Joy at Work. Dennis W. Bakke
Читать онлайн книгу.
a new hydro facility. Our third stop was a huge sugar cane plantation owned and operated by my host’s family. We drove around the expansive fields where hundreds of people were working. When we passed an area of small, dilapidated housing units, he told me that these were provided free to the workers. He was particularly enthusiastic when we visited a building that served both as school and medical facility. “We provide free schooling and medical care. We have whole families who have been with us for years.” “How much do you pay the workers?” I asked. “Enough,” was the reply. “They don’t really need much. They are well taken care of on the plantation.” My host was very proud of what his family, one of the most respected in Uganda, had accomplished. “What do you think?” he asked, eager to get my reaction. “This is one of the most depressing places I have ever been,” I said with only a little hyperbole. “By Ugandan standards, you are taking great care of these people, but they are not allowed to grow up and become independent adults.”
This experience reminded me of the Tennessee Ernie Ford lyric: “You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter, don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go, I owe my soul to the company store.” Paternalism, whether practiced on a Ugandan sugar cane plantation, in Appalachian coal mines, or in a modern American corporation, is far from dead. Managers around the world still feel the need to take care of workers. On a superficial level, it is an admirable response. But paternalism takes on a different cast when examined more closely. It leaves people in a state of child-like dependence. It prevents workers from taking control of their work and lives. They are never in a position to take risks or make decisions, and so never develop to their full potential. In the end, paternalism kills any chance of joy at work.
When AES purchased a hydro plant in Hunan province, China, we were disturbed by the plight of the workers. Health care and education were substandard. I was pulled in the direction of doing something to help these people. Most of us have a compassionate impulse that prompts us to say: “We need to intervene.” Sometimes we respond to the needs of employees by providing health care or by promising job security, higher pay, training programs, or child care. These are all “nice” things to do.
While we need to respond to the problems of our employees, we shouldn’t do so for the sake of being “nice” or “good.” Don’t be afraid to try new approaches that give them control over how they want to live their lives. Instead of providing houses and schooling, pay them enough so they make choices about what’s important to them and their families. Resist the temptation to guarantee jobs for life. Treating employees like children is not in their best interest, nor does it serve the goals of an organization.
The lack of freedom may be the single most debilitating and demoralizing factor in the workplace today.
In earlier days, total concentration on production in factories and on farms was the primary reason that people hated their work. Today, the emphasis on earnings and share price has crowded out the important human qualities needed to run a healthy business—character, values, and concern for colleagues and the integrity of the larger enterprise. From individuals who judge their status in life by the size of their bank accounts to corporations that manipulate their financial results to make their stock price go as high as possible, the desire for wealth often creates systems and practices that are centralized and mechanistic—dictating everything from salary levels to cost controls—and that take the joy out of work.
Despite cosmetic improvements, the workplace has not become a more fulfilling place over the past 50 years. Economic efficiency remains the primary measure of success. Relatively few people are treated as full-fledged adults capable of making sound decisions. Workers are often treated like machines or beasts of burden, almost as if the company wanted to get the most out of its “assets” before it got rid of them. They rarely get the chance to make decisions or act on them. This lack of freedom may be the single most debilitating and demoralizing factor in the workplace today.
Inside typical modern companies, however, you get a very different view than I have suggested above. Workers, especially those at lower levels, don’t seem overly concerned with job satisfaction—at least at first blush. “I like very much what you are talking about, Dennis, but what I really want is security. I don’t want to risk losing my job.” Then I would ask, “What is the most secure place you could be?” After a few rounds of guessing and suggestions, we usually ended up with “prisons” as the places that offered the most security, with bed and board to boot. When confronted with the logical extension of their desire for security, most people saw the fallacy of the goal. Children require security, but when they become adults, the desire for security inhibits their uniquely human abilities to make decisions, take risks, learn new things, fail, grow, make progress, experience loss, and then make progress again. We need to design organizations that encourage people to look beyond job security and seek the psychic rewards that come with a creative, enterprising approach to work. Many of the world’s large organizations are filled with people trapped in the dead-end goal of seeking security. It is the enemy of joy at work.
In my experience, most people don’t believe that fun and work can coexist. In large organizations, so few executives have experienced a joyful workplace that they have no idea how to create one. The result: Most employees grasp for high pay and benefits, fewer hours on the job, the mindless comfort of routine, less responsibility, early retirement, and job security. All are hollow substitutes for a rewarding, stimulating workplace.
If you’re lucky, the workplace created by the Industrial Revolution may put food on the table, pay for your kids’ schooling, and even provide for a comfortable retirement. But “where’s the love, man?” as the old Bud Light commercial asked. Where is the love for work and accomplishment? Where are the other unique traits and gifts and frailties that make us human? Where is the passion to serve? Maybe these were left on Collin Doherty’s farm, or maybe they were lost in the race for productivity and profits. I believe, however, that nothing so fundamental to human nature can be lost forever. If that is true, it will transcend even a movement as powerful as industrialization. It remains alive in many of our homes. It is preached in our churches, synagogues, and mosques. It exists in our memories of teamwork and competition in gyms and on playing fields. I am confident that it cannot be long absent from the place where we spend most of our waking hours—at work.
We are uniquely created with the ability to reason, make decisions, and be held accountable for our actions. When all of these factors come into play at the same time, we feel something approaching pure joy.
CHAPTER 3
From Misery to Joy
“THERE IS NO FUN LIKE WORK.” That was the motto of Dr. Charles Mayo, founder of the famous medical clinic. The key to joy at work is the personal freedom to take actions and make decisions using individual skills and talents. This is a simple concept but almost impossible to carry out because of the roadblocks thrown up by large organizations—as AES discovered with one of our early power plants.
I had just returned to my hotel room after a long day of trying to convince high-level Florida state government officials that our plant under construction in Jacksonville was following all the permit requirements (and then some). When the phone rang at 10:30 p.m., I was stunned by what I heard from Bill Arnold, the manager of the AES plant in Shady Point, Oklahoma, our newest, largest, and most profitable power-generating facility. The news he related to me would set in motion the most intense six months of learning in my professional career. It would also eventually drain the spirit of this gifted plant leader.
One of Bill’s assistants had discovered that nine technicians had conspired to falsify the results of water testing in the plant. They had sent inaccurate water-quality data to regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency. While the falsification did not result in any harm to the river into which the water was discharged, it was a major breach of our shared commitment to integrity and social responsibility. A week or so later, Roger Sant and I wrote a very strong and candid letter to our employees and shareholders. Because it captures the spirit, values, and operating ethos of AES, I think the letter is worth quoting. We were still