John
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In any business, external stakeholders such as customers and volunteers are top priority. It makes sense because they provide the money and resource. However, are stakeholders such a high priority that the company’s hard-working employees end up treated unfairly? In speaking with others – and in my own experiences -, I’ve found a rather unsettling reoccurring pattern. The paradigm is that employees often take the wrath of the stakeholders and/or management when issues arise.
Before you start to defend your workplace, I am not referring to every single business. I do know companies where customers and employees are both top priority. I’m just saying that the unfair treatment of employees is a big issue that often gets swept under the rug.
Here are a couple of examples:
– In some insurance businesses, there is an unwritten axiom that agents are always right and should be shelved on a pedestal. Any issues coming from them gets an express ticket to the top of the problem queue to be fixed as soon as possible. Resources are quickly allocated to ensure the dilemma is solved. Once fixed, fingers are pointed every which way to avoid being ‘the one that broke it’.
– In some non-profit organizations with volunteers, when the volunteers do not get what they expected from *anything*, they have the ability to directly speak to employees about it. This can become a problem, because that open channel can allow for degrading and verbal abuse. Most often, employees can only put on a smile and do what’s required to make sure life is just fantastic for the volunteer. They have to do this because management tends to give the ‘just do what they want‘ speech.
One might advise that there is a reason the HR department exists. I completely understand, but here are some of the common outcomes when HR handles these issues:
- Nothing happens
- Instead of finding a compromising solution, someone is simply fired
- Workplace becomes hostile or uncomfortable
- etc..etc.. I’m sure you heard or experienced the others
In my opinion, the only outcome should be that the harassed is comfortable and content with the result. What I honestly believe is that this result usually doesn’t occur, and the unfair treatment of employees is an endless cycle. To relieve the issue, I believe management/bosses/whoever runs the workplaces must push for a culture change.
I often wonder why certain job positions always become vacant. Could this be a reason why?