Rant: People Are Not Valuable or Why I Don’t Attend Office Parties
November 19, 2009 by Greg Ferro · 15 Comments
One of the greatest fallacies of modern life is the lie that is propagated by Human Remorse and Senior Management across the world. You ready ? Here it is “People are our most important resource”.
What a load of tosh. What a transparent, shallow, and patently false myth this is to tell people that are easily fooled. A true Dunning-Kruger moment. People want to believe that they are valued at work. They want to believe that their work is important and vital. It’s human nature to be perceive illusory superiority and fail to question it.
It’s important to feel ‘valued’
Apparently, employees who feel valued by the company work better, and will work for less money. I recall seeing studies on this several times and realised that this has developed into an entire business. Your so-called Human Resources Team is there to help you feel good about your job in the hope that you will feel valued and important — thus saving the company money.
“People are our most important resource” — No, it isn’t, it’s profit.
One thing that I have noticed recently, is that CEO’s and Chairmen constantly refer to how vital their workforce is to their success. Given that these people really only focus on money (it’s their job right ?), it’s a strange element of a business strategy to espouse. The blunt truth is that people matter ONLY when the company is making money.
Think about this: when a company becomes loss making does the CEO treat their ‘people’, their “human resources ” as their most important resource ? No, they get rid of them. nd when they are making a profit, the company wants to keep costs as low as possible by paying staff as little as possible. This maximises profits.
So maybe you aren’t that important after all. No ? Do you think it’s easy for the CEO say “people matter”, knowing that they will get a good result without spending money ? I do. I so cynically do.
And I’ve noticed my fellow workers really lap this up. Eyes shining and heart beating in their chest as they want to believe.
Office Parties
As you face up to the inevitable office party this year, think about the following:
- A company that will spend fifty pounds a head to take you to a tax deductible party but wouldn’t give you fifty pounds a year as a pay rise isn’t really interested in you. Right ?
- You will get to “enjoy” the company of people that you already spent most of your life around.
- Most of the people that you work with are not people that you really like. Lets face it, you didn’t choose them, life chose them for you.
- You get to talk about work. (There’s a great idea.)
- You have to be careful what you say. Office Politics and all that.
Look, before you call me a grinch, I like working and love my job. Networking is an amazing career choice, full of options, interesting work and good people. Some of them I would even class as friends. But I’m not convinced that going to a party is a good life choice.
Remember
You need to look after your own career, and your own life. While you clutch that glass of cheap beer, and stare across the discarded catering food that you didn’t really like, and gape at the group of people that you see at least five days a week, think about what you are doing and ask why ? Why am I here ?
Remember who you are going to wake up with in the morning. That’s right. Yourself first.
That’s why I don’t go to Office Christmas Parties, or leaving parties, or team parties. I’m at home, doing something that I want to do. Go out and get on with your life. Work shouldn’t consume your life, it’s just part of it.
Most importantly, remember: The company that you work for doesn’t love you as much as you should love yourself.
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Hi,
Another great (not tech) post… Can’t agree more with you!
It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one that have that kind of opinion! When I was reading your post seems that you were inside of my head checking my thoughts, wouldn’t be able to explain that vision better than you did though
Take care,
Ric
“People are our most important resource.” For the Soylent Corporation, perhaps. Otherwise, complete bullshit. Good article.
Thanks Jeremy.
Hi Greg,
Your post is more timely than you could imagine. I don’t believe it’s always been as bad as I’ve personally seen it lately. I can remember a time when team members genuinely enjoyed working and hanging out together. A time when senior management/leadership took a honest interest in you both professionally and personally.
Perhaps as I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten a little wiser at seeing the signs but I do sometimes miss the old days.
Thanks for sharing!
I suspect it’s the older/wiser option. Depending on the company that you work for, look at the some of the older guy and watch how they work. You should notice that many of them have found a work/life balance that suits their life. It may not be your choice, or your style of course, you need to find your own level of commitment to worklife and life in general.
Older means wiser and smarter. Usually, that means better.
EPIC WIN
I have never realized why i hate company parties. Now i understand.
Yes and no.
In general, obviously — profit is first for the company.
However, and I am specifically talking about a services organization (IT-related), the people serve as both a drain on profit _as well as_ the mechanism that generates revenue. Keeping employees atleast-satisfied if not actually happy is in the company’s best interest as the employees will then be more productive.
Think about Google’s “20%” — where people are given some free reign to develop “out of the box” things. At first glance, this is insane — 20% of that persons’ time (and thus salary) is “wasted”.
However, this not only makes them happier but enables them to do novel things that the company hopes to benefit from. Obviously, this type of benefit is only realized when the staff is highly motivated and technically proficient, and to be blunt — that isn’t always the case.
And obviously, yes — you need to protect yourself … that is no-one’s job but your own!
However, socialization @ work is a part of that. Aside from a chance to unwind, and perhaps being a bit pragmatic (or perhaps cynical) here — It can enable you to more readily do your job. Knowing who to ask, and being able to just ask him/her vs. having to traverse a chain of command — because you have a personal tie.
(And even more pragmatically (cynically), it can develop professional contacts you can later rely on.)
It also all depends on the employer/management and the employees. Wanted to throw that in as well.
/TJ
PS — Besides, every office party also has some embarrassing moment that is fun to witness.
PPS — Unless it is you being embarrassed.
PPPS — Don’t be that person.
Surely if there were no people there would be no company hence no profit?
In a perfect company there would be no costs, just profit. People are an unfortunate expense in this model, in reality, staff costs are the large/St cost. That’s why people in India are so popular.
And here comes the Dilbert comic strip to put a final touch to this post
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009 – 11-20/
Very timely article. I had to make a decision this year after being passed up on a promotion about our company Christmas party. I have no desire to go and smooz with the upper management. These are the same people who told me a year ago if I worked hard I would be rewarded. After working weekends when others would not answer their phones, going out in the middle of the night to fix network equipment, and countless other things I came to a moment of clarity. Management’s focus is the shareholders. You are just a cog to keep the investors happy. If you are too good at your job they have no desire to promote you. Why take a guy doing the job of 3 people and promote him? Then you have to fill his/her spot with more people. you are truly right in your article.
I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll be in this position in a months time
And they say people in IT aren’t anti-social…
Obviously I can’t speak for your environment, and respect your opinion, but seriously, it’s just a party!
Although I did like your point about people vs profit.
Greg,
WOW — so jaded but so true.
I really cannot disagree with anything you have said in this post.
FTW!!
Good one Greg. I think I’ll boycott the party this year.
Cheers