Are you feeling the weight of an increasingly transactional workplace where long-term job security is becoming a relic of the past? Join us as attorney Mark Carey takes you on a thought-provoking journey through the evolving landscape of employment in this episode of the Employee Survival Guide®. With a keen eye on the shifting dynamics between employees and employers, Carey reflects on the days when employees enjoyed robust community support, union backing, and a sense of belonging within their organizations. Today, however, economic turbulence and corporate practices have eroded this once-stable relationship, leading to a culture rife with distrust and transactional interactions.
Mark advocates for a radical shift in how we approach employment—moving from at-will employment to a model of termination for cause. This change is crucial for fostering trust and ensuring that employees feel secure and valued in the workplace. He emphasizes that every employee deserves recognition and support, particularly during challenging times, and that creating a supportive workplace environment is not just beneficial but essential for enhancing productivity and loyalty. By prioritizing employee well-being, offering flexible work arrangements, and maintaining transparency about company challenges, employers can cultivate a thriving workplace culture.
Throughout the episode, Carey dives into pressing topics such as severance negotiations, the importance of understanding employment contracts, and the various forms of discrimination that can arise in the workplace—be it race, gender, or disability discrimination. He sheds light on the legal rights of employees, including their rights to reasonable accommodations and protections against retaliation and hostile work environments. With insights that resonate deeply in today’s corporate climate, Mark provides invaluable advice for navigating employment law issues and work disputes.
Whether you’re an employee seeking to understand your rights or an employer striving to improve workplace culture, this episode of the Employee Survival Guide® is packed with essential tips and strategies for career development and employee empowerment. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn how fostering a sense of community and support can transform your work experience. Tune in now and equip yourself with the knowledge to survive and thrive in today’s complex employment landscape!
Transcript:
Welcome to another edition of the Employee Survival Guide, where you can learn everything your employer does not want you to know about and more. Now, here’s attorney Mark Carey. Hey there, this is Mark Carey, and I’m talking about the workplace of tomorrow, and the new path that we think that we’re on. About a million years ago, I remember hearing the Star Wars epic was meant to track the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. It starts as a republic becomes an empire as its boundaries grow, and powers consolidate, it becomes corrupt because power corrupts, and finally, it fails. After the chaos, a new government starts the cycle again as a republic. I have no idea hope this is true. In any event, once laya survived the vacuum of space with her flying power, it no longer mattered. But the new path for the workplace of tomorrow is very different. And we are going to show you how. So let me tell you about the old path first, sure, you can get your bearings. Once upon a time ago, in a far distance space, a person could expect to work for one or two companies, at most for their entire adult working lives, earn a decent wage and retire with a pension. Manual laborers were unionized, and enjoyed income and job protection from the strength of their ability to bargain collectively. office workers were not typically union members, but their identities as employees of particular companies were practically encoded at the DNA level men and they were nearly all men at IBM. They were dark suits, white dress shirts, reptiles and wingtip shoes. Men at Procter and Gamble wrote PNG memos. And those days a man could start off working in the mailroom with a high school diploma. And if he were hard working smart and white, he can make it to the executive suite. Technically, most of the non union organized men were employees that will, they could leave at any time for any reason. And their employers would terminate their employment at any time. And for no reason. It just didn’t happen very much. The sense of community and the shared purpose that eludes modern businesses was alive and well on the old path. Those team building activities we enjoy a company retreats were unnecessary, because companies fielded baseball teams and bowling teams and engage in a variety of other activities. things began to change as union membership decrease in the 50s and 60s, the turbulent economic times of the early 70s to the early 80s. Oil Embargo, inflation, recession, rinse and repeat, fall by their corporate raiders throughout the 80s effectively sever the symbiotic relationship between workers and management in America, readers would take on a huge debt to take over control of a public company, and then strip assets from the company to pay their debt or otherwise profit. These takeovers invariably involve massive layoffs, and reorganizations of the company’s flat organizational structures became the norm middle management, all but disappeared. Employees became unemployed and worked as consultants. In the 30 years since Black Monday, October 19 1987, the data stock market crashed and lost 22.5% of its value. The connection between employer and employee has become more tenuous opportunistic Black Monday triggered an economic downturn and both parasitic layoffs. Same thing in the.com bust, the great recession of 2008. And now the COVID-19 era of 2020. The flip side of knowing your employer doesn’t have your back, and your employment is at will and it can be terminated at any moment. It’s a lack of loyalty to your employer. In other words, employees do not trust their employers will protect them, even though the employer needs these employees and now more than ever, just to survive. Ironic, isn’t it? I have to check recent statistics. But Gen X, millennials and Gen Z’s are expected to change jobs 10 to 20 times in their adult working lives. What’s the new path? And what are we prescribing is going to be the future. It’s not gonna be the will, or employment at will, meaning they can get fired at any point in time without notice. The new path is going to be implement termination for cause meaning that if you screw up your employment, or don’t do your job correctly, or violate company policies, or violate state and federal statutes, you should expect to be fired. At our office. We don’t employ people at that will basis. We employ them for termination for cause. And the reason there is because I wanted to create the trust among our employees to know that I got their back. And employers should seriously consider the current relationship they have with their employees. Employees are the backbone of each company and their employers could not exist without them. Trust that’s what employees want and right now and presumably have always wanted it. Now that the blinders are coming off to the COVID-19. Employers must realize that cannot abuse employees and treat them like a number. There are currently 40 million plus job terminations during the pandemic. And growing. This is not exactly what I would call building trust with your employees. These recently terminated employees, your ex employees are real people of all races, backgrounds, have their own individualized emotions, goals, financial issues, just like you. They are you. If you give employees a real sense of security in their jobs, they will reward their employers tenfold with hashtag employee trust in increase EBITDA, aka profitability. Employers need to show employees they can trust you at all times, even in the worst of times, that you got their backs. And you’ll carry him through whatever the moment they’re going through, whatever the nation’s going through, I have a couple of suggestions. First and foremost, provide a termination for cause employment agreement. and ignore your management attorneys advice not to do that. It’s going to create the trust. And it’s going to remove that to sickening feeling that you can be fired at any point in time, or that feeling when you’re being set up by your supervisor and you know, it’s coming. And then eventually it does come. It’s not necessary. It’s better to create a longer, more vibrant, trusting relationship, more transparency, about whatever we really wants, in terms of what the management wants, what the employees want. The second thing would be, make sure your employees feel confident, they will not get sick when they come back to work from the pandemic. Give them everything they need right now. And write it off in your PPP and SBA money you just received, show them that you care about their health, their well being, try to create spaces of work that allows for separation, until this thing blows over. Third, if employees want to work from home, and at the office, just let them remind them you do pay rent in an office they should use and everybody has to be a little bit more patient and realistic these days. Don’t mandate that have to return to the office. Don’t mandate that have to return to an environment that may be making them sick. Fourth, buy them the necessary computer gadgets to work remotely anywhere. Recent stories in the papers, college kids returning back to college or sitting in Maui with a laptop in a rental apartment with all their friends. Why can’t we do that for our employees at work. Of course most employees are working from home these days, the train station parking lots are empty. Fifth, build a sense of strong community experience amongst employees. Go beyond the usual pictures on the walls about commitment and goals. Just act like real people. Treat your employees like real people. Don’t mislead them. Don’t try to set them up. If you have problems with your your employees or you haven’t problems your business. Tell your employees that don’t cover it up. Don’t make me the employment lawyer. I try to figure out what you did and why you lied. Because I’ll find out. And if you did it because it was an illegal means such as age, sexual orientation race, we’re gonna find out. You can’t cover it up. Because no defense counsel can watch your employer all the time. Every single day. The supervisors are going to make mistakes based upon risk taking that business people do all the time and we’re there to catch it. Six, immediately fire any employee manager or not. Who exhibits any discriminatory bias against anyone regarding the COVID experience, or any discriminatory basis or bias. This will deter bad actors. Because we’re all in this together. The list of perks employers can provide to develop and ensure employee trust is endless and specific to your company. But you get the main idea. Yes, employees need perks to not just executives. employees need perks too because they are the ones who make this economy run. Thank you and good luck in your endeavors.