Sipping coffee this morning and looking out at a fresh blanket of snow…it brought to mind two experiences I’ve had in my career.
Company 1: This company would offer ‘snow days.’ If snow hit the area, the phone would ring and a pleasant voice would announce “due to inclement weather, our offices are closed!” Read: Snow day! Sometimes there would be late-starts or early releases to avoid rush-hour in bad weather conditions.
Company 2: I had been on the job less than a week when a big snow hit. My manager at the time called and mentioned they would be working from home. I said I would too. The manager followed this up by asking “what will you be working on?” I asked about the training videos and how there was a lot of I could work through, did that sound like a good plan? My manager responded with “why can’t you do that from the office?”
So. To recap:
Manager = work from home.
Me = drive to the office. In the snow. A commute that normally takes 40 minutes would take a solid 90 minutes or more. All so I can sit in a cubicle and watch training videos. (Side note: I declined that offer. Manager wasn’t happy)
I stayed at one company for 11 years the other for less than 2. Take a guess at which is which.
Can we get over this narrative that “no one wants to work anymore” and realize the problem isn’t the “lazy” employee…and rather…many employees are simply tired of toxic, one-sided relationships with employers?
Look, I get it…as an employer you pay your employees. But what I don't think many employers get is that the paycheck doesn't entitle you (employer) to ownership.
You pay employees to do the job. It doesn't buy you permission to treat employees like shit and then ask them to 'rah-rah' your company on Glassdoor and in front of potential customers.
You don’t get to demand that they work nights, holidays, weekends, vacations…and then turn around and clutch your pearls that they dare ask to leave 30 minutes early one day to take their sick kid to the doctor’s office without taking a half-day of PTO. Or better yet "do it on their time."
If an employer-employee were a real-life couple and went to counseling…I suspect the therapist would end up smacking the employer. So many toxic relationships out there…and to top it all off? Now that the other ‘person’ (the employee) is fed up with being disrespected…we’re blaming the mistreated individual and calling them ‘lazy.’
It’s absurd. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so damn real.
Now, because this is the internet…and because many of you are ‘critical thinkers…’ yes, I understand fire-fighters and surgeons can’t have snow-days (I see this argument everywhere remote-work is discussed. How have we become this dumb?)…but I’m in marketing. The day I become ‘essential’ is the day I go do something else. I don’t want to be so essential that sitting in a cube watching training videos is the difference between life and death.
The thing that baffles me so much is that it’s not that hard to create an environment of mutual respect between employer and employee.
Step 1: Paying a salary doesn’t entitle you to someone’s life. It doesn’t grant you on-demand access. It doesn’t give you permission to interrupt personal time, vacations, holidays, parent-teacher conferences, etc. It doesn’t allow you to treat someone with disrespect. It doesn’t buy you a “get out of jail free” card when it comes to empathy.
What we’re experiencing today isn’t “the great resignation.” It’s the “great reflection” or the “great realization.” Employees are no longer bound to work within the zip codes around them. Employers now have to compete for talent…and the battle ground isn’t foosball tables and Beer-Friday. It’s mutual respect, empathy, and work-life balance.
Or.
Keep doing what you’re doing. Blame the ‘lazy’ employee. Watch them leave. Stamp your foot. Whine about ‘no one wants to work anymore’ while those who forge a better work culture steal talent, win business and watch your company fade to obscurity.
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