COVID-19 and its effect on work culture now. 

Currently, COVID-19 pandemic has created an environment that benefits employers more than employees. Yes, commuting is better for some, but employers are getting more out of their employees who are afraid if they are not seen their job may be eliminated.  I know that’s what happened with me. In the office when I routinely worked late at my desk I showed that I put in more than my 35 hours per week I was hired for, and it was more accepted that I was producing. If someone wasn’t producing, it was also more obvious. Once we went virtual it was easier to create an impossibly difficult environment. The mass work-from-home experience created a heightened “Hunger Games” environment where some bosses operated in an increasing environment of oppression and exploiting people’s fear of losing their job with all the stories that came in of layoffs and the growing unemployment rate. And so, people are more likely to tolerate poor treatment even more than before in the hope of remaining employed.

It is a once-in-a-century pandemic, COVID-19, that is the cause of the current economic uncertainty. Now that the coronavirus has legitimately caused harm to businesses, as workers seek to remain employed and to not join the ranks of the 19 million plus people seeking unemployment benefits workers are even more inclined to put up with workplace torture, and abusive management are more emboldened. Forms of dissent, however legitimate are now seen by some abusers as “you should be grateful to have a job”, regardless of how dangerous that job may be to one’s well-being. 

When someone talks about the poor management or toxic environment existing in their workplace, one of the most common solutions that is offered up is, “just get another job”. The chances are, if it were that easy for employees to walk off the job, and to “just get another job” I would venture to say there would be far fewer issues with poor environments for employees. Organizations would invest a lot more energy in employee satisfaction, or at the very least encouraging employee loyalty, including ensuring they were treated the respect adults deserve in the workplace. The burden of a poor workplace environment is instead placed on the employee making a change rather than the organization making a change for the good of the whole organization. 

Career-based articles often refer to candidates in job interviews fudging details of their actual experience in order to get a job offer. However, the same goes for the employer as well.  Often what happens is the management seeks to fill a position and may also misrepresent the truth in order to hire the type of talent they want working for the company, and then once they score the talent, the new hire finds out that the reality of the environment was not the positive experience they were told it was. By the time they realize the truth of the environment, it is too late. 

People go to work to earn an honest paycheck.  They don’t go to work to earn a paycheck with a dose of abuse and an extra helping of humiliation.  They go to work to use their talent to improve the organization that employs them, to work alongside colleagues who are also there to do the same thing.

Poor management prevents employees from reaching their potential to help the organization succeed. Organizations that truly value their employees they need to address the issues that keep employees from performing to the best of their abilities for the organization. This would include addressing supervisors and management that mistreat the people doing day-to-day work that makes to company run.

Next: What supervisors and managers with poor people management skills cost the organization.