featherbedded
Given soft treatment
Featherbedded describes a situation where unnecessary workers are kept on payroll or where work rules artificially limit productivity—practices designed to preserve jobs rather than efficiency.
The term comes from labor disputes where unions negotiated to maintain positions that management considered redundant: The railroad industry was notoriously featherbedded with firemen who no longer tended fires.
More broadly, anything featherbedded has been padded or cushioned beyond necessity.
Lavished with indulgence
- spoiledRuined or overindulged
- coddledExcessively sheltered or indulged
- cossetedOverprotected and indulged
- mollycoddledExcessively protected or indulged
babied · overindulged · overprotected · sheltered · doted · nurtured · petted · fussed
Exceeding what's needed
- surplusAmount exceeding requirement
- bloatedSwelled from excess
- paddedFilled with soft material
- inflatedExpanded with gas
wasteful · inefficient · bureaucratic · unionized · protected · guaranteed · subsidized · underworked
pampered
Lavished with indulgence
- spoiledRuined or overindulged
- coddledExcessively sheltered or indulged
- cossetedOverprotected and indulged
mollycoddled · babied · overindulged · overprotected · sheltered · doted · nurtured · petted · fussed · mothered
comfortable
Physically at ease
plush · comfy · downy · warm · nestled · secure · relaxed · restful · easygoing · protected
redundant
Exceeding what's needed
inflated · wasteful · inefficient · bureaucratic · unionized · protected · guaranteed · subsidized · underworked · make-work
opulent
Ostentatiously wealthy
decadent · extravagant · velvety · silken · affluent · wealthy · elegant · gilded · regal · splendid
featherbeddedhardened
Made tough or unfeeling
exposed · roughed · unprotected · unsheltered · battle-hardened
featherbeddedlean
Lacking fat; incline
streamlined · downsized · cut to the bone · stripped-down · efficient
featherbeddeddemanding
Requiring great effort
rigorous · competitive · cutthroat · Darwinian · unforgiving