Tuesday, February 03, 2009
A philosophy of work
Here's the common thread of what's wrong with so many jobs these days, there's no reward system in place, no forward progress. It could be as simple as you've been at the same place for ten years and can't even get the shift or hours you want. The reward system would say you deserve some accomodation based on your length of service but I've seen the same people doing the exact same thing they were doing when they started the job. I've also seen many people whose true talents aren't being utilized in the right way. The category is most often referred to as soul-sucking jobs or dead-end jobs but it doesn't have to be this way. Problem is at far too many places there's no organization, no philosophy, WHAT'S THE PLAN HERE? Maybe that's why our economy is hurting, nobody knows how to make money anymore. It's all mundane, no imagination, where's the pride? People in the know have told me think tanks come up with this stuff, to keep the average worker behind the 8-ball and when you do feel hopeful at times that's a false optimism. Working, since we all have to do it it could be so much better in this country, not so much a mandatory component of your whole life experience but something you actually enjoy. It ain't so much the stimulus it's what are we doing?
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I know you have had a variety of jobs and so you have probably had a wide array of business styles. However, I am here to say that I have stumbled upon an ideal company to work for, I consider myself lucky, but I am sure there are others out there, you have to look for it. It's obvious your place of employment is probably never going to change.
ReplyDeleteMy other advice would be to talk directly to your manager and tell her how you think you deserve better hours based on the experience you have. The squeaky wheel gets greased!
ReplyDeleteYour last point is obvious, a conclusion for me drawn over time since I'm the only one it seems who has this philosophy which used to be commonplace in the old days. What can we do to make the job more stimulating for him or her? used to be a consideration once upon a time. I'm happy for you, share away.
ReplyDeleteI've talked at length about these things Beth but the situation is bigger than her. You don't have enough people and the ones you have do their own thing. It is what it is but I still remember the glory days. What's so sad about the glory days is that by their very nature glory days never seem to last, they become a fond memory, a wistful piece of nostalgia. BB's had some glory days at some of his jobs.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you watched the Super Bowl but there was a commercial for Career Builders with a woman screaming in her car as she got to work, made me think of you, Z.
ReplyDelete& yet I've had my good days too but they're few and far between.
ReplyDeleteIMO, it started when they changed
ReplyDelete'Personnel' to 'Human Resources', moving the workforce from people to
a commodity. About the same time,
everyone got their MBA, a degree which focuses on bottom line..to the exclusion of customer, workforce and a few other things that used to make business both fun and profitable. The other problem is size: small companies are (again just an opinion) far more innovative, fun to work for, and successful than the huge outfits. But small companies want to grow. So they get an HR person, an accountant and (shudder) an MBA. Then, to grow larger, they go public...now they owe shareholders. It is no longer about product, service, or anything but $$$$. If they are lucky, they have pockets here and there of experienced staff who 'carry' the rest. Upon examination, these pockets of success are identified as being
happy little groups who love their work and are uninterested in $$$.
Eventually, expensive consultants are brought in to eradicate such
irregularity. Then, slowly the big places fail, imploding on their own self-importance and executive fat. At a couple places I worked,
I (as Beth advises) complained about excessive unpaid OT. And was informed that I could easily be replaced. So, I quit. Whatever easy replacement they got didn't work well, because both places are currently vacant acerages. Some where along the line, business forgot what its most important resource was...and that is sad.
Odd, a guy with all sorts of patents that made millions for his companies would sound so grouchy,
huh? Being retired for quite awhile does that to ya :)
Good for you, BB, quitting, but too bad you didn't quit before you made the patented goodies for yourself!
ReplyDeleteThen you have your big companies who are constantly cutting hours but expect the same or more work to be done in those lesser hours and the cycle repeats itself year after year. I hear the chefs who work for some of Donald Trump's country clubs are very happy but then again he knows how to run a business, too bad he can't take over these other places.
ReplyDeleteMoney, money, money. That's all they stress in business classes. It's a shame.
ReplyDelete& not only that Lista you have going on what I call trickle-down stress, the honchos put pressure on the managers below them and those managers in turn stress out their own departments. Look at a company's history and if you see a fair amount of people having heart attacks who shouldn't be having them go elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteLista, have you actually attended a business class to make such a claim?
ReplyDeleteBeth,
ReplyDeleteThe actual class that I attended was an Economy Class. It was a general class, but focused quite a lot on Business Economics and yes, there was a lot of focus on the Bottom Line and on Money. The whole focus was on the "Cost and Benefit" to a company, with no consideration of the "Cost and Benefit" of certain business decisions on the lives of employees and consumers, or even on the over all economy.
Besides this, I have heard the emphasis on "Money" and "the Bottom Line" mentioned by others who should know.
If you would notice, in a previous comment above, BB-Idaho made a similar statement as myself and I've talked to him enough to know that he is a pretty educated and smart guy.