Today’s management strategy for the American worker – “just shut up and work.” I can’t count how many times I’ve been told “that issue is ongoing” or “that issue is out of our control” or “that issue is not your responsibility” over the last decade. Why is it that business executives don’t care what is actually occurring at ground level?
Labor Unions began organizing in the United States in the 19th century because workers were being exploited. The were made to work long hours in poor conditions for little pay. During their time, conditions were really bad… by today’s standards those conditions would be a cause for war. Think about it, the U.S. would absolutely go to defend “freedom” in a country where children were made to work in coal mines.
Fast forward to today, and overall job conditions have obviously improved, but there is still worker exploitation occurring. Today’s poor work environment is created by the “you don’t matter” mentality. Unless you are signing someone’s paycheck in today’s world (sometimes even if you are)… “you don’t matter.” Today’s workers want to take pride in their business, they want to do good work, but more often than not are actually forced by the business to do the opposite.
My current position is delivering newspapers for my university. What I’m actually paid to do is throw newspapers away. To clarify, I typically deliver about 3000 papers two times a month. I must remove the old/unused papers (throwing them away), and then put the new ones on the stands. This last Sunday I threw out about 1400 unused, unread newspapers. When I brought this to my boss’s attention, I received the “that’s out of our control” answer. I pushed the issue, stating that we could perhaps find a way to control it… maybe print less copies, or change how they’re distributed. Bad bosses never like to hear how they can improve the business. Needless to say, my suggestions were not received well. To be clear, I’ve also been on the receiving side of the suggestions (I’ve held a regional management position a few times), but I’ve never seen them get any traction because someone at the top is typically quite happy to keep things the way they are. And that, my friends is the problem!
Our society has a ridiculous number of big businesses that are perfectly fine throwing away product, time, and quite obviously money. It is truly a humiliating position to be in, at the ground level of a business, watching your boss willingly throw money away because their pockets are already fat. It seems to me, businesses today are ultimately in the business of loss. As long as key individuals retain their lofty position, there is no need to re-evaluate the current model. “So, what if we’re throwing away 1400 newspapers… I still have my job,” says the boss.
Well, I’m sorry, but for me, that just doesn’t cut the mustard.
To those workers who care about doing a good job, and take pride in your business – keep it up! Continue to care, continue to search for someone who will listen! Continue to speak!
To those bosses who don’t care about what is actually happening in their business – there will come a day when you’re not worth the newspaper your printed on. So, continue to ignore. Continue to assume you’re all knowing, and infallible. And by all means, please continue to render yourself pointless.
The more you tell others they don’t matter, the softer your words become.