Just today the LA times reported a decline in the nation's unemployment rate to 9%, but fewer jobs are being added to the market. The impact of the 2008 recession is still being felt.
I have noticed this in a different way. I have had more than a dozen conversations with friends working for various companies in various industries feeling an underlying sense of unease. Most companies about two years ago asked their employees to start doing their work differently - budgets were cut, jobs were lost, spending stopped, benefits removed, and everyone just had to do more with less. My family saw job losses. Many others did as well, so for those who were left were just happy to have any income. Well supposedly the market has improved, the economy is coming back, retailers are reporting growth in sales. And yet inside many companies there have been no changes.
"What is being expected of us and our output is not sustainable." "I see my company making bad decisions for short term growth... we are damaging our brand." These are just a couple of comments I have heard. There is a growing trend in many employees that executives at companies need to be tuned into.
There are studies after studies about why people come to work and stay at companies - compensation is only part of it. Feeling like you are contributing, are valued and respected are high up on the list. Also in this day and age more and more people are drawn to companies that do more than just make things or sell services. Everyone one of us has values, we want to align these values with how we live our lives.
When a company continues to push employees to do more with less, to cut investments, or long term thinking for short term wins, this cuts into people's values. The company begins to show its true colors - out for the only the financial bottom line. This may motivate some, but for those who are passionate, there needs to be more to getting up and clocking in every day.
I love working for the man when the man is thoughtful in its responsibility to its employees, its community, the planet, the future. Meeting next quarter's earnings without the thought of the future, the impact of those actions will not motivate your employees to be passionate, to invest themselves in the success of the company.
It is a tight line of staying in business - but there is more than one approach. Choose the one where employees are valued, respected and properly resourced to be the best they can be.
2 comments:
Amen Sister, Amen... Business does not continue "as usual" in the modern era as "employees" expect more from the "Man". Recessions will come and go and companies who do not value, support and encourage their most valuable assets will lose t he best and the brightest as they move to organizations that do. I often hear that "things take time" but firmly believe that time is not the issue when people development and maximizing the potential of your staff is an intrinsic core value... just sayin
@welcome to y:o:u - I just had an amazing conversation with a friend last night furthering this discussion. There is a reason that people are attracted to work somewhere, once people's pay is in a place where they don't have to "worry" about money - the other motivators become SO much stronger. This is truly the secret to having people dedicate their blood/sweat/ and tears to doing an amazing job. Continue to inspire in everything you do.
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