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Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King’s Horses and all the King’s Men
Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
I used to sing that song to my little sisters and later to my own kids. Now, few will delve so deep into this rhyme of Mother Goose, but I think its fairly indicative of how far you can go with employees. I have seen an attitude in corporate America which must be stopped and it’s getting a bit worse lately.
It’s the attitude that “you’re lucky to have a job at all”. Because of all the headlines, all the unrest, all the scary cable channel layoff news, suddenly middle managers and corporate higher ups are implying that “any job” is a good job. Budgets are cut, people are fired and the remaining folks are tapped for “more opportunity” (opportunity=unpaid additional responsibility) and anyone left standing is deemed “lucky”.
Really? Did your company change? Become more profitable? Start offering better benefits or change company culture? Was there additional training for brutal managers or a new onboarding system implemented to pair seasoned employees with new hires? Are you finally getting rid of problem employees under the guise of layoffs even though Sue in Accounting told you that guy was bad news years ago? Hmmmm, NO? Then unless you were already an awesome place to work, YOU’RE NOT NOW!
I hear it from employees, friends, business owners and consultants, there’s some sort of smug superiorty starting to taint the air in the survivor camp. And it’s making for some not so best practices. It’s during times like this that companies start treating employees and their emissaries (that’s YOU recruiters and HR Pros) as dispensable.
Well, one thing they might want to consider is that the human capital sphere may not tolerate a stripping down of the workforce. This is a space where just a few months ago people were relishing their cohorts jump from the coporate ship into the brightly colored dingy of self-employment. Where people don’t seek out great benefits and assume that they will be working on-site. What happens when the economy is back?
As it stands now, loyal employees who have stayed the course with their bosses, hoping for their next big break, clinging to their desk job to ensure they get their diabetes medication, doing more work and staying more hours for a fraction of their former pay. Eventually, they are going to wake up and realize that this is ridiculous! These vapid employers are teetering on the edge of a very high wall and pretty soon that fragile balance (already in peril) will break.
And All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men won’t be able to to put that workforce back together again.
Maybe that’s a good thing. . . .
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Maren,
Great post.
If workers are going to be treated as consultants then they might as well become consultants. I have been giving the advice in my job search and networking presentations that the first thing you do when you find a new job, start looking for your next new job.
Thanks Paul. I think your advice is simple and to the point and very apt. Jennifer McClure said something similar: "Loyalty is a two way street!" This really needs to start sinking in with employers, especially those who think that the ability to work for them is a gift.
Great post. A permanent change has occurred in the workforce, but the laws and traditions are slow to catch up to it. This is a generational change, moving like a glacier but carving down a mountain in the process. Once loyalty was not rewarded, and I would argue that happened in the 80s, loyalty was not given. Then, it was not expected. So what's the big company got other than bennies? We'll see. I've been freelancing for 5 years now, and it's hard to imagine looking back - especially if we get real health care in this nation.
Maren - I always enjoy the way you approach a situation like this. Just as in any relationship, people will get a sense of the true nature of a company's culture during tough times. Current and perspective employees should ask themselves: Is there leadership consistency during good times and challenging times with this company? How has the company managed communications? Are people being treated with respect and appreciation while the company has to navigate through difficult decisions?
Companies can't lose site of the future. Only Talent will get them through the tough times and allow them to thrive once again in good times. Managing through a down cycle is never easy but trust and loyalty are two values that can deteriorate quickly and take significantly more time and resources to reestablish. Every action today can be thought of as having impact on the future. Its simply up to the company leaders what they want that impact to be.
Eric,
I feel exactly the same way. Now the only thing standing in anyone's way is healthcare and even that is starting to seem silly. For example, my monthly premium for insurance for my family of five (HEALTHY FAMILY) was near $700, with my employer covering only half and a disaster policy less than 100, we save the $250 per month and go to the doctor (gasp) when we need to. Kind of off topic but sometimes people look at me like I am a child abuser when I tell them I don't have health insurance. Maybe it's the fact that I have three boys. . .Anyway, life as a consultant is the way to go.
Not for me the diabetic, or for my wife the cancer survivor. Working without some sort of health insurance now is a death sentence for both of us.
@Susan, thanks I agree with you wholeheartedly. That's why someone like yourself who keeps both business objectives and human talent in line with one another is such a welcome change to what I have been seeing. Someday, these practices will come back to bite poorly behaved employers and then I will send them this link.
@jrandom42. I agree and this was one of my points, some companies are using situations like your own to treat people poorly. Hopefully, you don't work for one of those. I would never advocate consulting if you didn't have a plan in place. Sorry if the consultant line seemed insensitive. I may feel differently someday.
Thankfully, I've got a good job with decent healthcare. I had thought of going into consulting, but when my mother contracted cancer 11 years ago, it was the big warning sign. Given our family health histories, no private plan would even think of accepting us, even if we were to pay over $4,000/month. That pretty much killed the consulting track for me.
I may be opening a can of worms here, but this type of situation is exactly why I want to divorce businesses from providing healthcare to the U.S. population. It does people like jrandom42 & Maren no favors except to keep them as slaves to the company.
@TheOfficeNewb - You just figured out why we can't solve the healthcare crisis! It's a scam to keep the pheasants working.
Yes, I am "enslaved" in the CIO office with a 6 figure salary. Poor me! :)
Poor thing. :) Actually, I am not bashing all companies here, just the ones starting to display poor behavior. There are LOADS of companies that take very good care of their employees and deserve kudos. I just wanted to point out a disappointing trend I was seeing in a quite a few at this particular time.
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?