A friend who works for a Fortune 500 company called me in disbelief. His company held an all-employee meeting to share its end-of-year results. Among the key messages:
- The company had a great year and profits were up.
- Due to the uncertain economy, no merit increases would be given.
- If employees were upset, they could write to their congressional representatives because the government’s inability to make a decision on the debt situation was to blame for fiscal uncertainty.
Sadly, it’s not uncommon these days for companies to hold back from sharing the wealth. [Check out this Business Insider post, We Need To Stop Maximizing Profit And Start Maximizing Value.] But to suggest employees blame the government?! I’m guessing the internal communications folks didn’t get a chance to vet the CEO’s remarks.
Here’s the takeaway for employees who do their best to help the company achieve its financial goals: their hard work is acknowledged and recognized but NOT rewarded because senior management says it’s out of their control. Yeah, right …
Not to worry, though, as this company’s employees are still engaged – they’re engaged in updating their resumes and networking for new jobs.
One reply on “Stop Treating Employees Like They’re Stupid”
Hmmm. This sounds familiar. Could be someone I know. The country is in a fever.