As an employer, you expect a lot out of your employees. You expect us to have the previous experience and skills required to fill your positions. You expect us to wake up early in the morning and come to work on time, properly-dressed and wearing a smile despite whatever may be going on at work or at home. And you expect us to be team players and carry the extra workload when someone else is sick or when an unforeseeable event leaves us short-handed. You may even expect us to stay late from time to time.
And that’s only what you expect at work…
Even outside of work, you expect us to maintain a high level of professionalism. You may monitor our social networks and see what we’re tweeting or blogging about. You may look through our pictures on Facebook and Myspace and think that we’re not fit to handle your business after you see that picture of us doing kegstands at our best friend’s bachelor party.
Maybe it’s more serious than that. If we’re involved in a scandal — a DWI, drug possession, sex crimes, etc — we’re going to be dropped from your organization faster than we can say What happened was…
That’s fine, I understand. You have dreams, and you’re putting them in our hands. You can’t have people talking ill of your business because of us. But I wonder if there’s one small detail that you’re forgetting: we’re putting our dreams in your hands too.
The relationship between employee and employer is mutually symbiotic. You’re depending on us to do a good job to develop your business and reputation, and we’re depending on you to give us the opportunity to flourish and improve our careers and our lives. You have an interest in our reputations and we have an interest in yours.
If we can’t be seen doing kegstands or be involved in scandals in our personal lives, you obviously shouldn’t either. But what about how you conduct your business? Do you take care of your clients? Do you conduct your business in an ethical manner? Do you take care of everything on your end?
At some point, your reputation becomes our reputation. If you’re lying and cheating, people may think that we were involved or somehow knew about it. You may know that’s not true, we may know that’s not true. There may be no logical reason to suspect that we knew about any scandal. But if we know anything about people, we know that they are anything but logical. And they will make any assumptions they can.
I hope I never have to know what it feels like to be associated with a company such as Enron or AIG and know the struggles that their former employees must endure while trying to find a new place in the job market. Those bigwigs weren’t looking out for their employees. So I have to ask, Are you thinking about me, Mr. Employer Man?
Pingback: Jake LaCaze