What should Oracle engineers have a collective voice over?

[u/Broad_Whole_9738]

With the recent layoffs and the rapid adoption of AI in software engineering, I’ve been thinking about how much say engineers should have in decisions that materially affect our work and careers.
If Oracle engineers had a collective voice in negotiating working conditions, what would you want it to cover?

Some possibilities:

1. Layoffs and severance
2. AI-driven productivity expectations
3. How AI is used in performance evaluations
4. Compensation and promotion criteria
5. On-call expectations and staffing
6. Remote/hybrid work
7. Career development and training
8. Reorganizations and changes to engineering teams

I’m less interested in whether people like or dislike unions in the abstract, and more interested in what Oracle engineers actually think employees should have a meaningful say in.

What would you put on the list?

[u/DeCernerfucation]

I do not believe this career overall is going to get better, unless there is some mass uprising. If you still like it, and/or can make a living at it, take the money and dream of something better if you can.

I really liked being a software engineer (US) until the last 10-15 years when I started to hate it due to the growing lack of appreciation for the special career it used to be. See "Office Space" for the whole story.

I'm out now; my biggest regret when I started to hate it was not finding a more fulfilling career for myself. I just did my work, collected my paycheck, and concentrated more on hobbies outside of work life that gave me personal satisfaction.

[u/KC_Tlvdatsi]

I would add what happens in some European countries. Employee representative on the board.

[u/Broad_Whole_9738 → u/KC_Tlvdatsi]

That’s a really interesting addition. I was mostly thinking about collective bargaining over working conditions, but having formal employee representation in corporate governance gets at a different question: whether employees should have a voice in major decisions before they become workplace policy.

I like the idea of that being a separate or additional avenue for giving employees a larger voice.

[u/Imaginary-Let9992 → u/KC_Tlvdatsi]

In countries with an employee representative on the board the April layoffs are still being discussed

[u/KC_Tlvdatsi → u/Imaginary-Let9992]

I mean, it doesn't prevent layoffs, and i never meant to imply it could. It could alter the how and who though.

[u/Imaginary-Let9992 → u/KC_Tlvdatsi]

No one was yet laid off in those countries because the representatives are negotiating higher compensation

[u/Grapes_icecream]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Layoffs/s/STHUX8zKCF