My Longkang

Last night, I went out with some friends and we had a heated discussion about our different working environments. For most of us, we spend most of our lives in our work place and carry thoughts of it consciously or unconsciously even after working hours.

How true is it that the average worker is unmotivated? What boosts morale or lowers morale? Coming back to last night, it was found that some of them were unhappy about promotional opportunities, company perks or perceived lack of company perks and others like mismatch between talents and jobs.

However there was a view which struck me as unusual. It was voiced by a younger man and is valid if viewed from a certain angle. His contention was some bosses especially those middle-aged and above have been left behind by recent developments in society. They are still ruling their companies like bosses of old.

When questioned further, he voiced grouses like being out of touch with present realities, ruling like a tyrant, left behind in ICT and therefore suppressing new developments and propagating old outdated measures which worked in the 70’s. He said he was told by his boss it was the in-thing in his Australian university then and it worked and everybody praised its virtues.

“A computer is just like a type-writer in the past and shouldn’t be over-rated,” he was told.

If viewed from the employer’s angle, who is just an employee himself, he probably thinks this young man is an upstart, a competitor and a threat to his own existence in the organization and is trying to put him down and all others with a lion-tamer’s apporach. If you whip a lion often enough, the lion will not bother to rise up after a few pathetic attempts.

Granted, this is not a common phenomenon but it happens in many organisations. The struggle of the energetic young ones against the older, more experienced ones. The IT savvy against those who have been up there so long they have become left behind by new discoveries and skills now pertinent to modern work-places.

To the younger generation I say, be patient and await your turn. Your future is in your boss’s hand. If you shine, you will be noticed. The sentiment of being unappreciated is irrelevant in the workplace because you are paid. Go to work with an accomodating spirit. Not everyone has to think exactly like you. No one is 100% correct 100% of the time.

Work hard and work smart. Be sure your work is noticed and be measurable for example xx% increase in sales, yy% increase in productivity. Employer-employee relation work against the employee. Accept this grim reality.

That was the consensus we all reached last night. We are not a think-thank. All involved in reaching this consensus are also employees. Read this post with a pinch of salt. If the shoe fits, wear it:)