I have held off writing this post for various reasons, but I'm writing it now. It certainly would not have been a good idea to let off too much steam right after I left Farmers, but now that I have some distance, I have a few things about the way some companies (not necessarily Farmers, of course) treat people, and perhaps I can make some points without sounding too angry and irrational.
So here are a few of the crazy things corporation-people do.
Annual goals. At least in accounting, almost everyone involved in this process understands that something is very wrong with making annual goals. The most obvious thing is that the work you do in any given year is not what you anticipated it would be at the beginning of the year. Priorities and assignments change, projects come and go. Much of what you do all year is in reaction to unanticipated events. In addition, goals are meant to be specific and measurable, but much of what we do is not measurable, so the evaluation of our results is highly subjective, and we all know it. Yet companies persist in not only creating annual goals, but in tying those goals to mathematical formulas to determine how employees performed each year. We all know it's crap.
In fact, the main purpose of this type of annual goal-setting is to install a façade of objectivity over a subjective process, so that the company can claim that they treated everyone fairly.
Compensation. And speaking of those fine annual goals, what are we hoping to accomplish this year? Well, the way it was explained to me in a class, we are looking to make significant improvements over the work we did last year. Last year is, in fact, a baseline, and you need to build on that.
So you need to produce more; that is the expectation. And if you do produce more, what can you expect in your paycheck? Experience tells me that meeting the increased expectations will allow you to keep up with inflation, no more. Unless you are at the bottom of the pay scale, you don't get to have any of that improved productivity for yourself; the company gets it all. Then they ask you to improve again next year, because this year is a baseline.
Engagement. Oh boy, this is my favorite. They want you to be engaged in your work. You should be excited about what you are doing, and the company's mission, and the latest company program to make everything great. If you have the brains to question the latest bright idea, you are trouble. Don't do that. Even if they cancel the latest thing and start another, the people who championed the old, now-recognized-as-stupid idea, and now champion the new one (and you know they are the same people), will be seen as positive, engaged types, and you will be seen as a malcontent. No one cares that you were right and they were wrong.
I could give a seminar on engagement, although no one would come, but it's simple. People want their work to be interesting and to matter, and they want to be paid. Very little else. A list of what keeps people engaged:
- Interesting work
- Work that is suited to their skills
- Working on something new
- Learning new skills
- Work that can help them advance
- Recognition. Plaques and certificates are nice. Raises and bonuses are better.
- Corporate thank-you programs
- Potlucks
- Telling them that last year is a baseline
- Annual goals
- Telling them to be more engaged
The company's goal is to get everything they can out of you, while giving you as little as possible. That's their goal. And you should be excited about working for them? The attitude most corporation-people take toward their employees is strictly business. But then they want you to care. Yuck.
I have worked for many large corporations. Not one of them was engaged in me.
No comments:
Post a Comment