Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Arainach 84 days ago
No, employees have no obligations to shareholders. They get money for their labor. End of obligation. They are not the corporation.

This is ignoring that the concept of companies having to care about shareholders above everything else is a lie spread to justify evil behavior.
1 comments
ivan_gammel 83 days ago
> They get money for their labor.

Yes, and what is the essence of that labor? It is to create profits for shareholders. You are not getting paid to contribute to toxic culture or to seize the means of production. CEO could have been in the wrong, but the moment when the “us vs them” idea starts dominating in corporate culture is the moment company dies and those jobs that everyone is so afraid to loose are ceasing to exist.

>This is ignoring that the concept of companies having to care about shareholders above everything else is a lie spread to justify evil behavior.

Nobody is claiming the “above everything else” here

link
Arainach 83 days ago
> Yes, and what is the essence of that labor? It is to create profits for shareholders

No, it's not. I'm not sure what your source of capitalism koolaid is, but employees are transacting labor for money, and shareholders do not come into it at all.

The nature of labor is stocking shelves, writing code, emptying trash bins, or whatever else you do. Full stop.

If you want employees to "think of the shareholders first", you give them enough ownership that the stock price actually makes a major difference in their life, and crucially, enough control at the company to actually influence the stock price. In practice that's the C Suite and maybe some senior VPs. No one else should be stressing out trying to make the owners richer.

link
ivan_gammel 83 days ago
This conversation is not about „employees thinking/not thinking about shareholders“. You are cherry-picking that topic and taking it out of context, for what reason exactly?

I have explained already a few times why and what context matters here. Are you struggling to understand it or just avoiding it?

link
Arainach 83 days ago
You started your initial response with "When you sign the working contract, your job is to act in the interests of shareholders".

Working for a company does not mean blind allegiance to leadership, nor does it mean no criticism.

link
ivan_gammel 83 days ago
I fully agree with you, it doesn’t. However I wasn’t saying that, so I have to conclude that you are speaking to someone else here, making up arguments from an imaginary opponent, and I’m not needed here. Good luck.
link