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There's nothing new about any of this. There has always
been a longstanding mutual fiction between employer and
employee: employers claim to be looking for people who
want to make a career with them and talk glowingly about
such careers, personal growth and being part of grand
enterprises, and employees go into interviews claiming to
want what the employers are claiming to offer, when everyone
knows that employment is on an as-needed basis and will end
the moment the employee's presence no longer benefits the
employer. While employment continues, employers uphold the
fiction by providing training, bonuses and other "retention
incentives" to induce employees not to jump ship the moment
a better offer comes along, and employees uphold the fiction
by reciting the company chant, not openly discussing
their ongoing efforts to maintain networking contacts and
take the occaisional interview to test the waters, and by
working in a sufficiently organized manner so as to not
leave the employer in a corner when they day comes that they
give their notice.
Gene Kim-Eng
------- Original Message -------
On
Thu, 12 Jun 2003 10:37:02 -0400 ?Eric L. Dunn wrote:
>>Remember, your employer is not your friend. Its your job. Unless you own the
>>company, you can't really expect the company to just bend to your wishes. Work
>>is a contract. You deliver, you get paid.
Now if more businesses would only follow that good advice. To many companies
seem to be attempting to be your friend and family these days.
Business leaders/managers have to get it through their skulls that being a good
team player refers to how well you perform as a member of the WORK team while
performing your PROFESSIONAL duties. Not whether you're always smiling, happy,
and you attend every last pub outing/group meal/team building outing or sport.
While being on friendly terms with coworkers may be a bonus, it's PROFESSIONAL
and not PERSONAL behaviour and interaction that should be valued at work.
Sometimes it seems that current work environment strategy and thinking is
derived from high school/college behaviours. The formation of cliques and "cool"
gangs seems to be encouraged by management.
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