Laboring Over Labor Day!

Labor Day was this past Monday, the national marker of the end of summer. We sometimes forget the importance of Labor Day and the incredible achievements for workers won by the nation’s labor unions: child labor protection, two-day weekends, vacation days, sick leave, parental leave, minimum wage, etc. So, in addition to eating my last BBQ hot dog and hamburger for the summer (note, not for the year, sigh), I thought about how we, as business owners and managers, treat our workforce.?

I’ve worked at many places that have spent millions of dollars communicating to their workforce its value and management’s commitment to their work environment, work/life balance, career planning, etc. At a corporate level - messaging about the value of employees is better than ever.? The C-Suite and its layers of managers beneath them are trained on the importance of ensuring our teams feel “valued.”? That’s the language, “Do our teams feel valued?? How do we make our teams feel valued?”

Big companies invest in charitable work, community outreach, holiday parties, and casual Fridays (is that a thing anymore?).

Trigger warning - grim stuff to come.?

A couple of articles this past week made me think harder about how we look out for our teams.? On August 16, in Phoenix, Denise Proudhomme at Wells Fargo “swiped” into her building at 7 am. On August 20, at 4.55 pm, she was pronounced dead in her cubicle. IN HER CUBICLE.? After five days, someone noticed that this hard-working, dedicated, in-office team member had expired at her desk.??

Wells Fargo has had some bad press in the past few years, but this one is a gigantic bummer. Companies are desperate for employees to come into the office, and Denise was there.? I’d guess the Wells Fargo building in Phoenix has the commensurate security infrastructure of a large bank.? And, hey, I don’t know what I am expecting.? But, maybe not five days to notice a person dead in their cubicle (I apologize for the directness; I am not sure how to make it more polite).??

Another story really surprised me. Steve Stephanides, a Florida man (isn’t it always), was hiking a “fourteener” outside Colorado Springs as part of a team-building exercise. Steve’s company, a global insurance firm, was visiting the US from London. A couple of quick notes: a fourteener is a 14,000-foot mountain peak that is a real badge of honor to accomplish.? No matter the difficulty (cuz not all 14ers are the same), it’s a big deal.? Secondly, I have no idea if this was a team-building exercise or just some sightseeing.? In my view (and I bet in Steve’s in retrospect), if you are going with your co-workers to hike a 14,000-foot mountain, do it as a team.?

Alas, Steve fell behind, and his co-workers summited without him.? He followed them up but didn’t see them coming back.? He made it to the top, the terrain was confusing, and he took the wrong path down.? His “teammates” made it to safety.? They received a couple of texts from Steve, in which he shared his location and was warned that he was taking the wrong route.? Steve was unable to right himself, and the path markers his teammates had left to identify the correct route were collected by his teammates on their way down.? Ouch.?

Steve's teammates notified Mountain Rescue after a few hours (a few hours too long). They attempted to find him, but the weather turned nasty, and they put off their search until morning. Steve had a tough night in the backcountry. He fell several times and had to endure extreme cold and rain with temperatures in the 20s (F). Steve was hurt, dehydrated, and unable to move.?

Finally, the next morning, Steve was able to make a 911 call and was rescued.? Rescue workers called Steve’s ordeal very scary and said he was lucky to live through it.??

Honestly, I’ve got almost no words to describe how awful this is. The arrogance of an employer hosting an event in dangerous mountains without clear accountability for the team's safety.? They picked up the route markers, knowing they had left a teammate behind. And the delay in calling for help.? I guess I have words.

In my optimistic heart, I believe that if these employees had been reminded that climbing a mountain was a “team event,” they might have looked out for Steve.

The next Zoom call is gonna be a doozy.?

Back to Labor Day!? How do we show our teams their value to the business they work for 40 hours a week and more?? Provide great benefits. Snack rooms, hybrid work environments, hiking trips, etc, are great. Keep doing it. Celebrate your teams in good years and be transparent with them when you struggle.? Win together, lose together.?

Statistics suggest that payment gaps are growing, and executive pay is increasing. For this Labor Day, let’s identify some meaningful actions we can all take to demonstrate how much we value our employees.

• Routinely give positive feedback to your team!?
• Offer a robust personal time off policy without onerous accrual or probationary periods.
• Let’s make vacation time a minimum of two weeks.??
• All eleven national holidays.??
• Give your teams paid parental leave when they are having kids.??
• The national average for annual salary increases (for salaried employees) is 3-5%.? Try and be on the high side for your top performers (no bell curve - iykyk)
• Deliver better healthcare and take over 60% of the payment burden from your employees. If you have big opinions on how challenging it is to afford good healthcare for your teams - think about your voting.? Everyone should have good healthcare.? Not mediocre or bad healthcare.