Beware Managers and Employers – You better treat your employee's right or else…

I will never forget an experience I had several months back. I was asked to provide some consulting and development for a highly dysfunctional senior leadership team. We were discussing some of the morale issues their staff was having when one of the senior leaders said “I don’t think morale and motivating people really matters. Given the way things are people should just be lucky they have a job.” After picking my jaw up off the floor I responded: “you better think it matters because when this thing turns around guess where your employees will be going; right out that door to your competitor!”

I wouldn’t be writing this blog post if this was an isolated event. I am beginning to hear this type of thing all of the time now from employees who feel they are being treated poorly. Just last week an employee who works for the government and has been at the same job 20+ years said he has noticed a huge change in the way management was treating its staff.

Beware managers and employers. You better treat your employees right or else. An article in Human Capital Magazine recently talked about employers being unprepared for a mass exodus of leaders and employees from organizations in 2010. Click here for the full article. Here is a survey and quote from the article that managers and employers would be wise to pay attention to.

“an Aequalis survey of 280 job-seekers showed that 45% now lack trust in senior management, 62% are experiencing lower morale, and only 22% have said they are not moving at the first signs of an economic recovery.”

"Many employers have taken advantage of the economic conditions, but at what cost?" Boulton said. "Human capital is key to a business's ability to grow, yet it's clear a significant number of existing staff are not happy."

Does any of this surprise you? In order for companies to stay sound in a difficult economy, good financial responsibility during the height of prosperity is the key. In order for companies to retain their most important asset, their people, they better treat them well at the height of difficult times. Now is not the time to cultivate the attitude of believing employees “should just be lucky they have a job.” Remember what goes around, comes around. It will bite managers and employers at some point.

I am interested in hearing what you think? Have you noticed a difference in the way employees are being treated?

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Comments

[Ray]

I left that really big company ($20 Billion) to start my own firm and escape people who call me "human capital" and "most important asset" and other busino-babble BS.

Could not be happier after seven years, 3 times the net pay, reasonable control of my life and schedule, minimal to no internal meetings, no one flyspecking my expenses, or "helping" me manage my billable time, no help in developing myu career.

If a person has the opportunity to escape American corporate "life" they should take it. Come on in the watrer is fine.

Ray

[Mike Rogers]

There certainly are some benefits Ray. What do you do for business?

[Ashlee]

Thanks for this refreshing perspective- definitely something more Corporate Leaders need to keep in mind in this economy! 45% lack trust in management with 60% low morale- wow! The irony, is that employers still expect long-term loyalty from employees? In this economy, safe to say with all the layoffs and outsourcing, fair for employees to throw this one right back at em! On a good note, here's an uplifting article about a corporate culture that "gets it" when it comes to their most important commodity- employees! http://bit.ly/4jqudu There are some great and creative insights here for typical "corporate dinosaurs" to take note of!

[Yvonne]

The days that people stayed with one employer until the age of retirement is long gone. The average person now has 5 careers in their life.
With the current lack of loyalty from the employers focusing just on the bottom line, it is only logical that the employees have less loyalty for their employers.
Corporate America is probably the biggest culprit, I agree with Ray on that point.
I have been lucky enough to find a privately held company to work for that is big enough to provide stability without having to play the corporate game.

Yvonne

[Az]

I work for a non-profit. Most non-profits have been hit hard by the shrinking economy and yet we have all retained our jobs. This is due to the concentrated efforts of our Deputy Director. He understand the importance of keeping his staff working at all costs. We cannot afford to rebuild if there were to be a mass exodus.

My work is with Native American folks and it takes time to build the relationships that are needed to get this work done. I am very blessed to have folks who understand this at our organization. Hiring an Indian person to work with Indians was pretty smart too.

[Mike Rogers]

Thanks for the article Ashlee, I am going to recommend that articles as a follow up to my posting yesterday, I love it. Leaders of companies that truly care could be more innovative and prevent job losses. This is great. I bet the employees not only appreciate it, but will be much more loyal as a result.

Thanks Yvonne and Az for your comments as well. It is great to hear stories about companies that understand the importance of their people and that you feel secure in your jobs. I am sure there are many more out there.

Thanks to all three of you for your positive comments about companies doing it right!

- Mike

[Tammy Lanius]

Finally! Someone has stepped out and said that the true mark of a company is how they treat their employees during the rough economic times. Nearly a decade ago, I worked for a group that had the "you are lucky to have a job" attitude. Then the economy turned around and this company wound up paying top dollar for mediocre talent because of their reputation. Ultimately, the mass exodus of people actually played a role in the termination of one of the senior management that often voiced that attitude.

Don't employers realize that with all of the social networking technology that it is easier than ever to get information on the working conditions for a particular company?

Thanks for sharing this vital information!

[Maria Fernandez]

Excellent!!! Absolutely actual and suffered personally!
Trying to protect my people, the management sitting in SPB, Russia, thought I was betraying the Company, so I was laid off.
I started again my own Company, which I have been delaying for long time.
People still working at this Russian CRO are suffering and psychological pathologies have emerged with absenteeism ranging up to 60%.Thanks God, even they think so, they are not the only employers in the world!
I enjoy much more my current work situation, win win for everybody, as it is used to be.

[Mike Rogers]

Tammy and Maria, thank you so much for your comments. I think it is an important warning to all employers.

I can't help but shake my head every time I hear of someone treating someone else poorly due to this "be glad you have a job" attitude.

I understand some people would complain in the best of jobs, but when a person's quality of life is suffering because of their job it is time to move on - and they will.

- Mike

[Isable Paul]

Hi Mike had a similar experience a couple of months back- the management were not too pleased when they found out what their employees were saying openly on the internet about the way they were being treated and obviously how that impacted their image in the market. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, My space etc have got a total audience of 150 million people! If management does not make managing people with trust and respect its priorities, it better start thinking about a social media policy for their employees and plan to police it

[bhalchandra dhanawde]

YES. I work in the government and of late, I have noticed a this tendency in the higher echelons of the brass to treat the junior staff with contempt and to disregard the juniors' contribution in achieving the organization's goals. The bosses appear to be living out a feudal sub-culture of maintaining a contemptuous attitude with the lower staff, yelling at them, assigning them to private, unofficial duties and so on. What I didn't know was that this is also so vastly prevalent in the private sector also. It is indeed a very rotten way of working. The Constitution's noble objectives and fundamental rights given to us all are being sabotaged & subverted by this approach. I wonder if this attitude or thinking comes from a casual unconcern or it is a part of a studied and cultivated way to castrate the junior employee's self-esteem before it exposes the incompetency of the boss? Or,is it due to the widespread corruption, ethical, moral & social which reflects in their day-to-day attitude? Certainly, this is the kind of bureaucracy that the Mahatma feared would ruin the nation.

[Todd M. Grivetti]

I have enjoyed your blogs on this topic. You must admit that not all employer's are like this. One thing that must be stated is that there are a lot of employee's who should feel lucky they have a job, while their counterparts are being laid off, businesses closing. Budgets are tight and in business, that may mean cutting back. However, there is a way to do this. The Advisory Board, a national think tank in Washington, DC has conducted numerous studies with hospitals. Several hospitals have engaged their employee's and they, not seniror management have helped drive the decisions in keeping their jobs. I recall, a hospital that was listed originally had planned to cut 670 jobs in order to save $100 Million in their budget. But the employee's held a campaign and they met their budget cut by devising several other areas including, freezing salary increases, decreasing tuition reimbursement, consolidating units, and several others. They ended up decreasing that 670 number to 60 through attrition, and consolidating jobs. To me, that is leadership in its finest hour. The employees truly OWNED their company and were willing to sacrifice to help the company survive.

[Debra Vis Buxton]

I've experienced the same too, and more so here in the USA than other countries I have worked. For me it was shocking to see how little, particularly large large organisations, seemed to really care about staff morale with the attitude of 'they're lucky' everytime this was mentioned. It's still seen as a soft issue .. a nice to do when everything is going swimmingly well!. Which just frustrated those high performers- who invariably leave! It's a sad state of affairs really and in my career have seldom seen C-level guys with the collective 'courage' (and I say this because it takes commitment and no, one is not immediately able to show ROI) ... to do something about it! Pity really - because when it comes to the speeches they give - they talk a good 'team' talk!

[Judith Gargyi]

Hi Mike, yes...I have heard panic and angst in the voice of many colleagues who can not believe the pressure and abuse (piling on) they receive from 'above'. It feels to many like their superiors treat them poorly and use the excuse of the economic meltdown to mistreat employees. This is not only unconscionable, it's very hard to police with so many people out of work willing to do just about anything to get a job.

[Glenn Drysdale]

Research I am seeing on employee engagement is mostly common sense, but helpful. Employees are going to have a very long memory; if they are not treated well now, when they CAN'T move, then when they CAN move, they WILL. In a heartbeat.

[Peter Samardak]

I couldn't agree more. Many managers/leaders are under the influence that in today's economy, management by intimidation works best. Not so surprisingly it doesn't. Employees still have choices and other managers who report to executives also have choices. At some point in time, the weight of intimidation will win over morale, vitality, loyalty and productivity. You go into basically a death spiral. Leaders should be upskilling their people at this time because business WILL turn around if your strategy and vision is correct and if you are taking care of your clients. Its not so much as treating your employees nice, but more so treating them with respect and empathy. And don't confuse empathy with sympathy. People still need to be productive, they still need to learn, they still need to grow and your employees are really the answer to making your company/organization/unit/team successful. As a leader you need to ensure you communicate not only honestly, but candidly. I've always exepcted my manager to be honest, what I need and what some employees may need is more candor. Great leaders know that they can't do it alone. They know they need to get things accomplished through others. They know that motivation and behavioral changes only happen when there is a thorough understanding of a sense of urgency and they know in order to be a great leader, they need followers. Intimidation doesn't work and the old, "You should feel lucky you have a job." excuse for being intimidating and being a bully are not acceptable. You'll only end up destroying what little you have left. By the way, we can help any organization be successful.

[Bill Black]

Remember that there are two definitions for "Human Capital":
1) The power that turns the levers, makes the sales, serves the customers, and keeps the business running.
2) The resource that goes home every night, and has the choice whether or not to come back in the morning.
The challenge to managers is to create and maintain a workplace that recognizes the value provided in definition 1, and is attractive enough to keep people coming back (definition 2). And keep in mind that people are really good at reading signals, whether or not you are aware that you are sending signals. It is much easier to keep your signals consistent with your objectives when you are committed to treating your people right.

[jujugirl0570]

I love this article. I recently had to make a very difficult decision in my life that not only had dramatic affects on my life, but on my co-workers as well. I recently resigned from my position with a well known healthcare company. I was working in a very hostile, highly dysfunctional team, after several months of bringing it to the attention of Senior Mgt I was shocked to hear the words, I am not going to continue to have these types of discussions and maybe you should start looking for another job. While every month on the other hand the staff and Sr Mgt and Mgr would have meetings to discuss moral issues and what could be done to bring moral up in the departments. I have to laugh; because very few people would even speak up because of fear in the department. Eventually someone would say things like, maybe it would be helpful if the management didn’t say things to the staff “you’re lucky you have jobs” and “it is what it is”, “you can always leave if you don’t like it”. I had to ask myself, is that where I want to work, some place where they don’t value me as an employee, they don’t even value me as a person. Finally the challenge of my boss harassing me and bullying me was so much that I could not even bare to go into the office so I had to resign. This left a huge impact on my team as they see what Managements, Senior Managements and the Companies true colors are.

[Mike Rogers]

Wow "jujugirl!" That sounds like a very unfortunate situation. Sometimes the victims are really those who are left behind. The smart ones get out of there quickly and become victims no more!

- Mike

[Peter de Wit]

Hi Mike, Nice blog article. Yes, these type of managers are still out there although I am surprised that the managers of the company in your example are so open about it. In most cases I encounter managers who know what they need to do and will tell me they do it, whilst the shopfloor is saying different. At least they were quite open about it.

[Scott Neilson]

Good article Mike. Unfortunately, I have to agree that many senior leaders I have run into recently have this attitude. It is such a shame. They have an opportunity to build very strong relationships with their employees when times are tough. Choosing to strong arm them is dangerous because you are right, the tide will turn and the consequences will be devastating for those employers.

[Ross Hill]

It is difficult for me to fathom, that in today's society, some senior level managers still believe that management through fear and intimidation is more productive than a participative management style. I have a theory that the underlying reason for this is lack of confidence and ability of that manager to manage an organization through the tough times. It’s always much easier to manage an organization when times are good, when you sell everything you make, scrap levels aren’t going to put you under, etc, etc. It is when times are tough that the really good managers shine through. Then there are those who utilize this management style when times are good, they are even less competent than the ones who succumb to this style only during the bad times. Like the old saying goes “When things are going well a good manager looks out the window onto the shop floor knowing that her/his people are responsible, when times are not as good she/he looks in the mirror”.

[Maxwell Pinto]

Some thoughts for consideration:

An employer-employee relationship is a business courtship or marriage, depending upon how the relationship is handled by both parties. Job satisfaction and the welfare of corporations and individuals depend upon the degree of motivation.

Motivation may be characterized as a drive toward some goal(s) selected in preference to other possible goals. Leadership is the art of achieving results through the efforts of other people who must be willing to perform the task(s) required of them.

The leader should understand and appreciate the values of his/her subordinates because these values/standards determine their opinions, attitudes, preferences, and actions. Congruence in the values of the organization, its top executives, and other employees leads to organizational effectiveness. Failure to understand values leads to barriers in communication, wastage of time and energy, distrust, plus ill feelings within the enterprise, and high employee turnover, with adverse implications for the bottom line: the satisfaction of all stakeholders: owners, leaders, managers, other employees, customers, suppliers, the community, the government, etc., i.e. all those upon whom the firm depends for its survival and success.

Job satisfaction results from (inner and outer) motivation of employees who have been selected on the basis of merit and duly motivated via money, respect, fairness, training, challenging assignments, appreciation, and other factors. Every leader must serve the interests of the organization and its stakeholders, so that the latter are geared toward working at maximum potential. The manager then helps them to solve most problems, with or without direct involvement in the solution to such problems. The leader’s behaviour affects followers, other stakeholders and organizational development.

It should be noted that knowledge workers are “associates” or “partners” who must be given a considerable amount of freedom and responsibility; otherwise, they will leave because they have their own tools of production (i.e., their specific knowledge as discussed earlier). They are in favor of decentralization and a non-hierarchical structure as far as possible.

Man continues to develop psychologically even after his/her physical development stops. Job enrichment through meaningful, challenging, and interesting work provides ample room for psychological growth and motivates people, if duly supported by fair treatment and sound working conditions.

I have a policy of distributing free abridged versions of my books on leadership, ethics, teamwork, motivation, women, bullying and sexual harassment, trade unions, etc., to anyone who sends a request to crespin79@hotmail.com.

Maxwell Pinto, Business Author
http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/Management-TidbitsForTheNewMillenium.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p34hB50lv-8