Anyone with a passing familiarity with my work will tell you I’m pro-worker. Vox Populi. Storm the Bastille. So it might come as a bit of a surprise that “The Needs of the People” comes in at number 2 as a priority for a healthy company. I mean, that’s still really, really high on the list. Don’t discount it. But there is something a wee bit more important still.
The number one priority for a healthy company is…The Needs of the Business. Because if you can’t keep the org running, you won’t be able to take care of your people. It’s worth noting the backdrop here is white collar America, where an employee has no social safety nets. Out of work? No health insurance. So it’s actually incumbent upon each employee to make sure they’re doing what they reasonably can to keep the business operating. Different story someplace like, say, Finland.
All of that being said, you still owe the company precious little by way of loyalty. Because 80% of the time or more, the company won’t think twice about including you in the next round of layoffs if the board of directors thinks it will improve the bottom line. It’s still at-will employment. And at-will de-employing.
This does bring us to an important point. What if the nature of the company’s work involves seasonal layoffs? What if it’s well understood that the org is going to have a mass reduction in force every time it wraps up its next big project? What if just working there means you’re playing the unemployment lottery every year or so? Is that OK?
My contention is no. Not OK. If your business model relies on frequently laying off large swaths of people – without whom you could do no business at all – I suggest it’d be a net win for the industry you represent to take your war chest, divvy it up amongst everyone currently striving so diligently to attend to Priority #1, and just close up shop. Your model does a disservice to those people and the industry at large. Find a better way to run the business, or go out of business. Start another company that doesn’t treat workers like disposable tools. Your people deserve better.