WE ARE (NOT) FAMILY

Here is a question for you: "how many times have you been laid off, downsized, furloughed, or fired? For me the number is 4, and you know the terminology may be different, but the results are the same: we have no place to go tomorrow, with no money or benefits coming in. Other than for cause, these situations are mostly a shock, and some of the toughest days of a lifetime. Because much of my career has been with small organizations, there was a level of respect involved, but what about the person with a large firm who one day is in management, respected and well-liked: the next day terminated and walked out of the building as a common vagrant or trespasser through no fault of their own. Are you kidding me?

We seem to be at a strange intersection. While I read many articles about building a family community at work, with workplace as a family, I also read frequent stories where organizations are downsizing because profits came in slightly under target. My opinion (and this is only my opinion) is that a business is not a family. A business is a community of people brought together to do good work for a common cause. I am from a large family: half irish, half italian. I have never been laid off or sent packing from it. Although no doubt dysfuntional, family is family and we stick together and come together in tough times. That is the difference between the two. Companies continue to change, to add and subtract, while our family stays together no matter what. Bad times destroy companies yet they can bring family together.

My belief is and has always been that a business is like a sports team. We work to hire excellence to help achieve company goals. The staff members are volunteers. They can leave to take a better offer, or management can send them packing for any number of reasons. Let's not kid ourselves: there is no familia love as you hit the office or factory door. There should however be honor, respect, as well as a great challenge with matching rewards, but there are no guarantees. As some employers dream of the day robots will take our place, how can we believe there is family caring or love in the workplace? The great 70's song from Sister Sledge: "We Are Family" is an amazing tune, but not appropriate for this post. At work, we are (not) family, and never will be.