Ask HN: How can we help reduce work exploitation in tech?
Examples of exploitation common with tech jobs:
- Unpaid internships where interns should be paid, as they were contributing to the business
- Workers on 1099 that are nevertheless expected to act as employees (and if they do exercise their rights as an independent contractor, their jobs get cut)
- Conditioning that "burn out" is okay all of the time
- "permalance" roles, done for tax evasion purposes
- Inexperienced students being hired by startups with C-level titles and expectations (seriously why do some startups do this? Don't they have respect for themselves?)
Some of these things are illegal yet so many incidents slip through the cracks. Maybe educate students better about the gotchas and red flags of jobs? And in your opionion, whose responsibility is to educate, to let workers know what they DON'T know?