I have just agreed to speak at The Global Summit in London on August 16 – a conference devoted to “Uniting people hands-on, and online in shaping solutions to the issues that most affect them, by advancing a whole system approach to social, economic and environmental change.”
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Work is punishment
I keep wondering why so many people put up with bad workplaces, bad bosses and bad jobs. Why are many people desperately unhappy at work (up to 50% according to some studies) but accept this as normal?
Here’s why: We’re carrying massive cultural baggage. Through much of Western history, there has been a sense that work is hard and unpleasant and that’s why we get paid to do it.
This is expressed most clearly in Max Weber’s biblically-based work The Protestant Work Ethic, which was used by Protestant preachers to preach that hard labor was good for people, good for Christian society, and a salve for original sin.
According to Christianity, humans used to live in the Garden of Eden, where everything was perfect. But because of original sin we were ejected and, according to Genesis 3:19, this is our situation now:
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
According to Hebrew belief, work is a “curse devised by God explicitly to punish the disobedience and ingratitude of Adam and Eve.” The Old Testament itself supports work, not because there’s any joy in it, but because it is necessary to prevent poverty and destitution.
The ancient Greek word for work is ponos, taken from the Latin poena, which means sorrow. Manual labor was for slaves, while free men were supposed to pursue warfare, large-scale commerce, and the arts, especially architecture or sculpture1.
So, according to our cultural roots, work is a curse, a punishment for original sin, and only for slaves. In short, life is hell—or “nasty, brutish and short,” as Hobbes put it—work is hell, and we must endure it because we’re all sinners but don’t worry, we’ll get our reward once we’re dead! Any questions?
It’s time to put that particular view of work behind us! Richard Reeves has this to say in his excellent book Happy Mondays:
Anybody who thinks work should be miserable simply because it is work or that there should be a cordon sanitaire between “work” and “life” needs to find a time machine, key in the year 1543, and go and join Calvin’s crew. They’ll feel more at home there. In the meantime, the rest of us will get on with enjoying our work, and our workplaces.
But we can never forget that we’re going up against thoughts and beliefs that have been part of our culture for centuries. This is why we need a conscious revolution in workplaces all around the world and why those of us who have chosen to break with the old attitude to work need to support each other.
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Safety first
Saw this on my cruise vacation last week. Found it mildly ironic :o)
Click image for full size and to better appreciate the irony.
PS.
No, that was not the ship we sailed on!
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The customer is not always right
Here’s a great story from Natalie, who sent me an email to tell me how happiness at work has made her business much more successful:
My company owns and operates a sandwich franchise. We came into a market that the name brand struggled with in my city. My partner and I were so frightened to open this first store but believed that if we could change the atmosphere and create happiness we could be a success.
I am proud to say that we have not even been open a full year and our sales are approx. 186% higher than the other stores in the city. Second store on its way.
The other owners and even the franchisor themselves keep asking what our success tools were. I used to stand there and think of a clever, smart, analytical way to answer this. The answer was simple…. We cared about our staff and in turn they cared for our customers. Our staff repeatedly tells customers how much they love working there. Best reward I can ask for! I have super low turn over and you will never guess what the turnover mainly consists of…. An employee having a dream career and us helping them find the path to get there.
So I came across your article by typing into google “Why are customers so rude” You know what I got? A million different articles written on how to handle and keep that customer! Then I came across your article about how “The customer is always right” is wrong and got emotional. Thank you a million times over for believing and standing by your staff.
I noticed a great pattern in my store. Anytime we had one of those horrific customers who threatened us and my staff with “I am telling everyone how horrible you people are,” the next week we hit record sales. So we stop the mean customers and put our foot down. Our staff knows if they are being treated poorly never to stand for that! You are human and have feelings and do not deserve to be treated like crap!
My favorite line to say to really upset customers…”Sir/Maam, it’s okay it’s just a sandwich.” Risky I know but when you put it into reality for them most of them stop and look at themselves. Yes you are screaming and yelling at me that I ruined your day because the sandwich had tomatoes on it and you asked for no tomatoes but we even said we can remake it and we apologize for the mistake.
So again thank you for working with companies and spreading the word about this simple solution. I am thrilled to know that there are people out there who think this way as well and try to spread the happiness around. It inspires me more to share my happiness with the staff that I sincerely care for. I hope you come to the States more and I can see one of your segments in person. God knows this Country could learn a thing or two about happiness.
YES! Way to go Natalie.
I’ve said this a million times: When customers are rude or unreasonable, stand with your staff. It makes them happy and that in turn makes the other, reasonable, nice customers happy. And that way you make more money!
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Friday Woohoo
When TIME went to interview astrophysicist and famous science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson, they noticed a huge crate that had been shipped to his office.
Tyson had no idea what was in it, but agreed to open it on camera. His reaction is a pure delight to watch:
I love people who have such a capacity for enthusiasm and are not afraid to show it.
When was the last time something at work made you this excited?
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Paying employees to get healthy is a bad idea
I just discovered this brilliant whitepaper on employee wellness. It looks at a new worrying trend which has companies paying their employees to participate in wellness programmes.
This is of course an incredibly bad idea for many reasons, including these:
- Financial rewards undermine autonomy
- Employees who aren’t ready or willing to change… won’t
- Financial incentives aren’t enough to change complex behaviors
It’s really, really time for companies to understand that financial rewards have several serious limitations as a tool to change employee behavior.
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High five!
Have you high-fived a co-worker today?
Praise and recognition are vital. Unfortunately many people feel unappreciated at work. According to a survey we did last year, the 2nd biggest factor that makes Danes unhappy at work is a lack of appreciation.
And we can all do our part to create a culture of praise in our workplaces. Here’s some inspiration to get you started.
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My most exciting gig in 2012
I speak at a ton of companies and conferences all over the world, but this is one of the most exciting I have coming up in 2012.
It’s put on by our good friends at Nixon McInnes and some of the themes are:
- Organisational design & structure – Is top-down, command and control fit for the 21st century?
- 21st century leadership – What kind of leaders do the challenges of our time demand, and what is leadership today?
- Technology disruption – What technology themes are imminent and likely to disrupt business as usual?
- The future of work – What do people want from work and what can they expect from progressive businesses?
Check out the conference web site here and get your tickets today!
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Fun at work in India
I’m featured in the June 2012 edition of The Human Factor Magazine in India. What’s even cooler is that the main theme of that issue is fun at work.This just reinforces what I’ve said for a long time, namely that the idea of happiness at work is spreading all around the world.
In fact, I was just booked to speak at the CFA Institute’s Fifth Annual European Investment Conference in Prague in October and that will mark the 25th country I’ve spoken in.
I honestly believe that happiness at work is inevitable and the future belongs to the happy :o)
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Failure is an option. It has to be.
Planetary Resources is a new company whose mission is to mine asteroid and comets. No, really. It may sound like science fiction and they won’t be bringing valuable materials back to Earth tomorrow, but they’re apparently serious about it and have the backing of people like Ross Perot, Jr., Larry Page, Peter Diamondis and many others.
As a huge space buff this really speaks to me and here’s one of my favorite things about the venture, from the company’s chief scientist, Chris Lewicki:
One important thing to understand about our company, we’re not a government program. For NASA and other civilian agencies, failure is not an option. But for us it’s the exact opposite: failure is an option. It has to be, just think of where we might be as a species or a nation if we only took on projects where success was a virtual certainty.
Failure is an option. It has to be. That’s a great mission statement right there.
Workplaces that shun mistakes make their employees unhappy. The reason why is simple: On the one hand they want their people to be innovative, creative and productive – on the other hand mistakes are punished severely. How the heck are employees supposed to unite those two demands?
As the Mythbusters say: “Failure is always an option.” And as we say: You should celebrate mistakes at work, not hide them.
