The Reverse of the Coin

Susan Lewis of Richardson has this pithy little letter to the editor about poor, overworked employees who are enslaved by their employers through fear and intimidation with no remuneration for their efforts.

She says, in part, "Management doubles the new employee's workload, without a thank you or pay raise. . .Fear is a powerful tool: fear of lost income, lost independence. . . Sales dip again. Manager adds more tasks to employee. Employee breaks. Now mistakes happen and employee can't keep up. Now employee receives write-ups, leading to the employee getting fired."

Here's the other side of the coin -- Employee calls in sick. Temp help must be brought in. Employee shows up unable to perform his job and expects to be paid doing half the work his job requires. Sales dip, employer cuts own salary to meet employee payroll without so much as a thank you from employee whose work is piling up due to excessive absences and tardiness. Customers come in door -- employee is outside on smoke break. Employee is written up for poor performance and badmouths employer on social media. Employee gets fired, and employer has to start the process all over again with a new trainee who doesn't even have enough pride to dress appropriately to apply for a job.

It's been my experience that employers need good employees, and when they get a good one, which is awfully rare these days, they won't cavalierly let him go.

"Fear the new employer tool." The Dallas Morning News; June 16, 2014; p. 10A.