The Golden Rule

My parents are hard workers. They were seasonal employees. Jobs were hard to find in my community. Work was not. My parents worked all year round but only got paid when they went to a job.

Work included cutting wood, growing a garden, clamming, landscaping, home renovations, pickling vegetables and fruits, fox farming, raising chickens, turkeys, and rabbits. None of which made them real money. It put food on the table and helped us survive.

I watched my two heroes go to the same factory for a dozen years. My dad was the foreman. My mom was a production line worker. When I was 15, dad got me a job with the crew. The work stunk. Working with smoked fish will do that. It was dirty, hard labour that put a sweat on your brow only to be covered by dust, smoke and stink. The worst part of the job was the way we were treated by ownership. I watched my parents work their tails off only to be pushed harder. I observed the lack of respect for the employee. I learned the lack of appreciation from ownership killed employee loyalty.

Dad told me he brought me to the factory to encourage me to go to school and not end up in a dead end job.

The factory job served as a reminder for what not to do.

Yet, when I graduated from university, I ended up in a white collar factory job.

I worked my ass off in my office chair. Stink, smoke and dust a distant memory.  The treatment of the employee was much the same. Job security was supposed to be directly correlated with hard work. I found out that job security was an illusion.

A safe secure job is a thought from the 1960's.
The only security in a job today is things change.
Today they change fast.

Don't get too comfortable.
Things will change.
Did I mention they change much faster than they used to?

My last corporate job, my employer gave me a raving employee review 30 days prior to escorting me out the front doors like a criminal. Although I wasn't in handcuffs, I was stripped of my pride. Humbled after getting kicked the curb by a company I had worked hard to gain its respect.

My parents were wrong. Working hard did not mean I always had a job...

Here's what happens when employees are treated as replaceable, interchangeable cogs in a wheel.

• Employees use the company the same way they are used. They treat their employment as a commodity.
• Decreased employee loyalty causes an increase in training expenses and a decrease in profit
• Constant training hurts customer service
• Decreased levels of customer service, lowers customer loyalty
• Decreased customer loyalty affects revenues and long term profits
• Decreased profits negatively affects ownership decisions like strategic shift, investment and growth

This slippery slope into obscurity can be averted by treating employees with respect and dignity.

My rule of thumb for human resources comes from the Bible, "Treat people the way I want to be treated".