Misplaced loyalty...
If you work for any company, no matter the size, don't love the company because it won't love you back, if you do your loyalty is displaced. Your ultimate responsibility is yourself, family and friends. Work is a source of income and even though it can be rewarding it is not a support network. There are few exclusions to this, perhaps a small family owned business is an exception to this rule.
Always keep in mind you work for a business where the main intent is to make a profit. This doesn't mean that there aren't some companies who do really attempt to keep their employees satisfied, pay a decent wage, try to do the right thing by those that produce for them. It's a fact of free enterprise though that when times are tough, difficult choices sometimes have to be made. The owners, operators, stakeholders have to make decisions based on their fiduciary duty to the company and not to the people who work there.
To preserve your integrity and work ethic you should always do a good job but thinking of yourself as a free-agent, allows you to also maintain your dignity and independence as a person. You can respect the company you work for but that doesn't mean they have an obligation to not make a change in your employment.
This is a great post. I have nothing to add to it other than I agree with it, and that the whole employment idea has given me an idea for a blog or a vlog or something.
ReplyDeleteThank you for putting these kinds of things up, JR. It's always cool to hear or read your take on things.
Thanks for the comment! I appreciate your input, you often give me ideas and I'm only glad that I can plant some seeds.
ReplyDeleteReally in life...that's all we have. The seeds we sow in other people's mind. (Hmmmm...I think therein lies a blog!)