Working in the 21st Century

These are very difficult times for those of us who were raised in a engaging, empowering work culture. The 21st century workplace is fraught with dysfunction, obsessed with data, and frigid when it comes to the needs of any carbon-based life form. For anyone who shows any weakness toward having a conscience, it can only be a continual struggle between morality and ethics. Even if one is armored up with rational thinking, one's equilibrium is easily fractured by the opposing demands of working in a highly competitive marketplace versus maintaining a sense of integrity.

In a global economy, anything remotely resembling an emotional tone is lethal. Well, maybe not lethal, but certainly it is deadly career-wise. In dealing with modern management, issues affecting stress, workplace politics, and legitimate problems such as intimidation, emotions are seen as the worker's inability to cope. Even if you address these dilemmas with fact-based examples, the response usually comes back to your inadequacy to fit in to the workplace culture. Whether one works in business or government, first and foremost management is charged with making money and/or continuing the revenue flow. Ironically, although most of this revolves around humans, customer service and the welfare of workers will always be last on their list of considerations. This is an era of technology, data, and gold standards documented on electronic records. Actual empathy and dignity for human needs is only pertinent if it is billable, produces dividends, or can be used to boost the reputation of a well-placed officeholder.

I work for the government. Yes, I am one of the many bureaucrats Washington politicos tout as the enemy of the people. They see me as lazy, unproductive, wasteful, and siphoning off the taxes of their hard-working constituency. It does not matter that statistically I can prove I have saved the taxpayers far more than I earn in salary and benefits. Saving money does not generate revenue. Every day I bob and weave to the bureaucracy which places pressure on me to justify my salary, validate my worth, and adjust to the daily conflicting demands brought on by political correctness. And as a woman, I earn far less than my incompetent coworkers and managers who do illustrate what our representatives see as reckless spending. This does not deter me from delivering excellent service but it does demoralize me. Oh yes, I never whine because I should be happy I have a job.

But I am not just another complainer. I believe we need a reinvented workplace where a healthy workplace meeting the needs of both the employee and employer is attainable. Unfortunately, I am not talking about unions here. Though unions have historically done a phenomenal job at workers' rights, they have also created polarizing the workplace by defending incompetent, inept, and bad workers. What I am proposing is a movement which examines workplace issues and balances them with the need for profit and accountability. I am not a socialist nor am I a capitalist. As a person with a strong work ethic I believe in cutting the fat, producing high quality work, expecting workers to live up to the standards for which they are judged, and understanding the very human needs of the workplace. However, I also think employers have the responsibility to provide us with a safe workplace, incentivize us by rewarding our productivity, balance the need for profit by accommodating a sane work volume, and by adhering to moral and ethical conduct. Am I asking for too much here?

When I first started in government, I had experiences working with highly effective, solution oriented, and dynamic people. My workplaces were some of the happiest and most productive in my career. These workplaces had competent managers, inspiring vision, and dedication to serving the public. I don't know where we went wrong but I believe this can be changed. It is a mistake to think this movement will start at the top. As workers, it will only begin with us.