The Robotization of Employees

Well, as the 8 people who occasionally read my blog might have noticed, I did not manage to complete my mission of blogging everyday in October.

And I’m ok with that.

See, I’m getting married in 9 days. I therefore have a shit ton of things on my mind and my to-do list. It’s not an excuse. I could have written every day, but I knew it would be super crappy writing. I still have been thinking a lot though.

A bit about this blog – what I want it to be, what I want to write about on a regular basis, etc. But mostly about people.

You see, everything is about people and their behavior, their beliefs, your relationships with them, and on and on. I can want to reverse climate change, but I can’t do that without getting all of society on board with that mission. I can want to be a world-class writer, but my writing won’t matter if no one reads it.

Back to my failed mission. I don’t really consider it a failure. And here’s why. I am a person, not a robot. I’m getting fucking married. This blog doesn’t really matter right now. What matters is that I am combining my life with someone else’s to build toward a greater future for both of us.

In my world, there is a lot of discussion on the management of businesses. How much do you pay, how do you retain employees, how do you get staff to be more productive, blah blah blah. And we’ve landed squarely in this spot where people aren’t really people anymore. A lot of companies look at their employees simply as robotic money makers. Good employees are productive and bring in lots of money. Bad employees don’t bring in money and are let go. Benefits are cut to save cash. Hours are lengthened to squeeze more work out.

But they aren’t robots. They are people. They get married. Their kids get sick. They have off days and on days. And pretty much all of them space out for a couple hours each day. Not many people can really work for 8 hours straight, but God forbid you take a long lunch, right?

Luckily, I don’t work in an environment like that. No one bats an eye when I hide in a bathroom stall and play candy crush for 15 minutes a few times a day because it’s the only alone time I ever get. But a lot of people get fired for being late or for having to stay home and take care of a sick loved one. The robotization of employees is killing our businesses and our souls.

I do a lot of daydreaming about what I would do if I had Warren Buffet money. In one of my daydreams I start a company that is basically one giant HR experiment. I don’t even care what the business does, really. What would happen if employees worked 4 day work weeks? What would happen if they started with 3 weeks of vacation a year and went up from there? What if there was complimentary lunch and a gym? What if there were low or no interest loans available to employees for buying houses? What if everyone started with a decent salary? What if there was a nice retirement plan that included generous matching? What if employees were treated like family instead of robotic money-making machines? I’m willing to bet that the caliber of employees would be high, retention would be high, productivity would be high, and everyone would be generally happy to come to work every day. Yes, it might be an expensive business to run. And it’s possible that my CEO check wouldn’t be 7 figures. But – and not to get super esoteric or existential here – what is the point anyway? We’re all born, we move around a bit doing stuff, and then we die. Shouldn’t the whole point of it be to have a good time and be comfortable and make sure other people are happy and comfortable too?

Anyway. I guess the point here is to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” As I’ve said before, you might not like everyone you cross paths with, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be happy.  Treat employees with respect and compassion. It’s the only way to change the world for good.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some last minute wedding planning to do. I’ll see you in December when I’m back from my honeymoon. #SorryNotSorry