On the Cheap

Nothing seems to be safe anymore in today’s employment climate.  Gone is security of generations gone by.  Very few people can stick with one company for their entire career.  If they manage to do that, they have to reinvent themselves to stay ahead of the latest management model that leans toward automation, downsizing or out-sourcing.

I realize that there are many processes that can be outsourced, off-shored, and just plain automated.  When all these cost cutting measures are taking place, what happens to the actual employee, who helped build the company?  The general morale? The principles that built the company?  More importantly the corporate history?

While the government gives lip-service to keeping jobs in the country, more and more companies are sending department functions overseas. Why?  ‘Because it can be done cheaper elsewhere’.  Sure, there are binding contracts that impose penalties if things are not done to the SLA’s (service level agreements) of the corporation, but what happens to the customer service interface?  There are no guarantees that expectations will be met.

To be frank the customer wants to interface with employees they feel confident will fulfill their needs.  Not third-party vendors that have no clue as to why the company even exists.

As employees ride these waves of uncertainty in the workplace, they go through cycles of anger and fear.  Rightfully so.  Whether they have been with the company 3 months or 30 years, their livelihood is threatened.  So the affected portions of the company are shunted off to the side, cut off from the rest of their corporate brethren.  The isolation takes its toll on morale and perception.

While the management who has to manage the outsourcing process must be sensitive to the needs of the employees, the rest of the company is oblivious and often makes matters worse.

I don’t have a crystal ball that tells the future, but I do know that when a company treats their employee as well as it treats its customers there is a renaissance in business and vitality.

When a corporation treats its employees as so much dross, they will soon follow their greatest assets, the employee, into oblivion.

Upon Your Actions

The hierarchy of the workplace is a fascinating thing.  For some, their rise is a result of steady, quality work that is rewarded by promotion through the ranks.  For others, hierarchy is viewed as a maniacal game of strategy.  The farther they are promoted, the better the ‘parachute’ is on the way out the door.  For the rest of us, it is truly only a mindset.  Work provides only a base for our lives outside of work.

The reality is we all put our trousers on one leg at a time and bleed the same color, red.

Whether we drive a Yugo or a Lamborghini, you are only as important as you are in your own mind.  Respect is earned through your actions, not through your paycheck or title.

Businesses are only as good as the people who manage them.  If managers are always seeking the next nifty, shining business model that promises to save the company and put the profits through the roof the end result is nothing.  But when managers use common sense, respect and hard work, their employees can see and respect that no matter the out come.

Countries have been won or lost based on the respect or lack of due to the actions and behaviors of their respective hierarchies.  The same can be said about companies.