The Foreshadowing and Manifestation of an Employee Apocalypse

Introduction: The Manifestation of an Employee Apocalypse

I wrote the post The Foreshadowing of an Employee Apocalypse post in 2017. The current pandemic exacerbated the circumstances described in the post. Consequently, the Great Resignation manifested with approximately fifty million people quitting their jobs last year (averaging over four million per month). The shock of these job quits leaves all companies desperately seeking to hire and retain employees. In addition, the nature of work has changed with employees in the driver's seat with remote scheduling options, seeking better pay and benefits, or becoming digital entrepreneurs.

As described below organizations planted the seeds for the current workplace dilemma over the last few decades. With enlightened leadership the Great Resignation and Quit might not have happened. Unfortunately, leadership practice and thought must profoundly change to match the needs of the new organization. If it does not, more turmoil lies ahead.

The Foreshadowing of an Employee Apocalypse...

The term "going postal" became infamous because of eleven incidents of mass murder of thirty-five people in the US Post Office service since 1983. Employees or former employees did this.  The US Post Office does not condone the term, of course, and who can blame them? Worldwide today, across all industries and companies, employee discontentment is growing. Hopefully not to the point of workplace rage but for sure foreshadowing a potential employee apocalypse.

The fact is employees have become frustrated, disappointed, indifferent, fearful, anxious, restless, and yes, angry. Why wouldn't they be?! Have you noticed?

Exposing Negative Practices

Wage theft from employees in the US has reached over $50 B by estimates. In too many cases, companies do not pay employees for overtime. Likewise, organizations take advantage of exempt employees and push them to work significant added hours. In some restaurants, tips are ripped off from servers. In other companies, fancy titles are given, with more time required, but no pay increase gives the illusion of more opportunity. It is dishonest. Because of high health care costs, employees pay more. Greater numbers lack healthcare. Today only 9% of Fortune's Best employers pay 100% of health care compared to 34% in 2001.

Globally, corporations have their leadership competency challenges. Gallup research shows that 82% of managers are not the right hire to do the job and lack the talent. Other management derailment studies show 50-67% of leaders fail, mostly due to "poor people skills". All leaders, especially CEOs must become more people focus. (See my post: Redux: Why Many CEOs Should be Fired or Reprimanded.)

As a result, the attempt to cut legal corners--corporate malfeasance--quietly became accepted practice in companies, for example:

• During the pandemic, the meat-packing industry failed to execute adequate safety measures to slow the spread of the virus. As a result, it led to some of the earliest and deadliest outbreaks of the disease. The companies lack of concern for their employees created higher illness and death rates for plant works, their families, their communities, people of color, and rural America.
• A large entertainment company hires recent marketing graduates for wages just above minimum. The attraction for these new employees involves experiences with celebrities. They work 32 hours a week. If they do more, they bank the hours in the future. This way, the company does not have to pay benefits or overtime. This is not legal. In addition, an autocratic leadership style begins to indoctrinate these young people into the reality of toxic corporate cultures.
• A global manufacturing company purchased a business that it has little experience in. The new corporation communicated that all current executives and managers could stay and run the company as in the past. Within a year the new corporation fired the leaders and half the employees out of work. How often has this happened?
• An executive in a nationwide company works 24/7. Emails come at all hours. He expected his team to be just as driven. If you did not respond as he thought you should, he does not consider you for promotions. His tirades about a too-slow response did not make time there very pleasant. Employee engagement results were poor and turnover high. Because results are better than their poor past, the manager keeps his job.

A Desperate Problem Waiting to Explode

As employee attitudes simmer, their loyalty degrades. Over time, I have shared these stats or similar ones in other posts. They require a loud and resounding repeat.

• These disturbing trends from a study spell the continued scarcity for employee engagement: only 21% of employees believe their company's performance planning is any good. 24% of employees feel connected at work. 25% of employees feel managers are transparent with employees. In contrast, twice as many managers believe that they are open and honest. Only 26% of employees feel valued at work.
• A Rand Report press release shows that while most employees get social support at work from co-workers, they complain that the workplace is increasingly physically and emotionally taxing.
• The #1 reason why employees leave a job is that they hate their boss.
• An Accenture study says that only 21% of employees have received a company sponsored training in the last five years.
• 58% of employees say "give more recognition" when asked by leaders what will improve engagement. 65% of employees say they were not recognized at all last year. 69% of employees say they would work harder because of more appreciation.
• 70% of people do not believe business executives add very much value to society, according to Pew Research.
• CEO pay worldwide had risen astronomically. In the US, employee pay is 351 times less than that of their CEO.
• In addition to all of this, robots are replacing people at an alarming rate.

As a result of all of these kinds of issues, nearly 9 out 10 employees are disengaged worldwide. Can you blame employees their dissatisfaction, resent and anger?

The Bottom-line Impact: Dollars and Humans

How much does this cost employers? Glassdoor estimates that poor employee disengagement costs the US $450-$550 B a year. The US economy is $21 trillion or nearly 25% of the world's GDP. The global economy equals approximately $85 trillion. Therefore, dismal employee engagement costs businesses about $1.8-$2.2 trillion a year and counting. The International Monetary Fund's says the global economy will grow 3.6% this year. With greater employee engagement and working conditions it could be double that!

Yet the real bottom-line has to do with the negative impact on employees and their families from unscrupulous, greedy, or untrained business managers and leaders. The truth is what the best leaders and companies have always treat people exceptional well--as partners. When you treat people right, they perform in significantly better ways.

Pulling It All Together

Amazon offers over 57,000 books with the word 'leadership' in the title and new ones come out at the rate of over four per day. But we still have a dismal situation as described above. Businesses have serious problems, and our world has serious challenges. Politically and economically things get worse more than they get better. And unfortunately, not enough leaders want to personally cooperate, collaborate, or change to improve. 

Poor and disreputable leadership is a disease that we must eradicate. It plagues the minds and spirits of employees worldwide. See this post: 10 Principles for an Employee Bill of Rights. We need this in the age of corporate greed, AI, and robots. Who protects the rights of employees? Government...no? Unions are declining. The concept for a universal Bill of Rights rings truer today than ever before.

I believe that the next revolution in leadership thought is about the power of people through Servant Leadership. If this does not happen, I predict that there will be additional apocalypse type events in the workplace in the future. Your thoughts?

Also, do you want to help lead the change of leadership practice and thought to elevate "People First"? See our page ServantLeadership@RickConlowInternational.

In addition, do you want to accelerate your career or team's performance? Check out my books: the Superstar Leadership Model or the 5 Dynamics of Servant Leadership for a boost!

If you are a manager or employee, subscribe to my Superstar Leadership Blog for over 400 complimentary resources for leadership and professional development.

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