August 27, 2009
Workplace focus is shifting
How much is a day’s work worth?
The trite answer is that it is worth an honest day’s pay. But in a world where comparables are king, honesty has taken a back seat to keeping up with the Joneses. As a result we have pro sports players making obscene amounts of money to play a game long after their prime and executives of struggling firms rake in bonuses as their stockholders suffer and the working stiff at the end of the line gets stiffed.
This weekend is Labor Day, the traditional end to summer, just as Memorial Day marks the season’s traditional start. However, just as Memorial Day is more than just a reason to have a barbecue, Labor Day has its own meaning which is sometimes forgotten. It is the worker’s holiday and is a chance for those thousands of men and women who work the line and keep the country moving to take a well deserved break. It came from an era of sweatshops and child labor and spawned the industrial unions which helped set our modern concept of the 40-hour work week.
However, Labor Day is also a time for reflection on the status of the American worker. It has been a rough year for many. Treading water has become the goal and if you work in a factory, store or office outside of government anywhere in Taylor County, chances are your wages have been frozen and you are happy just to have a job.
Just as the economic troubles in the 1930s influenced generations of Americans, so too will the current economic woes. In a lean economy, there is little room for space holders and every employee is being called on to carry their load and then some. In this new economy it is not enough just to do your job, but you must also prove your worth day after day. Longevity is not necessarily a benefit in this brave new world, but instead the focus is on value and performance and work accomplished.
This is a world very familiar to those who have worked in small shops and Main Street storefronts and is becoming increasingly well known even in factories where management has learned to reward initiative and is raising the bar on what they expect from workers. As with most things, it is not a matter of if this trend is good or bad, it is simply there.
About the only sector lagging in the new work force focus is our government bodies. There, strong unions still push for increases when the pay of taxpayers is frozen or being cut and longevity trumps all other factors when determining who should remain when cuts occur. Just as private sector employment models have shifted it is time also for the public sector to follow suite. With customer service surveys commonplace for everything from a root canal to getting your transmission flushed, customer feedback and performance based compensation need to have a greater role for government workers at all levels.
Over the decades since the first Labor Day was celebrated in New York on September 5, 1882 workplace roles have shifted and new industries, undreamed of a century ago, now employ thousands. What has remained constant is that hard work and the desire for an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work is still the force that drives America forward.
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