Gripe#13: A Return To Corporate Exploitation

Disclaimer: In the highly unlikely event that any of the locally-based higher-ups of Ascend Asia are reading this, this is not meant to be an attack on you. I firmly understand that the things I have written about here are not under your control and you're probably (but unlikely to be) just as annoyed as I am. This is, however, an attack of the people above you. The ones running the show.

Hold on tight, folks. This is going to be a long, bumpy ride. And it won't be at all pleasant.

It has been almost...six months since I landed a gig at Ascend Asia.

Due to my natural tendencies, I've been watching things a lot of the time. Sadly, part of me is starting to think that I might have made a grave, grave error in judgment. There are certain things going on within the writing department that I don't like. Especially the latest development I've just been told of, which brings back too many bad memories from Intellicrap for comfort.

When I signed on for this boat, the daily quota was 800 words. I got into this job expecting to do only 800 words, which is really not a whole lot. In fact, a small part of me felt insulted by it. Of course, this amount was far from permanent, as I would quickly learn.

Now, I didn't really pay much mind to the increase from 800 to 1000. It was perfectly reasonable since most article submission sites tend to reject anything below 500, and 500 words and above was pretty much the standard length for the stuff I write. That wasn't really a problem for me.

Then came the increase from 1000 words to 1,500. Normally, I'd be up in arms about something like this. Not because I can't handle it, which clearly isn't the case, but because I'm basically doing extra work for no extra compensation. Under normal circumstances, I would have thought of this as being wrong and I would have been more than vocal about my objections to it. However, I kept quiet about it. We were told that 1,500 (basically, 3 articles a day, even if I find it awkward to think in terms of articles, rather than word count) words per day had been the head honcho's plan all along. Fine, then. I suppose that I shouldn't be complaining about it, especially since it was the intention from the very beginning. I didn't believe one word of it, but I let it slide because the excuse wasn't completely ridiculous.

That happened about, I don't know, three months into my stay, I guess?

And now, almost six months in, they're doing it again! By next week, we're all going to be on the same word count quota as Intellicrap --- sorry, Intelligraph --- Corporation. Yes, 2,000 per day. This, of course, is mandatory and is being touted as "being the boss' plan all along."

Two words: Fuck you.


I object to this for a number of reasons.

Firstly, our quota has effectively been doubled without a corresponding increase in compensation. Basically, we're being told to work more for the same amount of money. Granted, I've done the same amount of work (and then some) for less, but as dense as I am, even I knew the situation was simply beyond unfair and was nothing more than corporate exploitation. And now the people in the US head office are basically doing the same thing. My first reaction to this was simple:
"You expect me to do twice the work for the same pay? How stupid do you take me for?"

Incidentally, this was roughly my first gut reaction to when I was offered a position. The real, honest truth was that I knew I could handle the work, but I sure as Hell wasn't going to take more work for no concrete increase in my damn pay. If I'm doing the work of an editor, proofreader, or whatever it happens to be called right now, I should damn well be getting more pay than I would have as a writer. Seeing as how nobody could give me a concrete answer other than a "salary adjustment," whatever the Hell that means, I felt like I had no choice but to decline.

And now, the situation isn't much different. More work, same pay. Bastards. Let me stress the fact that this isn't anything new to me. I've done this amount of work before and I sure can do it again on a regular basis, but that's not the point here. The point is that I am being exploited, just like the rest of the writers are. I probably am just the only one that realizes this, or am the only one that's stupid enough to openly state that i object to this. Strongly. At the very least, Intellicrap projects tended to have a little variety. As it is, I know more about birth control and pain killers than anyone without a degree in pharmacy should.

Which brings me to another thing I've noticed: the complete and utter lack of variety. We're being treated as a support group for the call center (which is perfectly understandable, if a little odd) portion of the business. This approach, of course, conveniently ignores the fact that the writers can be used for so much more. The dayshift people alone has an impressive range of interests between us, with some leaning towards advertising, others to mixed martial arts, and some towards technology or travel.

Why hasn't anyone important realized that we could be used for so much more than just a kickstand for the agents (who have the most atrocious accents and pronunciations I've heard in agents in my life)? Why hasn't anyone figured out that the best way to make money using the writing division is to market us to people who need web content services, not use us to market the English skills-deprived agents? Why hasn't anyone figured out that we're starting to really, really dislike having to write about nothing but drugs and medications day in, day out?

This increased quota would be significantly more palatable if we didn't have to write about the same thing repeatedly. There are only so many angles a person can take when writing about birth control, or sexual health, or pain relief medication, and whatnot.

If you want to bleed our creative juices dry with a double-quota, then at least give us something more than medicines and drugs to work on, damn it.

I also find that the company (or the person running it) seems to think of us as either idiots or people with really short memories. I can understand viewing us as little more than a production line and not as employees. This is a business, and I understand that you can't afford to take every possible human element into consideration. However, at the very least, I expect the higher-ups to treat their employees like they have some degree of intelligence.

Didn't you already try the "this has been the plan all along" excuse before? Sorry, folks. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I'm not falling for that excuse again. I'm not stupid and I don't have that bad of a memory.

So yes, I protest to this increase in the quota. It is more a protest of principle (I'm not stupid enough to fail to see the exploitation going on here) than one of money. I'm not entirely unreasonable to ask that my pay be doubled because my workload is doubled. I would appreciate an increase, but knowing how things work in Ascend Asia, that's about as likely as an elephant growing wings big enough to actually let it fly. Or anyone discovering a one-stop shop cure for all variants and forms of the common cold.

Don't get me wrong, though. I'll do as you ask. I'll do 2,000 words per day. I'll work like the government pack mule you seem to think everyone working for you is. Because, as much as I like to think of myself as being a man of principle, I like having money more.

Mark my words, though. Give the writers three months of consistently pulling 2,000 words a day off, and the US office will want us to do 2,500 words and give us the excuse that, you guessed it, it was "the plan all along." It, I believe, is an inevitability. It is fucking inevitable.

I mean, the higher-ups have already established it as a pattern, haven't they? As soon as the writing production line shows it can fulfill this daily quota, increase it by another 500. In a year, we'll all be asked to write 3,000 or more per day. Or Ascend Asia won't have a writing division because the writers can't take it anymore.

I know I'll be gone the moment it hits 2,500, which will likely happen 3 to 4 months after the writers prove they can handle 2,000.

On a side note, I know I'm liable to be "talked to" for this (in the best case). More likely to be fired, though. Not that I particularly care. Given the company's pattern of behavior over the last few months, even their subtlety is going to become little more than full-blown corporate exploitation within the year. Go right ahead. I'll be laughing when I'm inevitably proven right.

So with that, I have this to say for closing:
I see the line in the sand.