Employee Morale- The most under-rated concept in American Business
I have commented on the topic of job satisfaction in America before, but I feel it needs to be revisited. I cannot contemplate why so many American business owners treat their employees as if they are simply machines built for service. The American job force is pressured to work long hours, for little return, and with little hope. You are likely to be fired before ever reaching a decent 401K, and you are offered little over two weeks out of 52 vacation per year. Sure… Most companies will claim piousness. They will claim that they do everything in their power to ensure their workers are happy, satisfied, and free to enjoy the comforts of family. It is all a façade though. Few companies do anything to demonstrate a true concern for the well-being of the worker.
The attitude in this country is “shut your mouth, or we will find some other sucker to do it.” The sad fact is, there is another person, desperate for money, willing to take anything, waiting in the wings. We do not work together in one cohesive unit in the United States. We do not fight together. It is the plague of individualism. We don’t strike. We don’t rally. We don’t try to make a difference. We are so afraid that taking a stand would risk our own necks that we make no stand at all. Since we don’t work together, nothing is accomplished. We are all taught, from an early age, worry about yourself, not others. It is, unfortunately, the American way. So, nothing is changing.
It is my opinion that hyper-nationalism is the biggest hindrance to the advancement of this country. We are taught that we live in the best place in the world. We are taught that to disagree with this is to forgo your patriotism. People always argue, “If you don’t like it over here: Move.” I am of the opinion that to recognize the faults of this country is to love it. I recognize the problems, and I hope for us to improve, to learn, to evolve. I do not wish to see America cement itself to a road going nowhere.
We do not have the best system for workers in the world. We do not live in a country that encourages a balance between work and home life. This causes us to have high rates of depression, divorce, and general unhappiness in our population. To those who say change is impossible, that to give more vacation to workers per year, or less hours would bankrupt Wallstreet, I say, look at other businesses in European countries. Are they poverty stricken? Are they unable to pay their electric bills? No, the working world will keep on moving, even with giving people six weeks off per year. Even those few American companies that have changed their policies to be more worker friendly such as Microsoft and Google are among the most profitable here. Happiness is not a deterrent to profit.
The biggest joke in this country is that the powers that be have convinced those without power that this is as good as it gets. They have convinced the lowly worker that he/she is living in lap of luxury, the highest point in the world. What the worker does not recognize is, as Ayn Rand wrote,
“The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, talks of slaves and masters and wishes to be the master.”
and don't forget all the technologies we use these days (email, smartphones, etc.) that are supposed to make our life easier yet force people even more to bring their work lives into their home lives. I have plenty of friends (including myself) who feel guilty if they don't reply to work emails at odd hours of the night, on weekends or during vacations. When I read your post I kept thinking of Europe where workers get way more vacation (my parents had 6 and 7 weeks of vacation time every year in Germany) and people in France work 35 hrs work weeks with similar vacation times as in Germany. Research shows that people are as productive if not more than Americans who work more but are tired and worn out.
ReplyDelete