn't a winning strategy. The good ones are already gravetating to boutique and start up firms -- or even better starting their own company. I know it is a privledged position, but if I can help it I will never lend my life to an employer who doesn't treat me fairly. My talent and time is worth more than that. So is yours.
24
@22, 18 years?

The permatemp lawsuit was 1999, settled in 2006 (my daughter loved the "no expense is off the table" trip to Disneyland). Microsoft changed it's a-/v- rules a few times in between, because the IRS kept intervening and calling permatemps common-law employees, thus subject to employer taxes (the IRS was not about to sue for the employee benefits though). The recent change really only represents about eight years of stability.

@12, yes, unemployment benefits underwrite Microsoft's, and many companies reliant on permatemp employees, labor costs. Last time this state changed unemployment rules, they just ruled out a whole class of part time employees, thanks to corporate lobbying. No help for the workers.

In the late 1990s, Microsoft also backed state legislation exempting their permatemp workers, paid hourly, from overtime rules (time and a half). They succeeded but most contracts leave time and a half in.

You can bet few if any H1-B visa holders were laid off, and no in-pipeline applications were rescinded. A sudden influx of highly skilled workers into the regional (even national) job market should cause applications from many companies to be reviewed, but they won't.
25
Yes, it is an extremely privileged position, since many people -- even some possibly more talented and experienced than you -- are working at Starbucks. Just keep it to yourself so you don't make people feel worse than they already do.
26
@17, I never said this, "and don't think it's something people should be upset about", did I?
Nope.

I just don't pay too much attention to the hiring practices of most businesses. It is unfortunate that makes you imagine that I had written something else.
27
MS workers need a union!
28
@24: actually the suit was filed in 1992 and settled in 2001. Then the money sat in trust for several more years of legal haggling before they paid it out. MS started the break in service for agency temp workers in the late '90s. At first it was 30 days but they changed it to 100 days within a year or two. The rules have not changed much since, until now.
29
MS is too cheap to employ copy editors?
30
Sorry to offend @25. You are right.
31
So by my calculations, MS is forcing the taxpayers to subsidize every v- to the tune of $7,200 a year via unemployment benefits. What a deal. Can we start talking about basic income already and end this nonsense once and for all?
33
@31: no, V- are employees of a service company, technically their employment contract would carry on and they could be placed with another non-MS company. Of course, with at-will contracts they may be fired immediately. But that's the case with anyone who works at-will.
34
@30: If it was so easy, most vendors would already do so.

Besides, working with internal tools for so long tends to give vendors a mess of skills on the resume useless outside of MSFT. Even if the technical ability is solid, it's going to get them filtered out when they start applying to non-MS stack startups.
35
@33: Huh? Their contract covers Microsoft employment so the original poster is correct. They will be dropped and while they could be employed elsewhere, there are not tens of thousands of other vendor gigs to be immediately placed into, so they will continue on unemployment until they find another contract.
36
@34: Internal tools are tangential. Real abilities are demonstrated by core competencies in development, programming, management, writing etc. New hires should be able to adapt to new authoring and developing tools easily.
37
@36: Only a scant few percent of those vendors are SDEs, SDETs, and management. That's FTE work.
38
@37: I meant those competencies in a broad way, that any developer, tester, writer, or editor should have -- FTE or not. I should have clarified workload and project management, not people management.
39
That should be the case, but nobody in the real world gives a fuck about the technical competencies of running the Windows Test Tool framework and creating automation based around it if you can't write Selenium. Startups don't want "potential". They care about specific technical competencies and screen you out otherwise.
40
@39: Yeah, I think that is what I was saying. Oh well.
41
For those who are saying that taxpayers are subsidizing MS employees/vendors, that is incorrect.

Unemployment insurance is paid by the employer. So if your paycheck says Microsoft, they're paying it and as their experience rating increases they'll pay more. If your paycheck days Company XYZ, they're paying it, and as their costs go up they will raise what they charge Microsoft for future contracts.

Either way, the cost is borne by MS.

As for benefits, the contractors I know are getting full benefit packages from their employers. Anyone who isn't should explore their options elsewhere, which is true in any professional setting.
42
@39: Oh, okay, I guess!
43
"This effects..." I'm stuck. I can't read the rest of it.
44
@24 -- You're referring to Vizcaino v. Microsoft. The case was settled, leading to a consent decree that may have since expired. The consent decree was mainly over the terms of stock purchase, not tenure issues generally. The avoidance strategy of a further lawsuit varies from year to year--the current move seems to be more about controlling operating costs short term than any common-law employee issues.
45
Microsoft is an Indian company. Just move it all to Bangalore and be done with it.
46
@25 - "Just feel lucky you're not working at Starbucks" is a great way to respond to someone bringing up legitimate labor issues in their field. Really, any and all talk about labor issues should stop before it starts, right? This is the US after all.

A good alternative for actual Starbucks employees is "Just feel lucky you have a job at all."

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