Blackmailing the boss

There’s a double standard in the employee engagement game. Companies are being bombarded with messages about what they should do to engage employees. The message from consultants is that it all has to start with the leaders and the management team. We know that we must do everything possible to build the trust in the organisation – by which we mean, staff have to be able to trust the managers, the board and the company

But what about the company being able to trust staff? We don’t often hear about that aspect these days. And yet, it has to go both ways if its going to have a chance of working at all.

For the past few weeks we’ve had journeys disrupted on the trains between Cambridge and London City twice a week – because staff are on strike. And this got me thinking…

Every relationship has at its core a series of transactions. This is a very basic way of looking at something as complex as a relationship, but if you think about it, its quite true. They’re not all about money, or gain – but they are transactions nevertheless. For example:

• Someone does a favour for a friend – not to get a favour in return, but to have the warmth of a good friendship
• A child tidies their room or does extra sports practice – in order to gain the approval of someone they admire, love and respect
• A husband takes his wife out to dinner – and earns brownie points – big time

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this sort of transaction-based interaction, unless one person is constantly expecting a response that they don’t get. That’s when relationships start breaking down.

So too with employees. The expected transaction is simple:

Companies expect employees to come to work and do their job to the best of their abilities. Employees commit to giving their time, effort, good will and expertise to the company in the execution of their daily tasks, and are rewarded with promotions and pay rises.

So far so good.

But in many (dare I say most) cases this isn’t what happens. Its more like:

Companies pay employees to turn up at their place of work and be there in body but not in mind or spirit. And employees have an expectation that they will get promotions, pay rises and other benefits in return for being present, but are disappointed.

And in the worst case scenarios:

Companies pay employees to turn up and do the bare minimum they can get away with and still keep their job. And employees talk about the managers as if they are deliberately out to get every staff member, and the company as if its the enemy.

Somewhere the trust has broken down. Now, who is to say where that started? I’m quite sure that its different in every case. But one thing I will say is this – while I believe wholeheartedly that employee engagement is fundamentally generated by the leaders and managers in the business first and foremost, staff cannot expect to be given benefits and priveleges if they prove that they can’t be trusted. And to my mind, taking strike action is a breach of trust.

Not only that, its not very bright. Surely, it occurs to staff that, deliberately costing the company money (or losing them money, or both) in order to force the company to cave in to demands is effectively the same as blackmailing the boss. And when has blackmail ever resulted in a win-win? If the result of the strike action is that the company becomes financially unstable then jobs are at risk. The strikers jobs and those of the colleagues they would so passionately say they are striking for (because striking is naturally, a selfless act, don’t you know?)

Its pretty hypocritical to demand that the company and the management team should be providing more pay, better conditions and that managers must be trustworthy – and at the same time prove that you are not upholding the trust that was endowed on you when you accepted your job in the first place.

There are always alternative ways of getting agreement. It may take time and perseverance. It may be a long haul. But breaking trust by striking can never be a good foundation for negotiating anything.

And if the company really is that bad to work for – perhaps it is time to start looking for another job rather than making life miserable for everyone in the one you have already.

What do you think? Is striking a good tactic for progress? Or simply a convenient but short sighted way of blackmailing the company?

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Photo credit: Annie Mole

Tagged as: Trust

Article by Vandy Massey

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