The Modern Day Workplace

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After more than two decades of working in Human Resources I feel like I've seen it all. It's just my opinion when I say the modern day workplace may not be the nicest place to spend a large chunk of your life. My observations of the modern day workplace are these.

Fit The Mould Or Else You Are A Bad Employee
I was blown away the other week as I watched Anh Do interview Dr Charlie Teo on 'Anh's Brush With Fame'. Dr Teo, a high-profile Australian neurosurgeon clearly does not fit the mould when it comes to the modern day workplace. He lives by the principle that 'a doctor should always treat his patients as he would a member of his own family'. On the show Dr Teo makes no bones about the fact that many neurosurgeons won't operate on patients where there is a risk and they hide behind the excuse that their patients tumour is inoperable. Bottom dollar is these surgeons don't want to risk getting sued if something goes wrong and the hospitals have their back. The workplace (hospital) in effect protects surgeons who send supposedly 'inoperable' patients home and considers somebody like Dr Teo a poor fit for their business. Put simply, he bucks the system. In an interview with Ita Buttrose on 'Studio 10' Dr Teo reveals that he was asked by parents to operate on their child sent home to die with an inoperable brain tumour. The hospital filed for the child to be made a ward of the state to prevent Dr Teo from operating, however Dr Teo carried out the surgery before the court injunction came through. The child is alive and well today. Dr Teo believes the majority of doctors are good “but the trouble is the ones with the loudest voices and the ones who carry the power may not have the patient’s best interests in mind”.

Corporate Leaders Can Be Psychopaths
This brings me to my next point, the modern day workplace can often be run by leaders who are psychopaths. I'm sure most of you have read in the news recently that Queensland forensic psychologist Nathan Brookes has studied the traits of corporate leaders, and has found between 3 and 21 per cent of them display psychopathic traits.These are not murderous psychopaths, they are mostly "successful" (i.e. return on investment / return to shareholders' ) "bosses" who don't care if they are not liked. Successful psychopaths are insincere, egocentric, charming and lacking in empathy or remorse. They drive profits unmercifully. Shareholders (their bosses) love them and so they will never have to worry about being performance managed for their cruel and inhumane treatment of those poor people that report to them.

A Permanent Job Is The New Modern Day Bonus
That's right, these days if you are not made redundant consider that your bonus. Many years ago employees worked for the same employer throughout their career. Business was run to make profit of course but as long as you were loyal to the company and worked hard, you would be looked after. That all changed about 2 to 3 decades ago. I remember well the day my husband found out that his dad was to be let go of from GE in Upstate New York after roughly 30 years of service. He was in his mid 50's with little to no prospect of finding work as he crept closer to his retirement age. There was no payout. He was a hard and loyal worker. But times were changing and the emerging modern day workplace was becoming more about just making profit at all cost. I'm no fool and realise that a business will not run without being profitable but I also know that workers will not perform optimally unless they trust their employer and feel like a human in the workplace not merely a means to an end.

The Sixty Hour Work Week
It used to be that these were the hours worked by doctors and lawyers but now the average manager will find themselves slogging them out. On top of that the mobile phone/laptop gifted to them means more work on the way home, before and after dinner, when the kids go to sleep and when they first wake up in the morning. 

This is not an article written with the intention of selling a book or course (maybe I should think about that) it's there as food for thought. Perhaps the message will find it's way into the modern day work place and things will change for the better.


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