The Big Bad Boss is Back.

Photo by Thomas Bonometti on Unsplash

It is not a secret that 2020s forced a lot of companies to change.

Many workers realised that their work doesn’t care about them. Some realised this for the first time in their working lives.

People felt the freedom of not having to commute to work on a daily basis.

Freedom of going around for walks in the park at lunchtime and spending time with loved ones, instead of stuffing that sandwich as fast as humanly possible.

Everyone who could, jumped on the bandwagon.

‘We are human beings and demand more’, we said. ‘Or we will quit’, just like millions during the great resignation.

‘You are right’, said the big bosses looking down at us.

‘You are human beings. How did we not see it before? We will treat all of you right. While we are here, let’s try to level the playing field for everyone and see what that does.’

Fast forward to 2023 and 100,000 tech workers from big companies have been cut. Many companies are seeing their ‘amazing’ culture crumbling and getting people back to the office.

Anyone with ‘diversity champion’ in their title must be feeling shivers right now.

At the same time, some bosses did give up some of their pay but not all. In some cases, it looks more like optics. Why would they?

‘Now dear, get back to the cubicle and do as you are told.’

Empathetic leadership is officially over.

Yeah, right…

Empathetic leadership was not a thing. ‘Woke’ companies were not a thing.

A lot of tech companies were hiring like crazy during the pandemic.

They would have hired people who left [secure] permanent positions to come work for them.

It is not clear what the long-term plan was. We all knew that at one point the pandemic will end — or we will end up in the ‘All of Us’, a slightly different problem. They did not plan adequately because cutting the headcount was always an option. And a relatively easy one.

It is much easier to blame inefficiencies than to admit that there is too much competition from smaller companies or that the company overpaid for all the acquisitions.

If all else fails blame the ‘inefficient’ workers, some of whom have not even joined the company yet. Some of these workers are on visa’s and cannot stay in the country without a job.

So much for the empathy and caring.

Why do companies even pretend?

Spoiler: Turns out it benefits the bottom line.

Research shows 65% of employees want to work for organizations with a strong social and environmental conscience. In Millenials, this is at 75%, and even higher for gen Zs.

In addition, 82% of employees want to be seen as full people and not just, you know, robots.

Fast Company found that ‘most millennials would take a pay cut to work at an environmentally responsible company.’ I know I personally have.

Deloitte Insights 2020 Global Marketing Trends Report found that purpose-driven companies had 40% higher levels of workforce retention than their competitors.

Some studies found that turnover reduced by 57% when employees felt connected to companies purpose.

In the US alone, worker turnover is estimated to total $160 billion per year.

Imagine reducing this even by 10%. That’s a $16bn of additional cash to pay the shareholders.

Other reasons include being seen as ‘hip place to work’, some to raise money from ESG-focused funds or for the newsworthy PR.

If corporations wanted diversity, there would be diversity. If they wanted staff to have a work-life balance, it would already exist.

All this boils down to — making more cash.

Clearly not for all companies- some do have empathetic and diverse leadership. But they are not the majority.

I worked in a company doing good.

Among many many problems, HR suggested hiring someone permanently for a temporary position due to a lack of temp candidates — ie. getting someone to leave a safe position for what they assumed is another safe position.

I politely declined and left shortly afterwards.

Be careful what you wish for.

Let’s be honest here. If corporations wanted diversity, there would be diversity. If they wanted staff to have a work-life balance, it would already exist. But they do not. They want the ‘culture’ that indoctrinates people into a certain way of thinking.

And it is this culture they are trying to get back.

Do we even have a right to complain?

It depends on which way you look at it.

When I started working, I never expected the boss to care for me. They never did and nor did they pretend to. It was clear where the boundaries were.

In the last 5–7 the expectations changed. Thus a lot of companies started pushing the diversity and we-care-for-you agenda.

Welcome baskets became a thing.

So did the mugs with the company logo. Yet no one ever asks you if you actually need one or already have ten. So much for caring for the environment.

Some of us- especially those who never worked in the pre ‘woke’ days - bought it. What's happening now must be a tough pill to swallow.

However, for many working from home was never an option.

They looked after us during the pandemic, making sure post was delivered, and supermarkets were stocked and working. They worked in hospitals &, emergency services. They had to go out and sanitise everything we touched putting themselves at great risk. They adapted to teaching online, which for many was not easy.

And the majority of them did it without having big salaries, pensions or other benefits many of us take for granted.

Where do we go from here?

We realise that work is not our life nor our friend. We do not accept less money because we want to belong.

We continue to voice our opinions that environmental and social issues are important. We do it by spending our money accordingly and by giving feedback to employers where we can. To our future employers.

We do it for ourselves so that we have a planet to live on in the future.

We do it for those with young children who can do their jobs just fine if they did not have to travel for hours each day. We do it for those from under-represented backgrounds because why shouldn’t we?

That’s all we have.