Shortchanging the American Worker

Is it me or is the work place taking its employees for granted? I read a disturbing article in the Washington Post today that said there are employers out there that have shortchanged their employees. So now you are telling me it's a days wage for two days work? When will this madness stop? Times are tough? In exigent circumstances sometimes pay cuts are necessary to keep a business alive. However, hiring a someone to do a job and then telling them that we are going to pay you half of what we agreed to is not just unfair it's criminal.

A lot of companies do things in the interest of making a greater profit. Sometimes the changes are gradual and occur little by little.

"Sorry we are not having the office Christmas party anymore. Tell you what, we are going to put out a pound cake next to the coffee maker. Go ahead and knock yourself out. Oh and by the way, it's store bought."

Fundamentally, we are not valuing the American worker. Little by little we are eradicating the niceties of the workplace. It starts out by eliminating the annual company picnic and then shortening the lunch hour, all in the interests of company productivity. What some of these corporations don't realize is that eliminating perks and silly little things like employee recognition awards and incentives does is lower morale. Workers with lower morale are less productive and resentful. What I'm saying is that a little kindness goes a long way.

I'm wondering if corporations have ever studied how a disgruntled employee treats its customers? I'm quite sure a company with angry employees has pissed off customers. Guess what? Pissed off customers are former customers.

Employers should try to do the right thing because ultimately what comes around goes around.