This is a photo of a construction project I saw in India. At one point I was making frequent visits to Delhi I saw these women working at the entrance of my hotel. The first time I saw them, there was a massive pile of rocks outside the entrance to my hotel. They were crouching on the pile with… hammers. It was well over 100 degrees F in that sun.
I was curious at the time about what might be going on, but there are many things that I did/do not understand about the culture of our friends in India, so seeing something I did not understand was not uncommon. I sort of filed that mental image away for future discussion.
I came back about a month later and took this picture. They had created a gravel hotel driveway apron the old-fashioned way, by breaking all of those big rocks into smaller rocks and spreading them evenly, with the traffic from the hotel compacting them into place. I tried to get my head around the tremendous effort that this must have taken. I was horrified at the thought of these women out in the hot sun, day after day, slaving away at what must have seemed like an insurmountable task. I couldn’t believe this was how things were done. It seemed unthinkable that these women should be subjected to this hot backbreaking work.
I asked my friend if I was drawing the correct conclusion. Maybe someone came in with a rock crusher in my absence and these ladies were just - tidying up? My friend looked at me kindly and patiently as he tended to do when I said something particularly ignorant.
He explained to me that these women were of low caste without any family to support them, and day labor like this was one of the few opportunities available to them. He said that these women were likely grateful for the opportunity as it allowed them to eat in an otherwise cruelly impoverished situation. I imagined the businessman who contracted the job did not have any real access to capital and used the means available to him to get a job done and in turn, feed his family.
Perspective and point of view are priceless. I was projecting my values from my life and my perspective on this very different situation.
In my work, sometimes I see business owners do the same thing. They project their values and perspective on their employees. Owners tell me that they are disappointed that their employees don’t care about the business the way they do. Leaders say employees don’t invest time learning their jobs and professions as they did. They don't appreciate the opportunities they are given.
Of course they don't.
Business owners have spent years of blood sweat and tears building something for their families. It gives them a good living and a measure of security, maybe even a legacy. To the employees, it is a job. Like lots of other jobs. Maybe it does not pay as well as they like. Maybe they have other passions. Maybe they really are just here for the money. We can be upset about this or complain “Nobody wants to work anymore!” but that contributes to nothing but your own frustration. Instead, we should take a constructive look at our employment and employee development systems. How well do they sync up to the reality of our workforce?
If in fact your pride and joy is just a job to the person at the counter or on the line, make sure their job is as easy and straightforward as possible with strong training tools to give them confidence that they know what to do. Make sure your processes are standardized and documented. Make sure they know what is expected of them and be consistent. Pay them just a bit better than the market to let them know they are valued in the way that most matters to them. The return on investment here is easy to see.
Every once in a while someone comes along that sees it as more than just a job. Invest in them, and pay them well. Build them into a part of your core team. But see that is what it is, a gift, and not the standard by which to measure all employees.
Think about the positions you hire from the perspective of those likely to fill them, and you both will be more satisfied with the result.
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