The human side of a burning problem of the Business World – Why we are not growing?

The human side of a burning problem of the Business World – Why we are not growing?

 

An Idea and a Movement for Indian Businesses 

The case: I want to make a different case and discuss a different kind of social problem we are facing today in our developing economy and our businesses. Many people are used to hear talks about different kinds of social problems like poverty, economic crisis, black money, corruption, rapes, crimes, so and so forth. But, I want to talk about Problem with Employee community all over India (and all over the world).

I want to make a strong case for them because they deserve a fair chance to be treated well, treated like human beings.

Your Employees aren’t your extended Family?: Why can’t we take care of employees as our own family members? (In letters and spirit). Isn’t it a part of our social responsibility? Everyone talks about social responsibility these days, surprisingly they talk only about Company’s Social Responsibility. Company has to spend 2% of net profits on CSR activities, ok fine.

We, as an individual, don’t have any laid down social responsibility rules, hence, we think and act as we like. We are used to treating our employees as machines.

Fault in the Education System: There is no fault of ours, if we are thinking in this manner. It’s the problem with our education system. We have been taught in economics that Man, Machine, Land and Capital are factors of Production. Finish. You were born genius, born as human being but this education of factors of production has ruined your value system. Any economy can rise and fall based on its education system. (Can we accept the responsibility to create a change here???, It’s a separate topic in itself)

The Case:

The Problems Employees face in personal Life: I want to present a case in front of you. It goes like this, take the example of one employee of your organization, you will never know what problems he must be facing in his family and personal life, in his health (mental and physical), his financial conditions, his home loan pressure, depression, his everyday quarrels with neighbors, his children’s school fees and so on.

I have observed in my life that a human being has to suffer and face a lot many difficulties in life, some of us are very lucky to face only few of the problems. Worst are those who are facing all at once.

The Problems Employees face in work life: Now, my concern starts when that employee enters his workplace, what he sees? A problem employee sitting besides him (who unfortunately facing more or less same kind of problems as his). And he sees a problem manager, an owner in problem, a director in problem. Unfortunately, we all have made our life so complicated that we all are facing more or less the same problems. And what further damage we do is we don’t create family and bonding at workplace. We are used to treat our employees as a just another factor of production. (As we are taught)

What can we do about it? There is great scope here to bring a revolution. To start treating your employees fairly. To give them what they deserve and not just what they desire and ask for (Always Exceed their expectations). Please think about your employees before thinking of pleasing your customers.

Let’s look at why your employees are so important that you should start caring about them?

I will ask few simple questions, your answer will be just one word. That answer is ‘Employees’.

Question	Answer
Who innovates ideas for your business progress	Employees
Who develops new products	Employees
Who looks after your customer care and Business Development	Employees
Who makes phone calls and talks to your customers (with a Smile)	Employees
Who runs your machineries for manufacturing of products	Employees
Who negotiates loans and funding requirements for your business	Employees
Who is looking after your investors grievance mechanism	Employees
Who is writing your accounts? (For god’s Sake don’t say your SAP and ERP softwares, lol)	Employees

The above list is unending.

The lesson:

The lesson I want to bring home is that this world of business does not run without employees. We do not grow without them, the business needs them. We will not be judged by how much Foreign Investments are brought in. You will not be judged by how much growth % your company has. We will not be judged by the Return on Investment (ROI). We will not be judged by the high tech machineries and plants we bring in for production. We will not be judged by the top class smartphones, High end cars and HD televisions we manufacture.

We will be judged by how we treat our workforce who is giving their 10, 12 hours a day for coming to work and working for you. (In Mumbai, I have seen people start from home as early as 6.00 or may be earlier in the morning and reaching 10 or 11 in the night.) What a life?

Do we even give a thought about this??

Are we numb?

Are we insane?

Are we hallucinated?

Are we just another machine who cannot see and feel another human being in trouble, suffering, struggling and fighting his life?

Lastly I want to bombard you with some questions that may keep you thinking.

Question	Answer
Can we not do something about the situation?	Yes
Can we not build our workplace culture in such a way that people love to wake up in the morning and come to work. (like the owners do, they wake up 5.00 am in the morning and starts thinking about their business, they come to office sharp at 9.00 without expecting any other person to be present at that time)	Yes
Can we not make our employees think like owners and business men?	Yes
Can we not teach them Entrepreneurship?	Yes
Can we not bring about policy changes in our organisations where people feel ownership.	Yes
Can’t we share a fix percentage of profit for them, every year??	Yes
Can we not love our employees who are Human Beings (facing their own set of problems) instead of treating them as machines. Technology has equipped us with more power but we are lesser and lesser equipped with empathy, love, compassion, care and so many other things.	Yes
Can we not give them an environment where people love each other and make them human beings (which unfortunately they are not getting from their family and friends, more because all are busy with whatsapp and facebook. Talking to family and friends has gone down drastically. I make sure everytime that at least I should talk to my friends on their birthdays and anniversaries.)	Yes
Can we not create an environment of family where each employee respects other fellow employees?	Yes
Cant we, the managers and leaders also give the respect and sense of belonging to the employees?	Yes

               

Last Questions.

Can we Not Bring a Revolution in the Business World?

Can we not bring Ram Rajya (a good governing system) in the Business world?

Will you go bankrupt if you spend a little more on employee care and surprising them unexpectedly?

CA Rajesh Pabari,

+919022780919

carajeshpabari@gmail.com