Have you ever worked for a big corporation?
Did you feel burned out on that lifestyle?
What were some contributing factors, if so?
Want me to take a guess?
I just read a blog post by Pamela Slim from Escape from Cubicle Nation, “An open letter to CXOs all over the world”.
Here are the salient points from her (extremely well written) blog post.
1. Don’t spend millions of dollars to try and change your culture. Corporate culture is a natural thing that cannot be manufactured.
2. Stop running your company like the mafia. “If you help your employees grow and develop in their career even if they plan to leave the company, you will create an extremely loyal workforce.”
3. Spend a moment walking around the halls of your company and look at your employees.
4. Teach people how to get rich like you.
5. Don’t ask for your employees’ input if you are not going to listen to it.
6. Don’t train people until you know what problem you are solving.
7. Ditch the PowerPoint when you have town hall meetings.
8. Focus on the work people do, not how or when they do it.
9. Watch the burnout.
10. Forbid people to work while they are on vacation.
She says in the article, in so many words, “Fire the assholes, and company culture will change.”
I have known bosses like the ones she described, people who did not know or care how the company was really doing. Jobs where how late you stayed meant you were working hard, not the amount you actually got accomplished before 12pm. Jobs where all employees had salary freezes for 9 years, and the cost of living increase in pay was eaten by the CEO. Jobs where we all got together and to make a strategic plan, and over and over again, the plan would be completely ignored.
And best of all? These jobs were at small nonprofits. Yep. Nonprofits are no safer than big corporations for the little guy.
So, if you’re considering a career change, and think that nonprofits will bring you that warm fuzzy feeling instead of a big corporation’s cold efficiency, don’t assume anything.
What would you like to do to change the nonprofit system?
If I were you, I would start to bring back some accountability among our leaders by becoming one of them.
Start by going to sit on a board of a small nonprofit. Look at the system that is in place. Are there checks and balances? Start digging. Start noticing the signs of nonprofit mismanagement. They are remarkably similar to business mis-management.
How much turnover has there been in the last year? The last five years? If there has been a lot of turnover, who is responsible for it?
Start asking questions. Innocent questions. “Why are we doing it this way?”
“What’s another way we could do this?” “Why can’t this person make a mistake?”
“Why am I getting paid a salary when salaries are supposed to be reserved for managers, and I’m not managing anyone, and I’m expected to work all of this overtime for free?”
“How do we celebrate what’s working?”
“How do we celebrate mistakes and encourage people to make more of them?”
“How do we deal with conflict here?”
“Is the employee handbook followed, or is it really more of a guideline?”
“Are our policies and procedures protecting or harming our workers?”
“If we have at-will employment, and are not protecting our workers, why do we expect them to do a good job for us?”
If it’s not safe for you to ask these questions where you currently work, have you ever thought about forming a union?
A union could protect you from being discriminated against, help you get cost-of-living pay increases, and more. And if you are fired for trying to form a union, the union will fight for you, and win, because that is actually illegal.
What do you think? Do you recognize some of this typical corporate mis-management within your own nonprofit?
Sound off, I’m listening!
If you’re feeling fed up and ready to do something, check out these posts:
How do I start a union?
Bullying Bosses can cause Employee Suicide
Is your nonprofit promoting a culture of destitution?
Hi Mazarine,
You said some really important things in this blog post. A few of the questions in your list of questions are so useful, and so important in helping us frame our thinking, I want to quote them here and comment.
“Why can’t this person make a mistake?” The dumb answer, the one you’re likely to get from bad management, is something like, “we can’t afford mistakes.” Well, if your organization runs so close to failure that you can’t afford mistakes, then you’re already fucked. Everyone makes mistakes, and any organization worth its salt will survive even a few big ones. The real reason that management cultivates an environment of fear is just one of control: keep your people terrified, and they won’t question your bad decisions. Good leaders are respected, only the bad ones are feared.
“Why am I getting paid a salary when salaries are supposed to be reserved for managers, and I’m not managing anyone, and I’m expected to work all of this overtime for free?” This one makes my blood boil, it’s been so completely and thoroughly abused. I once worked with a guy who, after he’d been an hourly employee for a while, told me that the boss was going to make him salaried. I told him, “You need to politely decline that. You need to tell him you’ll remain an hourly employee. You’re a valued employee, and he’s not going to fire you just because you stand firm.” He hemmed and hawed and said, “Nawww, you have to do what the boss tells you.” End-result? A few weeks later, the boss instituted a “24-hour tech support line”. Guess who got the tech support responsibilities, along with his shiny new salary (which was no different from his hourly wage, except that now he’s exempt from overtime.)
The thing about unions is, you’re absolutely, 100%, couldn’t-be-more-right right about it. Unions are the ONLY way that those of us with virtually no power (think about it: we’re at someone else’s mercy for hours, pay, even whether or not we work) can reclaim some authority from the people who have virtually all of the power. Unions also have a bad rep these days, because they’ve been under a near-constant public-relations attack from the wealthy corporatists for the last several DECADES. We’ve been told all kinds of lies about unionizing, for many of us all our lives, because the people with the power (the same ones who own most of the big media outlets) don’t want to share.
Thanks for the post, and the chance to vent.
Thank YOU for this inspiring comment Steve!
I agree, it’s hard to gain any sort of power when you have not got a union at your back. The union can hire lawyers, and protect you, even as you create it in your office, and I think this is an important distinction. Even if you are fired for trying to organize, the union will make sure that you win, and get settlement money.
I love what you said, “Keep your people terrified, and they won’t question your bad decisions” So, SO true.
And finally, I agree about the salary, NO ONE should be salaried if they are not supervising anyone. We should not allow ourselves to be exempt from overtime. I had a nonprofit boss who told me that even if I worked overtime, I couldn’t claim it, I just had to get the job done. Consequently, I was abused in this manner until I smartened up and got out. Don’t let this happen to you!
Awesome post, Mazarine! Firing the assholes is the fastest way to change corporate culture, for sure. Employees who don’t like their managers are not going to be happy employees!
I disagree about the salary thing, I think it depends on the corporate culture. I work at a medium-sized tech company that is working hard to keep its start-up culture. Everyone here cares about whether you get your work done or not, not how long you’re here. Everyone here is salaried once they’re hired full-time. It’s nice, because then if you get your work done, you can go home early and it doesn’t dock your pay. Sometimes you might have to work late because of a deadline, but in my five years here I can literally count the times I’ve had to do that on one hand. I’ve generally been fine with working late because the company has earned my loyalty already and I want to get the work done.
Personally, I think it’s smart to look at how the salaried employees are treated if you’re having to decide between salaried or not. If you can’t trust your manager to respect that you have a life outside the office, then hell yes, stay away from a salary! And maybe start looking for a job where you can trust your manager. 🙂