Balance

 Despite the apparent change in power balance between employers and employees, employers still act as if loyalty only runs one way: from the employee to the employer.

Of course, much of this stems from the fact that we live in a capitalist economy. Many people will instinctively think: "Of course we do, I wouldn't want to live in a socialist system". Most people don't really think about our economic system. They equate socialism with lack of freedom and think that our economic system just means "freedom". But does it?

In a capitalist economic system, capital is important, while labor is disposable. Using the example of the grocery chain where I used to work - the company's founder is given the credit for starting the company, while the thousands of people who worked for him over the decades are expected to be grateful for the opportunity to have jobs. After all, it was his money, and his hard work...blah, blah, blah. But could he have built the company to its present size (and his bank account) without those thousands of people who showed up for work every day? And not just the people stocking the shelves, but the accountants, the IT people, the specialists in bakery or Deli operations and the managers at all levels who kept things chugging along. None of those people had any stake in the profitability of the company other than the bi-weekly paycheck. (This particular company did have, for many years, an employee stock ownership plan, where a percentage of the profits were distributed to employees in the form of company stock - last year the company bought back all the employee-held stock).

This isn't unique to the company I was referring to. It's the way most companies work. We have come to view it as normal. We view it as natural that the person who comes up with the money is inarguably the person who calls the shots, while the people who make it all work are expendable, and have no rights. (And when it comes down to it, the "person with the money" isn't usually using his own money, but has taken out a loan or has investors)

Since we're unlikely to see any change to this system on a large scale, I thought that it was a good thing that the low unemployment rate was the catalyst for a change in how employees viewed their obligations to the companies that hired them. Many people viewed this change negatively, opining that "nobody wants to work anymore" or claiming that "millenials are all lazy" when it's just a matter of workers valuing their own labor more than protecting the employer's bottom line. 

What got me thinking about this today was hearing that the Human Resources Director at my former company had retired. Her long time assistant, who was presumed to be her successor, gave his two week notice at around the same time. There was apparently anger in the company's high levels about his resignation - he was dismissed immediately and not allowed to work out the two weeks. I don't know why this assistant left. It could have been that the position that he accepted was so much better that he couldn't turn it down, maybe the company was posting the open HR Director position without offering it to him, or possibly this was the culmination of years of unhappiness at his current job. But whatever his reasons, it shouldn't matter. He was leaving because, whatever the precise reasons, it was better for him and his family. 

I started out talking about loyalty. Employers expect loyalty from their employees, yet typically that loyalty is not reciprocated. How many employees show up for work one day to find that their position has been eliminated? Or that, without their consent, they are being transferred to another location? Or that their work schedule has been changed? Any of those things can happen at any time and most of the time there's no notice given, no permission asked. But when an employee wants to cut their hours, or change their schedule, that's looked upon as a problem. How about the whole concept of two-week notice? The courts have ruled that an employee who fails to give two-week notice can't have their benefits, such as vacation time, taken away, but it is almost universally looked upon as some kind of betrayal. Because employers are not expected to have any loyalty towards their employees. 

So, any time I see somebody doing what's best for themselves and their family, I applaud.