Ana the Ist
Aggressively serene!
- Feb 21, 2012
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- Married
I'm not sure how old you are, but this is a real thing anymore. Employees are constantly bringing ng their personal lives to work and asking the employer to change the rules for them. We've heard it said a LOT on how employers have had and still have all the power and how they treat employees crappy etc etc.
The mentality these days is "you pay me for average work and 40 hours. I'm not going to do a stich more than that." And that is seen as perfectly fine.
Since you're talking about a couple different things here...I'll split this point from the rest, and say I agree this is perfectly fine. This is an old concept called "work-to-rule" in which employees follow exactly the letter of their employment and nothing more.
Work-to-rule - Wikipedia
This is typical of workplaces where employees are underpaid or overworked. It's a completely normal reaction to capitalist free markets.
Also the employer needs to meet the personal needs of the employee. The employer is asked to bend over backwards for the employee with remote work, time off whenever wanted, asking for people to split shifts between two part time people, working hours etc.
Now, as a supervisor and a 21st century leader who is a student of leadership.today, I have zero problems with helping employees meet their personal needs. If they are happier in their personal lives they will be happier at work and be more productive. At least that's the hope. However the needs of the employer must also be met in order to serve the customers properly. It's a fine balancing act.
And what I am finding is that there are employees who are very demanding in what they want from the employer. And if they don't get it, they are sour and negative. They are not willing to do anything above and beyond the average and yet they expect to be promoted, given more money etc. A very entitled position. They don't want to do it the way the employer wants or needs them to do. They want to do it their way or they are not satisfied. It's all about them. And often that collides with what OTHER EMPLOYEES are doing. Time theft is the biggest problem employers are dealing with. Employees steal from employees far more than employers steal from employees.
Again, I think you might be conflating different issues. If employees don't care about going above and beyond what the bare minimum is....they also shouldn't care about not getting opportunities for advancement when those opportunities arise. If you literally have no employees going above and beyond and every employee either working to rule or trying to game the system its likely that...
1. Pay is insufficient and nobody sees this job as worth keeping.
2. Pay is insufficient due to outside economic issues like inflation or recession.
Either way....I'm not certain what is the case at your workplace. I feel like it's somewhat separate from the trend of people stirring up trouble by demanding that the company engage in some sort of social change or activist involvement.
That's why I mentioned your age. Because for the younger generations your attitude is all but gone. No I don't believe in the employer should treat the employee like a slave and have the it's my way of the highway attitude. That is NOT leadership. Leadership is looking after the employee, taking care of them, helping them grow as an employee, giving the opportunities to learn and have a good experience as an employee. Coaching them and leading them. Helping them see the vision and buying into it. Showing them how what they are doing matters to those around them, the customers and themselves.
Okay I'm off my soapbox.
We have a female supervisor who has gotten pregnant twice now. She has difficult pregnancies, which is not her fault in the least. However the other supervisors suffer during the his time. Because she is restricted in her activities she is unable to work her normal shifts. So for almost 7 months she is off the normal schedule. Then she gets another 3-4 months off work completely. That's about a year off of the normal schedule. Now we can't bring in another supervisor during that time. So the supervisors are stuck working nights for an entire year when normally they wouldn't be.
That's a BENEFIT for her and a DETRIMENT for the others. So there is no way I am buying the whole women are discriminated against business because they get pregnant. No the company AND the employees bend over backwards for her. The men don't get any such thing.
And employees are continually asking for more to the detriment of the employer, the customer and their fellow employees.
Here's an interesting finding....and it's in line with what I've heard about pronoun nonsense in general. Granted, this isn't a scientific study...but the responses are very telling.

Resumes including 'they/them' pronouns more likely to be overlooked
A report claiming job applicants who use 'they/them' pronouns in resumes are less likely to be called back, caught the attention of Elon Musk, who called it 'interesting.'
One 57-year-old prospective employer in the agricultural industry said while the resume featured a person who 'seems like a decent fit on paper,' they were 'not interested in the drama that a person who thinks they are a 'they/them' brings with them.'
Another prospective employer who happens to be a woman, 59, in the manufacturing industry said: 'Take off the pronouns; I would trash the resume for that reason alone.'
A hiring manager, 50, in the hotel and food service industry said he would recommend applicants take off the 'they/them' pronouns.
'I find that personal pronouns are quite silly in a job situation. This is better reserved for social settings and not in a job setting.'
As I pointed out in my conversation with @Paidiske , these pronouns are a personal problem....not a work issue... and shouldn't be brought to work. No one wants to deal with the choice of some whiny employee complaining about someone not referring to them as "they/them" and risk having to fire a good productive employee for one everyone has to walk around on eggshells for is removing them from the workplace naturally. If they want to eat, they'll need to understand it's a big world out there, and lots of different opinions exist, and if you want people to respect yours....you'll need to respect theirs.
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