Image: Fortune Mag Article Citadel CEO

I’ve seen another article about a CEO who wants to get rid of remote work in the online version of Fortune recently.  It discussed how Citadel founder, Ken Griffins says “employers won’t go the ‘extra distance’ to keep hybrid workers…”

Why not?  In my opinion, CEOs of that ilk were certainly eager to have employees work from home during the pandemic.  Do they not plan for future events? Or, think that another event like the pandemic might happen again?  For me, it shows the short-sightedness and greed of some corporations and their leaders.

Why not take the opportunity to manage the business model into something more equitable for both employers and employees?  Honestly, I have never heard so many CEOs bitch about workers who actually make them money.

Yes, I do realize everyone cannot work from home; and there may be times for face-to-face meetings.  We that.  But it seems to me that since the government pre-bailed out a lot of companies and industries during the pandemic, they should have put that money in to R&D, and their employees instead of using it for company stock by-backs.

I’m not sure what the aforementioned Citadel founder did, but generally speaking—a lot of the funding the government made available for businesses was not used for the purposes intended.

I applaud the efforts of unions to organize people.  And for those who don’t want to unionize or don’t want to be a part of a union (even though you have more than likely benefitted from them greatly), these are a few other things to consider.

• Push for legislation that gets rid of non-disclosure agreements or that works against you sharing in the profits of your creativity while working at a company. If you’ve helped create a new procedure or made work more efficiently at your organization—you should be recognized for it.
• Vote for congress people who have your best interests at heart. Corporations have lawyers and lobbyists to work on their behalf.  Elected officials should be fair, but they should primarily represent all the people they serve in their districts.

I hope workers will take it a step further and realize that they have self-worth… even after some guy says “goodbye” or won’t go the “extra distance” to keep you as an employee.  Every job you’ve held added in some way to your skill set. Find ways of collaborating with others who may have been laid off and see what opportunities you all can create for yourselves as a cooperative or other synergetic type organization.

So, now let me say what I think or see happening in 2024—since people are expressing opinions (which I like to do). Lol…

I see workers continue to make decisions favorable to their work/life balance, especially the younger ones.  I also see them holding the leaders in the companies they work for accountable for the decisions they make.  I also see consumers doing the same.  Generally, people don’t like walking into a store to purchase something only to find out they have to work for free in checking themselves out and not get some type of worker’s discount.  On occasion, sure—If I’m in a hurry I’ll run over to scan a pack of gum or drink and be on my way.  But If I have to either wait in a long line because you only have two registers open or have to both wait in a long line and check myself out, you can keep what you got.  I’ll figure something else out.

No, I don’t speak for everyone—but I’m not the only one either.  And yes, this articles was another long way of saying—Do Better.

Resource:

Fortune Article by: Eleanor Pringle

Update:

And this is how you say you “took your workers to Disney Land“… probably after you realized you boo-booed, and surmised you were doing too much… <Read>