employee satisfaction

Does school prepare children for the real world?

“Study hard and get good grades and you will get high-paying jobs with great benefits,” Taken from the book RICH DAD POOR DAD by ROBERT KIYOSAKI.

Interestingly my parents used to say these very same words to me when I was growing up too, talking all the while about the entitlements I would get when I became a good staff member.

When I first read these lines in 2002 it resonated with the exact same words my dear parents over and over again drummed into my stubborn self while I was growing up in India in the late 60’s and 70’s. Back then the rights and responsibilities offered were highly respected.

Did my parents know that the employment entitlements would change?

Yes my parents meant well back then because after all that is what they knew. Their parents and teachers shared those thoughts when they were young and they were trying their best when I was growing up to give each of us kids the best they could. By doing so they felt they had done their best. They had achieved their goal in life by educating all seven of us. Well in the 60’s and 70’s that was fine as things had not begun to change too much. Worker satisfaction was high. Why I need more money now?

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What my parent had not known then was the fact that the world would start changing by the end of the 80’s. The industrial age which was part of their world was coming to an end and the information age was just starting to show signs of emergence with the advent of the first computers.

During the industrial age farmers could not keep their children on the land any more. The agricultural age had since gone. The people who did not adapt to the changing economic climate lost out. The small farms soon disappeared to be replaced by huge farming communes run by the big corporations.

There were far too few jobs on farms left due to the huge machinery deployed on the farms thus reducing job vacancies. The lure of the big cities were to strong for the young people back then in the 1930’s -40’s to help out on farms for lesser wages. Large corporations were offering steady jobs, better pay and good perks to help them grow offering great incentives as never seen prior to 1910 (pre World War 1) .

And so the industrial age slipped in when my parents were young. They grew up thinking life would be one rainbow for ever. It was this dream that they passed to their children. I was one of the millions fed this vision.

During the industrial age most people would stay at the same job for the entire length of their working career. Extras given to the workers were huge with yearly or even better bi-annual bonuses were common and the corporations looked after their staff and even extended that onto the children of the worker. It was a way of life back then. There were free paid holidays, staff allowances, free meals, free transport to mention a few of the benefits given.

How positive is employee satisfaction in the work place today

Like all great things we now see that the industrial is also a thing of the past. Globalization began this shift in the early 90’s. Jobs were now being sent overseas to countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, India, etc where labor was cheaper. Now companies felt they no longer needed to look after their staff to the level once seen. Staff satisfaction started to drop. To stay competitive companies started to cut employee numbers and even reduce the base salaries of staff.

Responsibilities Of Staff!

Staff responsibilities has increased over the years with little or no extra compensation. With more and more people looking for work companies can now give lesser wages to their staff and expect more from them as the job market is so competitive and people are willing to work for less put in longer hours and not complain. If you are to complain the job is given to some else who is prepared to work for less. Can you see what is happening if you are reading this in 2015 and beyond.

You must start to look for smarter ways to work if you want to have the same level or better lifestyle that you were accustomed to.

No Longer or Seldom Do You See Any Benefits (In the work place any more!) Such As:

Staff Sick Leave Entitlement
Casual Worker Entitlements
Employee Benefit in Insolvency
Workers Rights and Responsibilities

The world has changed.

The work places we were used to are no longer around. Yet we are still working the old system. Hoping things will get better. It’s a broken system as Eric Woree says in his DVD called the Rise of the Entrepreneur. Today the world economy works on a performance base model where you should demonstrate you can do the job faster as well as cheaper. Employees responsibilities have changed too.

So getting back to my statement where ‘study hard’ for ‘a high paying job’ can be a thing of the past. You got to adapt to the changing global situation right now. Look for smart ways to work and start looking at home based business models to create the financial safety net you need.

Can You Keep Your Employee Rights and Responsibilities

There are jobs around, in fact there are more jobs today than ever before. But you just must be prepared to retrain and be ahead of the curve of learning, always delivering better value to the company and the customer for you to have an edge over your immediate competition – the person who wants your job or market share.

In 2015 and beyond we must start to look for/at emerging trends among industries and which the trends will withstand sustained growth for decades to come for job satisfaction.

In a number of future posts I shall outline clues to look for as well as why being an employee and/ or a self employed person in the future is going to be harder for you if you desire to enjoy a a good quality lifestyle. Look forward to sharing more on what can improve employee satisfaction in the work place.

Claude Fullinfaw
Brisbane