Brands’ message to employees
I watched him with keen interest every morning at 4:am as the alarm wakes him up. He wakes, tired and sleepy, but he knows he must outrun the fastest gazelle or be lynched in this animal kingdom. He returns home at 9:pm yawning and hissing at a stressful day and the Lagos traffic. He takes his bath and tries to make dinner. Sometimes, he picks his laptop and begins to work again before harkening to nature’s call. ‘My boss wants this urgently’ he says.
A few weeks ago, he came back home with regrets and anger on his face. He was holding an envelope. His contract has been terminated. The reason? ‘COVID-19 is a bitch; the company is downsizing to survive; et cetera, et cetera’. He tries to call the accountant and HR for his retirement benefits and to access the substance of his pension, oh it has been all a lie. But you know this story, don’t you?
The story of brands hyping their companies image during the search for labour; the promise of salary increase; the silence over taxes and pensions; the breach of closing hours; the encroachment to weekends; the invisible contract of employees growth to partnership; the call-off at employees old age… brands message to employees is simple – we don’t care.
How about we take examples from some good companies like Franklin International – http://www.franklininternational.com/Home.aspx; TJX – https://www.tjx.com/; Wegmans Food Market – https://www.wegmans.com/; etc. These companies build a family relationship with employees, and after retirement, employees can still work part-time, while others are taken care of with some stipend apart from a pension. Employees seldom leave. You know why? they see their permanent interest aligned with the company. They do anything and everything to die for the company.
So when brands complain of employees leaving, they should remember the recurring findings of Harvard and a plethora of researchers –
People leave managers, not companies
Marcus Buckingham
And in case you struggle with the context, let me say it clear – the manager, is the brand.
6 Responses
I love this. Thanks Emmanuel for writing and sharing. I wish this will go very far to change the narrative.
Hopefully.
You nailed it! scratch my back, and I will scratch yours. That is the relationship.
Thank you, Christine.
Thank you for this, Emmanuel. I wish a whole lot of employers and employees will read this.
I wish so too. Let’s keep sharing.