@rtyuiop – Danny, thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm glad you agree. Sometimes, things are taken away from us, but other things are given in return. So, the question in this context is what would you accept in exchange for losing your FF miles, given your status (gold card, lounges, etc) is not affected?
I'm not looking for answers to the above, because everyone will have a different personal demand. Sometimes, employers do things that are out of our control, as employees .. salary freezes, car policy downgraded, no more business class travel, having to pay for drinks at work, hard toilet paper instead of soft (!), etc. It's too easy to conclude the company is doing it to spite the employees, but I think it's usually a last resort. When we're faced with such changes, it's far healthier to see the glass half full than half empty. If we always see it as half empty, we can always leave, but in most developed countries in the world today, leaving, and looking for a new job, isn't the preferred option.
Danny, I agree the recession is location/industry dependent … it's just that it seems to cover a lot of countries and industries at the moment.
Anyone remember the TV program Dallas. As that nasty, nasty man, J.R. Ewing, used to say "everyone has his price" …
@medhead – Interesting point that governments haven't gone back to negotiate cheaper fares, but have banned the earning of FF points. So, aren't the governments leaving money on the table? Whether they use them to reduce future spend, or make employees happier by letting them benefit from them, aren't they still a currency that has value?
Genuinely pleased to hear economic situation in Australia is so much better than in other countries. How are property prices in the main cities? That's one good indicator. Where I am, property is still going up!
See
@rtyuiop's comment on the generic idea of getting something when something was taken away, and my reply, above. You've clearly had some bad experiences with employers .. I didn't say they'd give you something for free. Let's say, the company took away benefit A from you, but in return, you got new benefit B. You are just as happy with B as you were with A. By definition, you don't have a problem here. Now, if you knew benefit A cost the company $100, but benefit B cost them only $50, do you now have a problem? If so, why? They've made you no less happy, but cut their expenses. In tough times, the accumulation of those savings could save jobs .. yet all the employees are happy, as A = B on a satisfaction level. What could be wrong with that?
I've been called some things over the year, but never an HR person! No, I'm not.
No idea what Citrix is …
@moody – Good points, even though you got a bit emotional in your final paragraph! Just wanted to make sure that my terminology was not ambiguous. By referring to public company, I meant one traded on the stock exchange, not a government owned company.
@wilcockson – Hey, I humbly admitted a few postings ago that I misjudged the rules of this forum with my original posting. That's why I reposted with a generic question, and I think that some really good points and thoughts have been raised by many throughout these answers. Having said that, it doesn't change the fact that what you wrote in your sentence "Let u not forget .." has a
key error/incorrect assumption in it. I'm not going to discuss the details, because that would take the discussion away from the generic question.
As for my
children's books, I'm really glad I made your day.
I've changed my avatar to one of the illustrations from my first book, specifically for you. Oh, it sold 10,000 copies, in this country with a population a third of the population of your country. Can't tell you the name or point you to the website of the books, as I'd be accused of trying to sell my books in Australia
@oz-mark – You have made an excellent point here. Having said that, certainly, in the US, there are huge companies that own the miles and use them to reduce travel cost .. so it cannot be illegal there.
You might be interested to know what I've learned about how it works in
France (and no, I'm not from France!). French taxation law means that FF miles are seen as revenue and as a result, are taxable. So, French companie don't want to touch the miles, as they don't want the tax bill. So they let the employees have the points. Oh, nice French companies, you may say? Let's all move to France? Well, there's more. The French employees book their flights o ntheir personal credit cards. The companies reimburse them in about 60 days, but the employees hae to pay off their credit cards in about 30 days. So, firstly, the French companies use their employees a banks, for interest free loans. But there's more. Because the majority of employees have modest limits on their cards, they choose to book the cheapest flights. So, the companies reduce their travel bill. So now, Jean-Pierre gets the minimum points from the cheapest flights, has to check he can but food at the supermarket because his card hasn't hit the limit, whilst the employer gets an interest free loan and reduce travel cost. I'd prefer the employer paid for the tickets, got the FF points, and I could confidently buy food for the kids…. But that's just me.
Regards
Stuart
. I was referring to this: 
, but many are not 
. For latter, IMHO, employees are not usually in a position to negotiate. When the car policy was downgraded, I couldn't say "I'll accept it only if you give me free fuel" .. or whatever .. it was the new policy. Next best alternative was a door marked "exit"
How about if the superannuation company should have been paying 10% interest and were only paying 1% instead. Are they responsible or am I responsible for this mistake? How about if payroll was only paying me 70% of my salary for 18 months and I realised the mistake. Do they owe me any money or is it my responsibility again?
