In my barn there are few if any "happy" employees, management or hourly. Sorry, thats just hard to figure given our compesation package. Its puzzleing that the only way the company can come close to turning a profit is to load up every employee to their absolute max everyday. For saleried and hourly the day gladly ends not that fires were put out and problems solved, but just that its over. It would be nice to work for a company with integrity, I'd settle for a company with a better grasp of reality.
Our company does have a very firm grasp on reality. Unfortunately for us, part of reality is that there is a direct correlation between abuse and production.
To a point. And then we have the extremes.
Put too much pressure on anything and it will eventually collapse. If you're lucky. Applied in the wrong direction with an extreme amout of force, it will explode in your face.
Some of us are fortunate to have a management team that pads them and their coworkers from a lot of maltreatment. They are the kind of folks that will as long as they can, which won't be much longer. So my hunch is that a lot of people have no clue. The harassment is contrived. Disagree all you want, but think about what happens when, even at a minimum, your flaws are pointed out to you first thing in the morning. You leave the building p'd off. The energy that builds up must be released and most of us will work harder. This process starts at the very top as soon as the ops reports start to come in. Soon it will happen in real-time thanks to technology.
Our employment situation is at least a little unique and will never even approach perfect. This ain't SAS and will never even come close for us hourlies or those that manage us directly. But the hostility has to go.
Now I've heard some say there is no maltreatment in their neck of the woods, and the only hostility comes from "bad" employees who want money for nothing. Managers are not going to admit to the abuse they face. They will flat out deny it. I have heard it first hand, and I have seen and felt it's consequences. If they admit to it to you or me they will be forced to see it for what it is. On a personal level, they feel as though they will have to give something up. On a not-so-personal level they will be fired.
There are more than a couple of reasons people choose to work under these circumstances. That's a different thread. At least a few don't know how to function without an abusive caretaker. Many don't understand their own motivation. Many don't care. It's a very personal issue and a heck of a lot of people don't have a foundation that will withstand that kind of exploration, through no fault or flaw. A whole lotta folks are just scrambling to get some really basic needs met. All of our motivation is fundamentally selfish. The world just wouldn't spin otherwise.
We are all on the Tightest Ship. The folks at the helm are extremely selfish. They are steering us toward disaster because it's paying off for them at the moment. When it sinks they won't have a pot to pee in.
Someone has to excercise power for this company to operate. They don't have to abuse it. We don't have to allow it.
I love my job, for the most part. Among many other reasons, it's the only opportunity I will ever have to get paid for being athletic, and there is some degree of artistry in it. I am well compensated and appreciate it. I am not trying to bite the hand that feeds me. Face-to-face with the customer, I speak well of my company or I don't speak. I can always find something positive to say. In here, I am telling the truth as I see it.
I make mistakes and make an effort to own and understand them when I do. That's the only way I know to improve.
We must hold those who hold power accountable. They have what they need to be successful and their quest for more and more and more will ruin it for all of us.