When honesty hurts

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m thankful I ran across the story afire on Twitter to draw me  to MEDIUM to read what the fuss was all about for myself.  It made me want to comment, respond, and say a few words.....

If I were her mentor, I would have advised Talia to stay away from broadcasting her frustration with her company and employer so publicly. It has ramifications that one may not have anticipated, such as losing a job, as it did happen. Many organizations have Code of Ethics with social media rules that protect themselves from this very thing, which would state “loss of employment” if you violate the rules.

Having said that, let me applaud and share my respect for the courage that it must have taken to publish this not-so-secret plight. It is a sad state of circumstances that many 20 somethings are dealing with: not being able to afford a living while working: often called the “working poor” or forced to live at home.

If she had asked me, which she certainly didn’t. I would have recommended that she reach out to HR to ask for advice so that they may have guided her on what extras could be done to move up the ladder. (However, these same advisors are usually people who are hired fresh out of university themselves, without life wisdom, because they will accept a lower wage with the same optimism that they can work their way up the ladder to a better paying job). 

Or, she could have asked her direct manager, what skills she should focus on to become a higher valued contributor in order to be promoted within the company. (Which those same managers may not be equipped for career mentoring while to juggling high turnover from the constant revolving door of employees who get fed up or luckily are snapped up by a competitor or another company willing to pay a little more for all that training and experience that the former company cast aside).  Thanks for training your competitors?  Huh?

Steve Jobs was certainly known for NOT keeping his opinions to himself.

There are a lot of remarkable examples the world over who were often  considered rebels: think Steve Jobs … getting hired and fired, committed to his beliefs and passionate about perfection, who ended up paving a way to a career on his own terms. Difficult to imagine when you don’t know where the money for groceries or having to turn off the heater to save on costs.

Talia was very brave in her expression. However, being as smart as she is, she may have anticipated that she could lose her job over self-expression: telling it like it is. She is a lesson and champion for her generation, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now. She had the tenacity and realization that it isn’t a plight of hers alone, but of many similar in age who are saddled with student debt, not finding a good job because you need a good job in order to get the experience to get a better one, or still living at home which destroys any self-confidence or optimism you may have once had. Forced to accept minimum wage for an important role: speaking to customers.

I suggest she continue to be passionate about her beliefs even when the world seems to be knocking her down. We don’t always know where we’ll end up, but having integrity and passionate about injustice, is a character trait that should serve her well in your future. Someone WILL recognize someone who is prepared to go the extra mile for their customers, their career, their company. Sometimes true honesty is a thermometer of what is really going on. It is not rocket science that happy employees create positive experiences with customers. Society and the corporate world don’t always recognize that although the truth can hurt, it may foreshadow a downward turn in their good fortune. It often appears in the end, with executives scratching their heads, revolving disruptive CEO or executive turnover who make change for the sake of making impact, without asking the frontline people if it makes sense. We know them as media darlings who are constantly being broadcasted about their demise, their layoffs, their diminishing shareholder value.

Yes, it took guts. But the ramifications are indicative of the world we live in: it is safer to take your grief to your employer-sponsored benefits to a counselor, who may be better equipped to help you handle it.

I hope others will recognize, as I did, that if you ignore a problem or keep quiet about it, doesn’t necessarily mean it will go away.  Typically, it masks a much bigger problem. The company is simply doing what is acceptable practice: protecting their reputation so that they don’t lose customers or shareholders. The same companies that hire juniors, train them for responsibility, and then hope that it will turn out in their favor …. all at a much lower wage than they could hire someone with greater experience who can’t afford to start all over again.

Many employees keep quiet about how they feel to protect themselves

Many quality organizations promote honesty and create platforms to voice complaints about a manager, express how they really feel.  Yet, many employees are frozen with fear that the same manager or situation will get flagged and travel back to them, causing more undesired issues, ramifications and sometimes retaliation.   

At least, they try:  often,  they are the bigger corporations that have accountabilities to shareholders, if not always employees.  Then, there are the smaller or mid-size family run businesses where staff can be fired on a whim or a bad day.... with little to no fear of ramification.  At least, some companies hold their entire organization accountable and are known for firing executives for  violating behaviors.   

Above surface: what the world sees; below surface: what is really going on

That is a slippery slope of discussion best not expressed by an employee who could be misunderstood or misperceived that they're talking about their own organization when they are not.    Safer to keep away from slamming former employers or a nasty former boss unless one doesn't care that they could be held accountable.

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." 

~Albert Einstein

How many organizations, I wonder, evaluate employee turnover and examine if there are trends?  Are managers with higher results or performance forgiven more frequently for high turnover because they may be perceived as driving results when the real reasons may be disguised?  

 I like my job, I love my company.  I consciously stay far away from writing about or participating in corporate politics.  I have a focused decision to do my best to write positively and help others be more optimistic while improving their skills .... a more constructive way of moving ahead ... in my opinion.

Thank you for your honesty, Talia, it is precious. As a mother of four 20-somethings it isn’t anything I haven’t heard before …. although albeit a lot less publicly.

 +Jeannette Marshall (mother of four 20-somethings aka Millennials)

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

~Albert Einstein