Today, 09:06 AM
There's an interesting case study. Interesting because while I'm sure your acquaintance is a decent guy, I have also spent a couple decades periodically being the guy to help clean up the technological shipwreck created by an IT salesman. So I'm a bit biased about them getting paid the amount they do (plus the perks) for the job they do.
What about mortgage sales? The people who call up and get you to refinance? We haven't been getting those calls recently because their entire industry suffered an apocalypse a few years ago. But some of them were really decent people who did what they did very well. I actually refinanced twice with the same guy because he did such a great job of it. And he's probably out of work, or doing something else now, and that entire company is probably gone. I feel for him, but things are different, and things had to change.
The market is merciless. If people aren't getting the maximum value for their dollar, they're not going to part with it easily. Lots of people want to change that calculus and bring the state to bear on the situation that brings them an advantage and "creates mercy" in the market. And in this case study, we have three sides: one, the business owner, who wants to bring the power of the state to bear on his employees and make the market less merciless to him. The second is the employee, who likewise wants the state to side with him, and make the market less merciless to his interest. And the third is the other sales situations where there has never been a state action on either side, allowing the market to act with zero mercy.
Lots of contracts are unenforceable and there are arguments to be made to that effect here. If I was making the argument, I'd say that an employment arrangement requires pay to count as employment. If the pay isn't happening, it's not employment. If someone owes some action or inaction to someone else and isn't paid for it, then that's slavery. There has to be a way to put NCA's in place that compensate the employee for it.
I agree with you that there will be lots of fallout from this. But I'm looking beyond the individuals who will be harmed in the short term and toward the bright future where there are a lot less salesmen in the world. Getting locked into a business model is the worst thing for all of us. Businesses either pivot and do something that works once the old ways are dead, and we all benefit from it collectively, or they get to force everyone to keep doing things in a way that allows them not to change. I know which way the market would have us go.
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