Dear American Employer

This is a thought dump of feelings, experiences, and experiences I've heard and witnessed, wrapped up in a fictional letter. None of what I mention is here specific to one place, one person, or one issue, it's combination of all the things I mentioned above. My hope is maybe this is relatable to some, just to at the very least know that you're not alone. Thanks!

Dear American Employer,

I've been here quite a while, and I've been other places too. This obviously isn't my first job, as you know, because you hired me based on my experience. However, I started a while ago and I really enjoyed my experience. I understand that maybe you couldn't pay me top dollar, and you can't control how the economy affects me. I've watched others leave for the money, but I stayed because I believed in our mission, the people I worked with, some of the benefits that worked for me, and what our goals were for. I was, at one point, very proud to tell folks what I did that I worked for you.

However, I must admit that it has now changed. I avoid conversation about my work, my soul dies every time I log on for the day, and I can't stand what's happening right now in the workplace. Right now, part of me loves that I was a part of what made us so successful. We are growing, advancing, and actively making the right moves. The other part of me knows what it's taken the company to get there, and I witness and feel all the changes that had to happen for us to be as successful as we are.

Unfortunately, that's where we're at today; this is no longer a place of enjoyment, peace, and love... at least for me, but I know from all the other employees, management, and coworkers, that I am not the only one who feels this way... I am the only one however, willing to stand up and say something about it. It isn't that I am the "one guy" in a crowd of many and I have the problem that no one else has... no, I've already been down that route, blaming myself for a long time. I actually represent a large part of the workplace, and I have somehow found the courage to bring this to light.

I write this to you not to insult you, blame you, or even express grievances; I write this because I hope in some way, shape, or form, that this may open your eyes to what you've been doing. My hope is maybe you'll see it and make some changes... I may not affect your bottom dollar, but I hope I affect the bottom of your heart.

We used to be a company that was focused on making lives better, building qualities things, and giving quality and empathetic services. We did through the overflow of ourselves; we treated our people like people. I hear your C-Levels constantly talk about how much you care for your employees, but it's also caked in terminology that tells me you don't. Instead of saying "we care about our people," you constantly use other words that make us feel "less than." You refer to us as "talent" - and it feels like you care more about what I can do than who I am. You refer to us as "employees" - like we're numbers in a book. You call us "resources" - as if we can be used and depleted, then thrown away. You are based in America, where you have the opportunity to help your fellow American citizens with pay, opportunity, and community, yet you build "offshore" offices, and talk about expansion, and all your hires tend to be out of the country... which makes me think you care a lot less about the people, your neighbors as I view it, than you care about the cost of "resources." No, it isn't about racism or being replaced, even though that's all you hear; it's about the feeling of being neglected in place of someone who will take the job for cheap. We would have the same feeling if you were replacing all your experienced long term folks with college graduates with no experience for 40% of the pay they get.

Point being, I get you're running a business, but as you grow, it's become very clear that the people are not the focus anymore; it's the money and the things. I happen to be a leadership position here, and what I tend to here you say when we form our goals and our system around goals is that you "want to make employees feel important" - not that they are important, not that they are doing things important... but they need to "feel" important. That very language tells me everything I need to know.

As a growing business, I get that things have to change for us to grow, but it just seems like the very second the company went public, we no longer had good intentions. Everyone does everything for the profit of shareholders. The problem is, and I think it's unintentional, but it becomes very clear to employees, and to fight that good fight to keep people motivated, you tend to warp words and delivery to look better than what the truth is. What ends up happening is that breeds selfish desire and it opens up all your leaders to be a lot less transparent. Instead of Director saying something like "Yeah we're going with a new vendor because it's cheaper, we really don't agree, but that's what they've decided," we instead start saying things like "we're going with a new vendor to make your lives and customers lives easier, and it's exciting new technology that we get to implement and manage" - and everyone knows the former is the truth, but no one wants to say that. Now you running a company where not a single person trusts their leaders or sometimes even their own managers, because the truth is always buried under some sugar coated spin.

We're growing fast. The term "scaling" becomes a common term. In order to scale, we must adopt new technologies, new systems, and we must make things more efficient. We all love new tech and new ways to do things... well most of us. The biggest problem I have though, is you don't give us any room to do it right. You always say you want it "done fast and correct, but with low cost" and it never actually works that way. We're all under so much damn pressure, everyday. You ask the impossible, expect greatness, and all we're trying to do at this point is live, because we have no energy or craps left to give to anything else. Every problem you address to your "talent issues" that folks bring up will only be resolved if they can serve the needs of the company. Sure, some of it may help us, but if it's not about advancement and bottom dollar, it doesn't matter. If you fall behind, if you complain too much, if you fight a terrible system, then you'll get canned for some cheaper offshore resource or a college graduate who just wants experience.

Communication and culture is on every presentation and giant company wide meetings, yet you are doing nothing about it. You want all of us to go above and beyond, sacrifice ourselves, and somehow come in with a happy face? It feels like I am going somewhere to get beat up for money, and then the attacker tells me if they want to come back and do it again tomorrow. Sure, I need the money, so I take the beating, but I am not going to be happy about getting smashed in the face with a fist everyday. All the issues I have, I need to prove. If I bring up an issue, you look at it from a number perspective. We need more collaboration, well there's not enough meetings. No, that's not the problem. You can put all the people you want in a room, that doesn't mean they're collaborating. You want us to do the best job, serve the customer in the best ways, yet, you hold my entire job on the line by having me work by numbers. It doesn't matter if the customers love me, if I actually resolve issues instead of throwing temporary fixes... if I didn't close the number of tickets you wanted, I get written up. You give every department so much work that they can't keep up, so people buckle down under that pressure and isolate, because if they help you, they don't get their stuff done. Suddenly... there's a lot less people working together, building relationships, and being helpful; they are now just working. And thus, you breed a culture of people who cannot work together, and they don't take into consideration anything except what they're focused on.

And then those who do all these terrible things get rewarded. Leaders take on things, then use pressure and terrible means to accomplish said things. They build something amazing for the company, terrible for teams, and can barely be managed. Not to mention they absolutely abuse and push people to exhaustion to do things, and then when we still can't, they shift the goal post to get the win. They see the people that are willing to help, go the extra mile, work the extra hours, and devote everything to getting it done, and those people get called out, advancement, and recognition. What does that tell those who kick butt at their 9-5? They don't matter.

Again, you don't listen or understand why this is happening... so you build corporate events and get togethers, you encourage team events and parties, yet all of it is managed and done for a purpose; to get you working harder, not to build build relationships and culture. You give people 8 hours to put on fake smiles, present "opportunities," and pay for food and events. If culture just revolved around events, then life would be a lot easier, but it doesn't. In fact you can't actively build a culture if you don't give people breathing room to develop it naturally.

Let's be real though - the culture will eat the company, and that's all you really care about; not letting your business get eaten. And to that extent, the events are privileges, not just something you do out of the kindness of your heart. You have all these community events, volunteer work, and while it is serving the greater good... if you didn't have to for your image, then you wouldn't. I know, because I've watched at least one employer do it.

That also doesn't matter to you though... does it? Of course it doesn't. As a runner of a business, all you want is to make money. That's it. Whatever it takes. That's clear by your company goals. And furthermore why would you listen to just one guy in the flood of employees, talent, and resources that you have? That's right; you won't.

So you give me really no other option; in order for me to live a comfortable life, I must disconnect from the love and passion I once had working here, and just replace it minimum effort for a paycheck. I just deal with the lies and manipulation and twists; I trust no one. I just need to watch out for myself. I guess I could leave if I wanted... but that's a lot of work and effort.

I guess I just wish we could go back to the beginning - when we all cared about each other, we worked for altruistic reasons, and we actually wanted to work and innovate. You're successful though... so none of that matters.

Those days are gone. You did it. Businesses succeed, people fail.

You reap what you sow.

Sincerely,

Your "resource"