For P.J.S.
Wise man lookin’ in a blade of grass
Young man lookin’ in the shadows that pass
Poor man lookin’ through painted glass
For dignity
Bob Dylan
We are hearing a good deal about the Great Resignation, the phenomenon of a surprising number people dropping out of the workforce since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Many pundits and employers have claimed that people have stayed away from work because of pandemic unemployment benefits expansion. Others have noted fears of Covid in the workplace and childcare needs complicated by Covid. Still others have figured that Covid has given some folks the opportunity to dream big, to stretch themselves, to become more entrepreneurial, and to light out on their own. A vocal handful say that people have just enjoyed being out of work during pandemic shutdowns and don’t want to go back.
No doubt, all these reasons are true to varying degrees. The commonality is, of course, the Covid pandemic and its collateral effects. One such effect that most analysts overlook, though, is the sheer pressure the pandemic and pandemic restrictions have put on workers. People have been ready to pop for nearly two years because of the pandemic and its limitations. Worse still, that pressure is merely in addition to the considerable pressure people were already feeling due to the strictures of their daily work lives. At some point, something has to give. Economist Paul Krugman calls this phenomenon the “great rethink.”
A Far-too Typical Tale
I have an acquaintance who is retiring a few years before he intended, not because of Covid, per se, but because of how his boss handled employees during the pandemic. My friend worked as an engineer with his company for 40 years, a rare display of loyalty at this point in history. In fact, while he has worked in the same place all these decades, the employer itself has changed hands, direction, and focus multiple times. So my friend’s situation is even more unique in that he has stayed put for forty years while his employer changed around him.
Needless to say, my friend has been a faithful employee and invaluable to his employer, but that is not to say he has always been treated as such. Being invaluable has probably insulated him somewhat from the worst management behavior, but all that turmoil around him has taken its toll.
One challenge is that for years he has been forced to travel to job sites, often spending long periods far from home. These trips are not much fun. While he may have logged a good deal of time in Belgium, it was all labor and little lager. His downtime was minimal and afforded him virtually no opportunity to enjoy the sights. This kind of travel is just grueling and demoralizing.
When the pandemic was at its peak, like so many others, he had to work at home. Still, his employer sent him to distant sites even in places where the virus was then raging. As retirement age drew closer, he began to reassess this situation. The fact is, his employer was knowingly putting his health and the health of his loved ones in peril.
He decided to tell his boss, a relatively new manager, that he did not want to travel as he could in fact do the same work remotely. My friend cited some recent health concerns and an ailing father as his primary reasons, and this newbie boss, talking to an employee with four decades of service, in all his wisdom, demanded a doctor’s note.
Demanded. A. Doctor’s. Note.
What is more, my friend soon learned that this twirpy bosslette had discussed his request with colleagues — not other managers, but my friend’s co-workers. My friend then decided enough was enough. Originally he had planned to stay on for a few years, but the insult of the boss’s indiscretion on top of the injury of the boss’s ham-handed management style was too much after so many years of such nonsense. He announced that he would retire on his 65th birthday, about six months away. The boss then backed off the travel request and begged him to stay several more months. My friend agreed to stay on one extra week. This is that week.
Anyone who works would find nothing surprising in this tale except maybe my friend’s resolve. The elements are typical: a loyal employee of longstanding, a fickle employer that respects the work but not the person, and a feckless boss who only has one perspective — his own. Now my friend is retiring earlier than he intended, the company is out a valuable (if not valued) employee, and the manager will continue bumbling along his path of increasing ineptitude, intoxicated on his moonshine version of the Dunning-Kruger effect. A little humility and a little humanity on his part would have avoided this whole thing.
I call this sort of management legacy bossing, in which a boss persists with the same-old, same-old practices in the face of evidence of abject failure. It is a consequence of a lack of imagination, common sense, and guts.
The D-Word
Yes, employers are having trouble with staffing because of all the reasons I listed in my opening paragraph. Some still hold out hope that things will go back to the old way now that the federal government has ended enhanced unemployment. Others are beginning to offer incentives like remote work, more vacation, and even more pay. Nonetheless, many workers do not seem to be budging yet. Why?
I think much of the answer is evident in my friend’s tale. He had done nothing wrong and yet was treated as though he were making an unreasonable demand. Even after the boss backed off, my friend never received the dignity that he deserved.
The dignity we all deserve.
I suspect that many people are not flocking back into the workplace — even when incentivized — for reasons just like my friend’s. It’s not about the money or the perks. To put it succinctly, they are tired of being treated like crap and are not going to take it anymore.
There is a lesson here if you are a boss or aspire to be a boss. Assure that you are a leader first. Effective leaders know how to handle people with the respect they warrant, not because they have been faithful employees for decades but because they are people. (This would be a good time to refamiliarize yourself with the Golden Rule.) With few exceptions, people want to be treated like people, not like interchangeable cogs, not like cattle, not even like hothouse orchids or prima donnas. Just people.
When your employees eventually make their ways back or when new ones come into the workforce, think about this fallow period. Then, recall your most miserable employment experience. What made it so bad? Was it the work itself, or was it something else, like the way you were treated? Think of the best boss you ever had (assuming you had at least one good boss, if not, you can borrow mine), and think of how that boss treated you. If that boss were in charge when you had that awful job — and my guess is that your best boss was not — would that job have been more bearable?
Now, go be that good boss, or, better still, be an even better boss. Be better than the best. You can get started by tapping into your own human decency.
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