“Your value to your company is in direct ratio to your being sold on the idea of the company and having faith in that idea.”  From “The Science of Successful Living” by Raymond Charles Barker

As I read this quote, I realized how far our country’s businesses have traveled from this idea. Employees must trust their company, know that it has integrity and stand behind their promises to be fully effective. Business is about people, serving customers and cultivating productive employees, not the bottom line.

In recent years, business, companies, and most employers have treated their employees as cogs in a machine, interchangeable and dispensable. It’s an attitude that’s destroying people’s regard for business. I know of too many people who have been lied to by employers just to temporarily fill a spot, or who have wanted their employees to lie to get more business.

One situation was an organization that offered older employees a retirement package if they would take early retirement. It included paying for their health insurance. Many took the bait, and a couple of years later, the organization decided not to pay for the insurance. Talk about bait and switch.

Employees now consider they’re there just for what they can get, because they don’t believe they have any worth to managers or employers. When this kind of distrust, dislike and wariness prevails in a work environment, it signals a sickness and toxicity in our business culture. This model of business is doomed to fail because it only respects the bottom line, and the end justifies the means.

The one bright spot I see is that of an up and coming model of a Purpose-Driven Life or being a Conscious or Collaborative Entrepreneur. This is a business owner who chooses to have integrity, wants to change the world and uses their business as a path of spiritual growth. This model will be self-sustaining because it recognizes the value of everyone.

motivation, productivity