The Company Will Take Care of Me
This is a comment that makes me grind my teeth- especially since I only hear it when someone is feeling disgruntled, under appreciated or undervalued. (I am taking this scenario from the perspective of a friend who is an HR professional.) I want to say, “oh, yeah, how’s that?”. Instead, I usually ask “what do you mean?”. And the answer I get is something like this, “Well, I know that if I put in hard work, work overtime with no pay and don’t complain, I will benefit when the company is successful.”
And I think…
“Oh really?” Is the company taking care of you now? Have they taken care of you in the past? Have the promises that have been made to you come through? Have you set your expectations and goals with your manager?
Because if the answer to most of those questions is “no”, then the employee will go on feeling under appreciated and disgruntled. The most important one of the questions above is “Have you set your expectations and goals…?”. And the answer is usually “no”. Those who work in limbo, in the grey area where there is nothing to work towards, except some ambiguous “reach profit” goal are often the ones who feel this the most. They don’t know how they contribute to the overall goals of the company and often whatever motivation they had fades and dies out. These are the people who just go to work “for the paycheck”.
So- note to employees: Talk to your manager. Discuss your role and your goals. Let your manager know how you want to grow. Maybe your growth path isn’t possible now, but it may be down the road. Or maybe there is a role that you would enjoy and don’t know about- and you manager doesn’t know of your interest. Not all openings are posted or talked about.
Note to managers: Be aware of your employees. Talk to them, reward hard work, help them grow. But most of all - talk to them not at them.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:26 am
[...] (<i>full-disclosure: she’s my wife and one of my favorite writers</i>) has a great post about the company’s responsibility toward employees. From the [...]
January 17th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I’d like to subscribe to your feed but it is not available, regards.
January 17th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Subscription problem fixed! Thanks Osiris.
January 17th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
“The company will take care of me” is such a huge misconception that is still embedded in much of the working force today. Awesome post Melina!
January 18th, 2008 at 10:23 am
It works both ways. If a company will not take care of its employess, then employees will not be motivated to take care of the company. High turn-over will be the result in a good economy and unhappy employees in a bad one. If companies are not loyal to their employess then they ought not to complain about poor employee loyalty in return.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
In a helpdesk situation, the manager makes all the difference. I often say that the ideal helpdesk manager is crazy. S/he has to be, in order to balance corporate illusions and field realities.
I’ve worked helpdesk for twelve years. In that time, I’ve worked for seven companies. Not unusual, one who knows about helpdesk turnover would think. That averages out to a company roughly every year and a half. Pretty normal.
Except that this coming June will be my *seventh* anniversary with my current day job employer. (NB: Not the URL in my link.) And lest you think I’m an aberration at my employer’s, there are two helpdesk reps out of six who have been here longer. I don’t even have seniority!
What makes the difference? Our manager. I can’t guarantee the company will take care of me, and turnover rates in other departments are roughly national average. But my manager has made it clear that he cares. He has fought for us on every level, such that the helpdesk at this company is not the dumping ground it is at other major firms. And yes, he has a reputation at the company as a bit of a maverick. And yes, we would walk through fire for him. (Three of the reps here tried their luck in other departments and came back to ours. I just have the good sense to stick around!)
When he asks us for overtime, we’re very happy to help out. Weekend meeting? No problem. Volunteer to cover for someone having to leave early? Taken care of. And it’s all because of his attitude.