Yesterday at 1700 local time, my employment with my now-really-former-employer formally ended.
It was without incident - partially I am sure due to the fact that it is Memorial Day in the United States and so no-one was at work, but partially as well because there is simply nothing to do or say. A bland e-mail was put out on Friday which could just as easily been generated by an Artificial Intelligence as by an actual person, thanking us for all our work in helping to advance the battle against cancer and wishing us the best in our future endeavors.
It was the equivalent of a letter addressed to "Occupant".
Sometime today our access is supposed to be cut to all company related programs. This week, employees including myself will wend our way to the facility where we will turn in our computer, any associated devices, and badges, and then wander away to the next of chapter of our lives.
With that, my employment of approximately seven years ends.
In retrospect of course, the whole thing seems a bit ridiculous. I have been laid off before. I have been at companies that have laid people off before. Never in my 25+ years have I ever seen a company that was so blatantly unconcerned with the outcomes for employees that were formerly considered critical to its operation (not me of course, but others). I have seen ugly divorces that were handled with more concern and tact.
If anything, this whole experience re-emphasizes a lesson I learned years ago, that one should never, ever buy into a company's rhetoric. The individual employee is a resource to be deployed and eliminated at will and effort is only marginally considered in the retention portion of the calculation. I have known for years that employment is a fee for service; this just confirms it.
Those of a certain era will recall the basis of today's title: The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot. That ending, if you remember that part of English Literature Class, reads:
(Post Script: I have my next round of interviews tomorrow. I am hopeful it is my last round of interviews; this will be the fifth set. I will likely have met 20% of the company by the time I am done. That is an unusual amount for my industry, but perhaps they have had not great experiences in the past. With any luck, it will be on to better things in the not too distant future.)
Very, very few employers know how to spell loyalty. Good luck with that next interview TB, sounds like they prefer a marathon over the sprint.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, I am convinced almost none at all at this point. Which, to be honest, is fine. I would rather have that clear of understanding of fee for service rather than the illusion of "the caring employer" when it is equally not true.
DeleteFortunately, I do not have a lot of other activities to focus on so the marathon works. That said, in this instance I cannot imagine a full time employed person sticking through this process. A 5-7 hour commitment is difficult while working as it is usually during "normal business hours".
I hope you land on your feet. And hope the New Job will re-kindle your enthusiasm in the work to be done. Time always slips away when you are enjoying the tasks being done.
ReplyDeleteI've heard the word 'occupation' sometimes replacing the word 'job' - something that a person does to occupy their time and getting paid to do it.
Thank you. I am working through what re-employment in a field I thought I had left would mean (probably worthy of another post).
DeleteI had never seen "occupation" used in quite that light, but it makes sense. It sometimes feels like that.
Having a mercenary heart may be a good thing now. I know I took a lot of losses over the years having the company's best interest at heart instead of my own. It changed around me. I didn't see it until too late. My exit would have been in 2009 had I been less loyal.
ReplyDeleteI work(ed) for a company, 25 plus years now. We were like family. I got in right at the tail end of that era. What had been built had taken a lot of vision and brass, it was an amazing place. Gung Ho could have been our motto. You could feel the esprit de corps in the building. It slowly soured from 2008-2019. I've been told I wouldn't recognize it in the two short years I've been out..... Fell into the cess pool slowly at first then all at once.
I told anyone that would listen that we were just prostitutes. We sold our services for money. It was kind of a joke as we were all salary, and did whatever it took to make it work back then. Now, looks like a prophecy. Upper mgmt has wasted all the goodwill, and it's shows like jaundice. Even our founder and CEO recently said our job was to make a good return for investors. I always thought it was getting goods from A to B without damage or loss. Shows how out of touch I was.... Or how Corp America has lost it's way.
Godspeed TB. I hope you make it through the gauntlet of interviews successfully. Praying for a good outcome for you and yours.
STxAR, I think it is a balance. If I am working for an employer, I have a vested interest in making sure that they succeed. But that interest is, as you say, largely mercenary: when my employer does well I do well. But not at the expense of my life. Not anymore.
DeleteWhile I have not had that length of stay as you did, I know of what you speak. We had that same energy, that same "can do attitude". In the last 60 days, I have seen it slip away like a wave rushing back to the sea from where it came.
Once upon a time I was asked by my boss what my job was. I thought it was compliance. I was wrong. It was to make him look good. He told me so himself.
Thanks for the good wishes. Whatever happens, it is in God's hands at this point.
My son has said similar things. He says no company deserves his loyalty since none of them have any for their employees.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the interview, TB. I hope this company will be one you enjoy working at for as long as you like.
You all be safe and God bless.
Linda, it is actual kind of shocking to me. The old social contract is completely broken. Many thanks for the good wishes; hopefully I will have good news soon.
DeleteSo few realise that to an employer, they are as irreplaceable as the hole left in a glass of water when you pull your finger out of it. They spend years, sometimes decades of their precious time devotedly working for a company and sacrifice so many special moments of life. The truism that a salary is the drug to make you abandon your dreams seems to hold water for many.
ReplyDeleteThere is a balance to be found in all things, and the life you share on these pages is inspiring. Family, continuous incremental self improvement, martial arts, writing, literature, challenges, trust, physical challenges, friendship, loyalty, self reflection, philosophy and so much more. I am not trying to turn this into smoke to blow in your general direction. It's just a quick note to say best wishes for your new direction, and thank you for another meaningful post. I truly enjoy your work here.
I remember when I found this out. I was conducting a stopper washer validation to meet a deadline. It was 0245 in the morning and I was watching the water boil with the stoppers. I suddenly realized that I would finish this, drive home, and be expected to be back in 4 hours to pick up where I left off. It was a life changing realization.
DeleteThanks for your kind words. I hope I have some kind of balance (to be fair, I never feel like I do). As I have written before, authors want to be read and hopefully have an impact; to the extent that I am able to do that, I am grateful.
There is no luck. You are on your way forward. That is enough.
ReplyDeleteThanks John. Hopefully good news to report soon.
DeleteI'm reminded of a scene in Fiddler on the Roof, where Tevye lets Perchik teach the Bible to his girls. Perchik's lesson from the story of Isaac and Rachel is "never trust an employer."
ReplyDeleteI used to wonder how businesses expected to prosper without cultivating a loyal employee base. Well, I still wonder, but it just seems to be the way things are.
Leigh - I forgot that scene! My older two daughter's were in a production in middle school, so happy memories.
DeleteI truly believe that most businesses feel like that are cultivating a "loyal" base - by their standards. By loyalty, they feel material things - salary, benefits, time off - are what creates loyalty. That is not at all, of course. It is treating people decently not just materially, but personally and spiritually (even for the non-religious) - and perhaps most of all, with respect. People have been laid off before or had bad news (I sure have). I hold no grudge against those that treated us with respect as it happened - failures and bad news are real things. But to pretend (my word) that employees are valuable right up to the point that they, in the company's view, are liabilities - not only does that destroy any loyalty, it makes harder for the employers after.
Sometimes I ponder the change in corporate politics towards employees as being just as much self inflicted as it is corporate inflicted. After all, we employees are quick to jump ship these days because opportunity abounds everywhere. I imagine this has sped up the decline of how employees are thusly treated. Of course the corporate management also have a large share of blame as well, probably caused by our slow moral decline as a society.
ReplyDeletePossibly Ed.
DeleteIn my experience, most employees more often than not are happy to stay in their positions as long as they feel like they are adequately paid, respected, and at some level, there is room for some kind of advancement. Looking for a job is time consuming, a pain in the behind, and inconvenient. Yet employees leave - I would argue that pay/beneifts, respect, and advancement are the major factors.
One thing that does not help corporation is that they do not really want to learn from exit interviews. It is a well acknowledged fact among non-HR individuals that exit interviews are generally a waste of time. For all of the nodding and "Thanks for the input", nothing changes in terms of how the company operates. This I know from talking with people about their exit interviews, what was said, and the resulting changes. Seldom if ever can I think of a change that directly happened because of an exit interview where an employee said "You are awful".
I think part of employees moving around may also be due to the fact that for many - for myself, for so many years - this illusion that there there is "the perfect fulfilling job" exists. If only I can find that next position, that next promotion, that next...I will be fulfilled. Perhaps we have come to expect too much from our employment.
"The individual employee is a resource to be deployed and eliminated at will and effort is only marginally considered in the retention portion of the calculation."
ReplyDeleteYes, yes and yes. It's a bitter pill to swallow but it's so true. And if this would simply be acknowledged by both parties, it would make for a better experience. I tell all my direct reports that I care about them, and I encourage them to care about their colleagues. But I also tell them not to delude themselves into thinking anyone much above me does. As much as you might want it to be personal because that's how you are wired as a compassionate human, it's simply not that way.