I challenge all who read this to do a search of there companies public statements, either to the employees or to the public and look for the words “Greatest Asset”.
I started thinking about this after trying to file some expenses and finding that “we don’t pay for spouses meals anymore” as the answer that got mine rejected. My first thoughts were what happened to “we are family” or “your family is important to us”? I travel out of country and on the days I leave and return my wife, who takes time off from her job to do this, takes me to the airport and picks me up when I return. The thanks she now gets for her service to my company is “They won’t pay for her meals for this”. It is not extravagant or out of the ordinary, and we seldom go to “expensive” restaurants. Example my last two expenses turned down were, for a lunch at “Popeye’s – total cost $6.50 and a dinner at a small Mexican restaurant where her meal was about $7.00. You could say “I was burned up” over this, along with the temps here are 115 right now. I made the change and turned the expenses back in to see what crap they will try to pull next in refusing legitimate business expenses.
I remember the “golden” days of my employment first with the US Government and then with this company. Back then (1970 and 80’s) it was a family thing. We had activities for spouses all the time. In the Government service they did not pay for her meals, that I remember, but we always had office planned gatherings where the families were included and were helpful so they could meet the people we work with and socialize with the other spouses, etc. In my current company we would have “park” bar-b-ques and Christmas dinners. Most of those did pay for the spouse. Some places still have gatherings that somehow they find ways to pay for the spouse to attend activities so there is a “family” feeling and some positive focus to difficult jobs and times. That feeling of “family” would cause an employee or even the spouse to speak highly of the employer and help to alleviate those times when things were difficult – like you had to work late, or you had to be gone for extended trips, etc.
Don’t count on finding too many of those places anymore. Corporate America has changed and not for the better. Large companies are so “anally” focused on the bottom line they forget how that line is made and who helps to get it to positive territory with out compensation – Employees Families. They are the ones that put up with missing parents, relatives, etc for important events because they are “working”.
All that said, I decided to do a little search of our company web site for the words “Greatest Asset” to find what all is included there as I know our CEO has stated numerous times that “Our employees are our greatest Asset”. This is what I find:
In 2003 this statement was made in an employee notice: Healthy and productive employees are an asset to the Company. …
In 2007 he wrote “I have said it frequently in this space: Our employees are our most valued asset. You bring the talent to execute on the Company’s business strategies. In the end, you drive our success.”
In 2008 he wrote “And we have our team of more than 50,000 employees, with their knowledge, experience and passion for excellence – our greatest asset, the one that has distinguished us from the competition and built our reputation.”
In Oct 2009 he wrote “You have heard me say it many times: our people are our greatest asset. Investing in our people to sharpen their skills and broaden their perspective is something we must continue to do even in down markets. “
In a Safety presentation I found this about our hands: “Your Hands, they are one of your greatest assets. And, as such, must be protected and cared for. Why Hand Protection is Important. … of your greatest assets. Remember! …”
This was just a few found in a few minutes search. It would appear that Corporate America, or for that matter, all Corporate leaders “speak with forked tongue”. As you look at the CEO and top level managers pay and “perks” in the yearly reports and you really should be looking at the ones you work for and the ones you invest in, do you really believe that they are worth all that money? Beyond what is listed many have “business” perks that provide substantial extras over what is reported. Yes they report the use of Corporate Jets now because of the GM fiasco. But they do not report all the “entertaining” houses, condos, boats, etc. They do not report the costs of “weekend” customer meetings where top managers and spouses may be “forced” to attend shows, sporting events, special functions, etc… to “smoosh” with customers. The lowly employee can’t even get his wife a chicken lunch for driving him to the airport while the “well-to-do” can get free global trips or attend fancy functions for the need of “customer entertainment”.
I have “soap-boxed” enough for this entry. I just hope I can get my “expenses” back in time to pay off my personal credit cards. If not then the company is using me as an asset not treating me as an asset. They are using my money as their asset while I have to pay my bills, they can hold the money for several weeks or months. It is small returns yes, but it used to be we could depend on getting “our money” back in short order to pay “our bills” on their need. Now I am not sure that I won’t get it all back and have to pay up for expenses they caused me to have. They do pay me a salary but I don’t remember it being this way when we were treated like family.