Fun article. I have found it intrusive and off putting when superiors have declared themselves my friend or gone beyond polite interest in my life. It’s much preferable to simply have clear expectations and acknowledgment that it is an economic relationship. It also made me suspicious that they were trying to pull one over on me (and to a large extent they were).
I have found that the bad employee acquires a strange power over the organization once health is invoked. Carrying these bad employees makes the productive employees miserable and stressed, and they likely won’t be recognized for their efforts because of the fiction that everyone is an equal performer. The net result is that the bad employees end up driving out the good employees.
I know that there are a lot of consultants out there promising lower benefit costs and more productive employees if the employer spends on employee well being. To a certain extent it’s a gimmick and I don’t think it will reach the level of intrusion that you suggest, given that the level of diminishing returns will be reached pretty quickly.
The truly annoying thing is that corps could have much better results at a cheaper cost by just giving a raise to the good employees. As noted in the article though, managerialism leads to 'experts' who care about increasing their power, not maximizing the good of the corporation. They may run things, but they are still employees w/ little stake in the long-term health of the company.
Apparently Conquest's 3rd Law of Politics has started to apply to private corporations as well.
May I recommend a type of org I have found to be mostly free of this nonsense? Midtier companies in regulated industries like med tech have, in my experience, mostly been free of this. When the overwhelming compliance concern is "our product could kill people" no one has much time for how people feel about their jobs. Also, bonuses for performance, scaled to the company's performance, seem to keep this at bay. Anecdotal evidence though.
I have good friends from previous jobs - some close. The problem is that the previous economic relationship meant that there was something of a distance or even rivalry between workers and management. Now these new attempts at friendliness blur all the lines and I end up wondering if my colleagues will grass me up one day
Fun article. I have found it intrusive and off putting when superiors have declared themselves my friend or gone beyond polite interest in my life. It’s much preferable to simply have clear expectations and acknowledgment that it is an economic relationship. It also made me suspicious that they were trying to pull one over on me (and to a large extent they were).
I have found that the bad employee acquires a strange power over the organization once health is invoked. Carrying these bad employees makes the productive employees miserable and stressed, and they likely won’t be recognized for their efforts because of the fiction that everyone is an equal performer. The net result is that the bad employees end up driving out the good employees.
I know that there are a lot of consultants out there promising lower benefit costs and more productive employees if the employer spends on employee well being. To a certain extent it’s a gimmick and I don’t think it will reach the level of intrusion that you suggest, given that the level of diminishing returns will be reached pretty quickly.
The truly annoying thing is that corps could have much better results at a cheaper cost by just giving a raise to the good employees. As noted in the article though, managerialism leads to 'experts' who care about increasing their power, not maximizing the good of the corporation. They may run things, but they are still employees w/ little stake in the long-term health of the company.
Apparently Conquest's 3rd Law of Politics has started to apply to private corporations as well.
I hope not too, but once something becomes a cult and grift diminishing returns don't matter.
Bring on the economic collapse
May I recommend a type of org I have found to be mostly free of this nonsense? Midtier companies in regulated industries like med tech have, in my experience, mostly been free of this. When the overwhelming compliance concern is "our product could kill people" no one has much time for how people feel about their jobs. Also, bonuses for performance, scaled to the company's performance, seem to keep this at bay. Anecdotal evidence though.
I’m on the cusp of Gen x and millennial and I thought I was ‘early millennial’
You're correct. Thanks for mentioning. Updated.
I have good friends from previous jobs - some close. The problem is that the previous economic relationship meant that there was something of a distance or even rivalry between workers and management. Now these new attempts at friendliness blur all the lines and I end up wondering if my colleagues will grass me up one day