About a million years ago, I remember hearing that 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 power is consolidated, becomes corrupt because power corrupts, and finally it falls. After the chaos, a new government starts the cycle again as a republic. I have no idea if this is true and, in any event, once Leia survived the vacuum of space with her Poppinsesque 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 why. So, let me tell you about the Old Path first so you can get your bearings.
THE OLD PATH
Once upon a time, a person could expect to work for one or two companies (at most) for their entire adult 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 wore dark suits, white dress shirts, rep ties, and wing tips. Men at Procter & Gamble wrote P&G Memos. In 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 could make it to the Executive Suite.
Technically, most of the non-union œOrganization Men were employees at-will. They could leave at any time, for any reason, and their employers would terminate their employment at any time and for any reason. It just didn’t happen very much. The sense of community and shared purpose that eludes modern businesses was alive and well on the Old Path. Those team-building activities we œenjoy at company retreats were unnecessary because companies fielded baseball teams and bowling teams and engaged in a variety of other activities. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union had a famous chorus that recorded tunes, gave concerts, and showed off their chops in many memorable commercials of the ˜70s.
BETTER START SWIMMING OR YOU’LL SINK LIKE A STONE
Things began to change as union membership decreased in the 50s and 60s. The turbulent economic times of the early ˜70s through early ˜80s (oil embargo, inflation, recession, rinse, repeat), followed by the corporate raiders throughout the 80’s effectively severed the symbiotic relationship between workers and management in America. Raiders would take on 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 involved massive layoffs and reorganizations of the companies. œFlat organizational structures became de rigeur as middle management all but disappeared and my high school classmates’ fathers became œconsultants; i.e., unemployed.
In the 30+ years since Black Monday, October 19, 1987 “ the day the stock market crashed and lost 22.5% of its value “ the connection between employer and employee has become more tenuous and opportunistic. Black Monday triggered an economic downturn and both parasitic layoffs. Same thing in the Dot Com Bust, the Great Recession, and now the Covid19 era.
The flipside of knowing your employer doesn’t have your back and your employment at- will can be terminated at any moment, is a lack of loyalty to your employer. In other words, employees do not trust their employers will protect them, even though the employer needs the employees now more than ever to “ just survive. Ironic isn’t it? I haven’t checked recent statistics, but GenX, Millennials, and GenZ are expected to change jobs 10-20 times in their adult working lives.
ENOUGH WITH THE HISTORY. WHERE’S THIS NEW PATH?
I am not an at-will employee, nor do I breathe the rarified air of those with written contracts of employment for a specific period of time and who can only be terminated for cause. So, what am I? I am a traveler on the New Path.
Mark Carey, who has written on why at will employment is a bad rule and how it was invented by lawyer in 1877, puts his money where his mouth is. My employment is not terminable œat will, it is terminable œfor cause. It means no one from my office has been laid off during the pandemic. We are all in this together and I have a vested interest in the success of my employer. It means if I do my job, my employer will have my back. In exchange, I’ve agreed to stay with my firm unless I have good reason to leave (i.e., reduction in pay, demotion). The Thirteenth Amendment prevents Mark from enforcing my side of the deal, but the trust engendered in his commitment to me as his employee engenders my reciprocal promise to stay.
Employers should seriously consider the current œrelationship they have with their employees. Employees are the backbone of each company and employers could not exist without them. Trust- that’s what employees want right now and presumptively have always wanted it. Now that the blinders are coming off due to Covid-19, employers must realize they cannot abuse employees and treat them like a number. There are currently Forty million plus (40,000,000) job terminations during this pandemic, this is not exactly what I would call building trust with your employees. These recently terminated employees (œYour Ex-Employees), are real people of all races and backgrounds, with emotions, goals, financial issues just like you. If you give employees a real sense of security in their jobs, they will reword their employers tenfold- with #EmployeeTrust and increased EBITDA (aka profitability).
Employers- show your employees they can trust you at all times“ that you got their backs in times of trouble. Here are a couple of suggestions:
- Provide a termination for cause employment agreement-ignore your management lawyer’s advice not to follow this suggestion;
- Make sure employees feel confident they will not get sick when they come back to work- give them everything they need and write if off on your PPP and SBA money you just received;
- If employees want to work from home and/or the office, just let them- but remind them you do pay rent in an office they should use;
- Buy them necessary computer gadgets to work remotely “ anywhere;
- Build a sense of a strong community experience amongst employees;
- Immediately fire any employee, manager or not, who exhibits any discriminatory bias against anyone- this will deter the bad actors- as we are all in this together;
This 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 too!
If you would more information about this topic, please contact Carey & Associates P.C. at 203-255-4150 or email to info@capclaw.com.
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