We expect our managers not to be biased when it comes to the people who work for them regarding race, gender, and sexuality. Why do we accept that proximity bias cannot be overcome, so you’ll have to come to the office?
The conclusion to be drawn from this research is that we need better managers. Period.
Given recent events, I faced the question posed in this post and came to the same conclusion. Should you post that you’re #OpenToWork? A tale of two labor markets. Economic theory suggests that the people laid off or searching for a job in boom times are different from those laid off in a recession. If…
The most engaged and productive people in your workplace also need room to grow and develop. Not offering that to them is inviting them to go elsewhere. Not offering career development to your high performers because you are wasting all of those resources to fix your lowest performers will not cut it. They deserve more than that, and someone will give it to them.
I’ve also spoken to some in-house trainers who see this up close. People come to them because they lack some knowledge and hope the training will help them because their manager hasn’t given them clear direction. They don’t realize that they haven’t been getting a clear direction. They assume there is some skill or knowledge they are missing. Where do you go when there’s a skill you need? To Training and Development!
But the trainer can’t give you that clear direction about your job. That has to come from your manager.
Have you considered starting a club if you’ve been laid off recently? If you haven’t, maybe give it a try. I’m not in the same boat but if I can help you get started and try to connect you to others, let me know how.
They are setting boundaries. They are cutting back on their commitment and engagement with work because they see that work is not the most important thing in life. They make decisions based on their mental health instead of the company’s bottom line.
No one is leaving their job in this situation. No one is not doing their work. They are simply not taking on extra work and commitments that they aren’t getting paid for.
Our society’s relationship with work is so skewed that the word we have chosen for this is “quitting”. There’s something profoundly sad about that.