Page 9 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

viiiB Preface

: Many of our greatest corporate icons—including those in the
banking, finance, and automotive industries—have dissolved
and disappeared almost overnight, leaving many to wonder
what level of security they may have in any occupation or
with any employer.
: For the first time in history, the pace of change has produced
four distinct generations in the workplace, and conflicts
among them have gone beyond clever drama in the movies.

The work setting where we felt a sense of entitlement to our jobs
has vanished. We can no longer count on lifetime employment the
same way our parents did. We can no longer feel secure that our busi-
ness leaders are generally honest and trying to do the right thing for
all of us. We can no longer rely on the bootstrap mentality that if we
just work hard enough, everything will be all right.
And when our workplace is bad, we suffer. When inept leaders turn
our company to rubble and threaten our retirement funds, we no longer
think about leadership as a concept that doesn’t impact us, because it’s
hitting us right in the wallet. When a self-absorbed, petty supervisor
makes the life of our spouse miserable and he comes home stressed and
angry, we know our family life is directly hurt by what goes on at work.
When a loved one tells us she’s been harassed at work and gets no
support from the company to address the complaint, we know her
spirit has been wounded. When we receive dawdling service from an
establishment that we’ve paid good money to patronize, that is staffed
with employees who clearly don’t care, we wonder whether we’ll ever
again “get our money’s worth.”
It’s sad, really, how a negative workplace can impact our lives and
the way we feel about ourselves. The situation is reaching pandemic
heights—most people go to work at jobs they dislike, supervised by
people who don’t care about them, and directed by senior leaders who
are often clueless about where to take the company.
Sad, indeed.
The glimmer of hope in this malaise is a small but growing group
of employers who are creating remarkable workplaces, where employees