And why oil companies don’t directly say climate change is a hoax.
You’re right stock photo guy, working is fun!
I’m kind of intrigued by internal company speak, the stuff sent for employees only, but not in the fun classified way. As a deeply cynical person I struggle to figure out its vibe a lot of the time. Mr CEO, I hear you when you say you care deeply about working with our communities but I believe the employees that live there full time care more than you.
Companies might try to downplay it, but high unplanned attrition sucks in any workplace where they have to train people. It takes time and money to replace people. Even worse high attrition can turn into a negative feedback loop as the remaining experienced employees get stressed out and look for better work elsewhere. The brilliance of the gig economy was getting rid of the pesky “losing money on having employees” part of owning a business.
But on the other hand companies have an incentive to give employees as little as possible. Money, benefits, anything that isn’t producing value. Too little attrition might mean you’re giving your employees too much of a sweet deal. Think of all the shareholder value being wasted!
So if I was a freak executive I would call it an optimization problem with target X quitters per year. To prove we are on the right track.
And you know what keeps people around without demanding more money, a sense of pride and accomplishment. And the opposite will make people wonder if something else is out there.
Working, but looking.
Pro tip: let employee groups put out a decent chunk of messaging, people tend to care about things they volunteer to do, and they often do it with people they like. The positive vibes might even be real at that point.
It’s a lucky company that can narrow it’s reach of employees incredibly small. Especially in Canada where employment discrimination laws can matter. So it’s worth setting up why you should be proud to work here. How we comply with laws for the love of the game and truly believe in it.
Our company believes in the causes the majority of the population believes in. Unless the government tells us that we shouldn’t believe that anymore, then we don’t.
As an example, climate change is real because debating that in the marketplace of ideas would be a mess. Lobbyists are so much more effective at working that message anyway, sure hope no one leaks our ties to it.
Fun fact, the major Canadian carbon capture project is looking for as much subsidies as possible before they commit. Best business practices always prevail. That’s without getting into how debatable carbon capture performance is at the moment.
And we love DEI and LGBTQ and all that. Unless that looks bad. Then we kind of do, we at least care about our existing employees, I think. Can someone tell me what to say to make the most money?
It’s the middle ground backtracks that seem the most bizarre, organizations want to seem reasonable and a good place to work, but how do you manage it when a population hasn’t changed opinion fast enough to just pull a 180. How does Bud Light navigate a made up controversy, probably something about “not intending to be part of a discussion that divides people”. How does a company respond to its internal pride group when it tells them they can’t put up a flag anymore? Is saying “blame the government or the mob because we don’t want to take a stand” a satisfying answer.
It’s disheartening to be reminded of the relationship to the companies we work for. People care about people, organizations care about government. We at least have some say in our government and who we work for.
As pride sponsorship drop this year those internal company memos might get a little harder to write.
What working in client sales taught me about being a manager:
WHY DOES NO ONE GRIND AS MUCH AS ME TO MAKE MY DREAM COME TRUE! YOU ARE ALL OUT TO GET ME!
NS Politics 