As the economy continues to stagnate, I sit and reflect on the long term effects of worker-employer relations. The news has been filled with the continuing strife that escalates everyday. The case of the Wisconsin workers and the struggle over bargaining rights is just one small example.
I think back to how in the past workers sacrificed for the good of the company because they knew if they took care of the company, the company would take care of them. The unspoken benefit that many workers enjoyed was job security. Back in the 70s as the economy was going through tough times, the workers at
Delta airlines took up a collection to buy a jet for Delta as a sign of their faith in the company. Surely after such a demonstration, life would continue to be good. Not so. Today many companies that have been known in the past for never laying off are now doing just that. Oh some may not call it layoffs, it may come under some other euphemism such as strategic resizing and early retirements but the result is the same, a worker out of a job, usually unplanned for and unexpected.
The US military is a prime case. It was know for staying in 20 years, keeping your nose clean, doing a good job and you could retire in 20 years with half pay. (OK, technically not half pay but half base pay, not counting housing and food allowances in.) And that worked well but then then late 80s and early 90s happened. Officers entering as Second Lieutenants in the early 80s had been told (some at least) that the military had hired 230% of what they needed but "don't worry, it will handle itself by attrition." Well, it didn't and so Captains not making major were forced out of the service. Later when Lt Colonels were told they could not stay past 24 years, they yelled and moaned much the same things the Captains had said earlier. "It was unfair! It was a breach of a verbal contract!" and so on. The bottom line, not only did a lot of military learn that they had sacrificed many things to no avail for their careers but their families did also. I dare say that if you look at the children of some of those officers, you will find very jaded children who will not consider the military other than as a short term job, not a career.
And in fact that is exactly the point of this post. As people and their families have sacrificed in so many ways, they have learned that it was of no benefit to having a long term career. The minute times get tough, the layoffs begin. News in the past years has reported that even Japan suffers from this came issue as companies that have never laid off have done so.
To make people even more jaded, look at the news today from USAToday 4/1/11, how CEO compensation packages are skyrocketing while workers struggle with little to no pay raises and many are looking for any type of work. I dare say few of us have not experienced or at least know of instances where the boss got a nice raise while workers were told pay raises were not possible. My wife experienced this back while the country endured President Carter's Whip Inflation Now (WIN) program that asked that raises be limited. Moral is plummeting as workers are hanging on by a thread and the top levels are receiving generous compensations.
Will it be any surprise that as the economy improves (someday) that workers will leave for better jobs in droves? But more importantly. As workers go to their new jobs, they will no longer accept the being told, "when things improve ..." or we have an excellent retirement package. Workers will not look for retirement from a company, they know they will most likely not stay there long enough. Workers will increasingly demand compensation up-front. No longer will deferred compensation be accepted.
A quick side tale to illustrate part of the problem. In the Air Force, we were presented a briefing and video about how one's values and motivations are fairly well established about the age of ten. The person who was ten during the Great Depression is motivated strongly by money. A person who was ten during WWII is motivated by patriotism and sacrifice for the good of all. A person born in the 60s is motivated by "what's in it for me?" Want to drive the 20 person crazy? Go to the store in a taxi to buy something and hop out telling the driver to wait and leave the meter running!!
How does this scenario play out in terms of this discussion? A BIG contract is awarded to the company. The Depression era boss tells his managers they have to get this done quickly and if they do they will be a good bonus in their checks. The managers who lived through the war are almost insulted, they don't care about the money, they will do it for the good of the company. And they go tell the workers who look up at them blankly and ask, "what's in it fur us?" (besides money?) All three generations have failed to motivate the others.
So the bottom line for all this is - how will companies hire and motivate people who have been treated like they have for so long? Corporations and management may get away with this once but workers will not accept this on an on-going basis. Employees will go to new jobs with an expectation of not being there for the long term and will work accordingly. People are tired of having to "do more with less", "working smarter", etc. They realize they have had to do the work of several people without the compensation. In this economy, that is the way it is. But as the economy improves, watch out for the change in employee attitudes. Don't be surprised that people have a completely different attitude about their work ethic.
So true, so true.
ReplyDelete