"Toxic" Slinger, Lazy Worker

I've spent some six or seven years managing teams of varying sizes and compositions. During this time and still, it's come up that my outlook on the culture of a workplace and workforce management is a bit of an outlier for the existing culture and context. For me, this has been the foundation of extensive introspection and inquisition as to why such a large divide stands between me and others.

Let me preface this by saying that my personal culture around work is highly influenced by my first few years as an employee myself, which happened to be in the US, and my own particularly high drive for excellence. I can sense that you may have discredited me already— "This diaspora who thinks everything from the US is superior!" But this is not so, and I hope you can give me the benefit of the doubt. Let's put back on our objectivity glasses (you'll need them for this read), and let's explore what it really means to be part of the modern workplace.

As I've mentioned in articles prior, employment, at its very core, is a transaction. The terms and scope of this transaction are bound by a contract that, ideally, protects and holds both parties accountable. But, of course, there's so much more to being employed than a pure give-and-take of values. There are relationships (both horizontal and vertical), working conditions, work-life balance, perceived stress, differing communication/leadership styles, career dissatisfaction, etc. And these are just factors limited to the very work itself; it'd be foolish to assume that our satisfaction in other aspects of our lives— even the very state of peace and stability in the country— does not affect the way we behave at the workplace.

The hybrid American in me used to think that none of these factors matter— you've made a commitment to do the job, and so you must do it or quit. This dichotomous thinking is dangerous because it reduces employment— a significant and complex part of our lives— to the simple transaction I mentioned earlier, which is wildly reductionist. People are people— not commodities. They come with their own lived experiences, baggage, expectations, merit, and values. In these humble years I've lived, I've learned that managing a workforce is actually a delicate science and a fine art of navigating the dignity and growth of my employees, compounded with each individual's particular context, while ensuring they are and remain productive. I am still learning, and I still fail sometimes. This is also partially why I feel supervisors need just as much grace, if not more, as society expects us to give subordinates.

However, unless you frequent HR conventions, this multi-layered employee-employer dynamics is almost always talked about from the employee's vantage point. I often read commentaries, even here on LinkedIn, about the "toxic" workplace and the overbearing boss. Let me preface this by saying, I understand all too intimately that there are truly and genuinely toxic bosses and working environments. I know there are far too many hostile and unhealthy workplaces where employees experience consistent mistreatment, lack of support, and untold levels of stress, quite literally affecting their physical health, and certainly their mental health, well-being, and productivity. However, it is starting to feel like we're slinging this 'toxic' label around casually, quick to assume the position of a victim, with very little objective evaluation.

Let's step back for a moment and analyze the situation. We are in a country where there is a conspicuous absence of a systematized training program on professionalism for college students or graduates. What, then, would have been the source of the work-related perspectives held by the younger generation now in entry- and mid-level positions? To me, Hollywood comes to mind as a significant influence. Sitcoms like Friends and The Office, or even The Simpsons, where every beloved character treated [hard] work like the plague and was adored for it. I consider our parents and their parents who saw only a powerful few reaping the benefits of the collective's hard work. Of course, there's also social media— a distraction at best and a breeding ground for confirmation bias for our most unrealistic standards at worst. Social media is also a construct that reinforces the desire and expectation of instant gratification— a mindset obstructive to steady growth and discipline. No wonder the simplicity and wisdom of honest hard work truly seems to have eluded us.

I continually detect increasingly unrealistic expectations, particularly among the younger generation. It is common nowadays for even entry-level professionals to demand lofty titles— manager, director, etc.— without understanding the nuance of what it means to hold these titles. It is equally common to see lofty numbers being quoted as desired salaries without even a moment's self-evaluation of whether or not they'd willing/able to match that number in their value to the company and/or role. Rather than accepting employment for what it is— a fair exchange of values that will facilitate their personal and professional growth— I see a consistent desire to reap all its benefits without any of the responsibilities. And what are the responsibilities? Simple! Fulfilling job-specific tasks and duties, adhering to company policies and guidelines, and contributing to a positive and productive work environment. I am finding that these are no longer considered responsibilities, but rather the outrageous and unreasonable demands of a "toxic" boss.

When I've made these "demands", I've had many throw their hands up and evoke the T word! They utter (or imply) the words that are supposed to make me gasp into submission: "I feel like this is a toxic work environment!" The very expectation of productivity and alignment with company policy is an offense to many youngsters if it goes against their personal interests at that time. It is considered audacious, even micromanagement, to inquire about how well employees are utilizing their time at work, pushing back on the quality of their outputs, or worse, presenting them with the consequences of consistently misaligning with company policies that they agreed to upon employment.

It's as if some employees believe they're bestowing a personal favor upon our company by choosing to work here. This perception becomes evident when, as a company, we attempt to uphold our interests as outlined in the employment agreement. Whenever I do so, I find that it does not matter that the company has been consistent in keeping up its end of the bargain, it's irrelevant that I've invested in their professional and personal well-being, and the reality that many concessions were made to ease their integration and assimilation into the team and culture, it all becomes moot. It's inconsequential. I am immediately that "toxic" boss you read about on LinkedIn. This characterization presents a significant issue as it erodes our shared understanding and aspirations regarding the workplace itself. It also unfairly impacts the employees themselves who formulate such characterizations, as it perpetuates their distorted perspective through the superficial validation found in social media posts.

At least in the creative industry where I work, I can tell you that the supervisor-employee relationship is so much more than hierarchical jargon. Creativity and its products are open to interpretation; and it is my job, as a supervisor, to ensure that my client's desired message is at the forefront of potential interpretations, and I provide direction and feedback as such. Some call this a collaborative approach. Others have felt that this stifles their autonomy. What many seem to fail to understand is that autonomy in the workplace is a privilege earned through consistent competence, reliability, and the demonstration of good judgment and responsibility in one's role. I may watch in the passenger seat like a nervous dad teaching his kid how to drive, hitting an imaginary brake and giving only necessary feedback, allowing them to learn, and even learn from some mistakes, but I certainly won't take a nap knowing it's still a student driver at the wheel.

It is truly concerning, the state of work ethic and professionalism in Ethiopia today. But Ethiopia is growing, and growing fast. Startups and small businesses are popping up everywhere, and quickly becoming the backbone of the economy. You know what this means? It means the majority of work opportunities will start to come from small companies, those that have less than 10 or 20 employees in total. Because small companies often have fewer resources, they understand and see a more direct impact from individual employee performance. They are particularly attentive to productivity and behavior to ensure efficiency, growth, and success— because they know they have to make each hire count. I think this will bring the rare honest hard workers back in demand.

It's amazing to me that, in the meantime, it's considered unreasonable for employers to expect a fair return on their investment. When one of our leadership team members came on board almost a year ago, she was amazed by the care and consideration made for employees at our company. A company that exists in a sector that wants to chew up creatives for all their worth and spit them back out. "It's almost too much," she said. I'm beginning to wonder if she's right. As I said, employment has to be a fair exchange of values, and if this is the value (and value system) the current labor market has to offer, we all may have to recalibrate.

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