This is one topic I have thought about a lot over the past decade and it effects every one of us in some fashion. My disclaimer is that it is all based on my experience and observations. I certainly have no profound expertise in the area other than my own first hand experience.
I love to read. When I moved from Tennessee to Texas in 1992, I somehow got introduced to Louis L'amour, best selling author and old west storyteller. Within a year, I had completed nearly every Western he had ever written, somewhere around 100 books I believe.
One topic neatly woven into nearly every story was what was called "Riding for the Brand". Every ranch had their own brand which would uniquely identify their cattle. When a man would go to work for a rancher, it was his pledge and committment to ride for the brand, ie, the ranch owner. Paid $40.00 a month, room and board, the owner had his loyalty no matter what arose and these men would often fight and die, if necessary, out of honor and committment for their word. Ranchers, likewise, owed a great deal for such committment and took good care of their "hired hands".
From my earliest memories as a child, somewhere around 5 years old or so, we would load up the lone family car every afternoon and drive downtown to pick my dad up from work at Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company where he had gone to work in college. My father, like many of your dads and moms, retired from that same insurance company 30 something years later. (I'm not lying X'ers and Millenials, it really used to happen) Many of my younger readers are at this point asking, even if such a thing were possible, why would someone want to work at the same place for 30 years, let alone two! Hold your horses (imagery tieing this paragraph to the last), we will discuss that soon.
Here's one for you boomers and Veterans: Do you realize that the youth of today will have 17 different jobs by the time they reach 35 years of age. Pick up those teeth because I heard your jaws hit the ground! That is a true statistic and what is scary is for the 20% who defy the odds by only working 10 jobs, there will be another 20% who will work 40 something. Think on that one a minute!
This mutually beneficial relationship between employee and employer existed in America from the 1880's (actually much earlier than this) until it began to erode sometime in the 1980's. 100 years! That's a long time, my friend. But as I mentioned, certain events and trends (which I will not even try to explain, since I'm not sure what they are) triggered an erosion in trust and partnership between boss and worker right around this time period.
It is my proposition that the loss of trust and committment between worker and employer has had a very negative impact upon the workplace. As Stephen R Covey claims in his book "The Speed of Trust", trust is foundational in relationships and a key attribute that must exist to allow humans to move beyond a certain baseline level in our relationships of any sort. With trust generally missing today, we have nullified a key ingredient in our abilities to move to deeper relational levels at which greater things begin to occur. Jim Collins discusses crucial conversations in his best selling book "Good to Great". Crucial conversations, our ability to openly discuss tough, sometimes sensitive, issues are beneficial in cutting through hidden agendas, addressing sacred cows, or our ability to tackle tough subjects in the name of progress. I have had tremendous results using this tool but, without trust, these will rarely if ever occur. If I cannot trust my boss to push back or question him when something is not adding up, guess what? I will likely not be willing to stick my neck out and do it. But if my employees know that they can "use their voices" to ask hard questions or offer input without fear of retaliation, the climate is improved and our relationship can move to deeper measures which will yield better results and outcomes. Morale increases exponentially when an employee knows his input is valued.
To be frank, Wall Street and the unrelenting pursuit of the mighty dollar has had negative impacts as well. Employees are measured up and down and from side to side in the name of productivity gains. Employers are often guilty of not replacing vacancies but instead of dividing the duties of the departed and asking the remaining workers to shoulder those duties. This is acceptable to some point but there comes a point when it is not healthy and is not fair, especially if wages are not reflective of the increased duties. Workers are now seen as expendable and a certain level of employee churn is accepted. Job security is, by and large, a thing of the past. I understand that's the way it is and we will never go back to the atmosphere that existed in the past, but it's a shame in my book as we have lost some of the tenets which made our country great.
Lastly, we may like the new arrangement with shorter periods with the same employers or we may not. But, it is a reality and we must mentally adapt if we are to work in that environment successfully. This is difficult for people like me who tend to like stability and display loyalty to my employer. I am by nature a brand rider. Today's brand is a company logo and it leaves me a little bit empty. I'm still searching for the branding fire.
What do you think?
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