Red Beard Times starts today. My immediate hope is that this becomes a convenient outlet for my friends and family to follow my upcoming travels. My broader hope is that this becomes an outlet for my own development during an uncertain time in my life. I received word today that my first job after college, my job of three and a half years, has accepted my resignation. That brings with it mixed emotions.
I left because my employer placed little value on its employees. Working for my father throughout my teens meant I was entirely unfamiliar with this attitude. While I loved my father for many reasons, I worked hard for him because I always knew he not only needed me but valued me. My work ethic was formed by my own a personal desire to please, not fear. It is obvious that an adult has less innate motivation to please an employer than a child has to please a parent. However, my employer failed to realize how close those two drives are, or can be nurtured to be. I have seen so many colleagues who begin a career full of hope, only to end bitter. Mine was an accelerated version of this trend. Perhaps it is a blessing that it took me three years instead of thirty.
As an solitary example, my former precinct commander sent me and all of my co-workers a magazine article in an email. No body text, just an attached pdf file with the title "interesting article [sic]." The full article can be read here, and it is well worth the five minutes of reading. The opinions reflected in this article were and are endemic of the department for which I worked. Ignoring the fact that they dismiss out of hand what I judge to be the most appropriate solution to the problem, simply allocating "paid days off," the authors base their entire argument on one premise: fear trumps incentive. The simple fact is less employees will call in sick inappropriately if they enjoy their job. An employer who cannot recognize this, along with admitting that they have a huge influence over their employees' job satisfaction, gets exactly the quality and quantity of work they deserve from their people.
I will never work for another employer who does not value me. And the more I think about that, the more obvious it is to start my own business...
