Has anyone else noticed the robotic motivational speeches, words of recognition and encouragement, and uptick in “all hands” type meetings and celebrations? Management clearly has their hands tied by HR and Dallas, and are doing anything they can to try and retain people, except for the exact things that everyone actually wants, which is a pay increase that at least keeps up with Inflation.
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I don’t know….I don’t equate ‘Care’ specifically to a $ sign. However, I saw a significant lack of care during COVID…between the company being slow to trigger WFH, management not engaging with employees (for 2 years!), and awful policy changes, etc. (I can somewhat forgive the layoffs, as there is no good way to handle that.)
Now that times are financially better, the company is trying to ooozzz ‘Care’ but I haven’t forgotten yet. How you behave while times are hard defines your true nature. I have seen the company’s true nature and now have no illusions, even if cake and clapping and employee forums return.
At the end of the day, all employees are just a commodity. There is no real care if the ‘bottom-line’ is in question. Pay raises would be great, but it won’t make me think the company cares any more for its employees. Guess what? I am now treating the company as a commodity too. I am mentally over the ‘loyalty’ hurdle and ready to leave as soon as my needs aren’t being met.
In fact, what I saw during COVID even pokes holes in all the safety mantras we have been raised with…which is really heartbreaking. Injuries are really expensive and erode reputation. Does the company really care about not hurting people, or is it just a line to improve the ‘bottom line?’ While this is not a revelation, I really thought there was some real care embedded in Safety too. As I have watched the company over the last two years, I am not so sure. There may be caring individuals. But as soon as the company starts making group decisions where there is no one individual accountable for the ethics, I think some pretty fuzzy and suspect behavior emerges. Haha-We are ExxonMobil.