Friday, June 29, 2012

What Type of Employer Are You?

There are different types of surveys that are done for employers such as "The 100 Best U.S Companies to work for" by Fortune and I recently saw one which was "The 15 Most Hated Companies. I wonder which categories your employees would put you in. How hard are you working to be in either surveys.

Here is what I have learned in life. I am a 46 year old man, and I have lived. I was born in the south of France, moved to Paris when I was just 21, and then moved to Los Angeles at the age of 27. I have certainly had a lot of jobs, and worked for many employers in my life.

I remember when I used to sell ATM machines I was dealing with a certain number of owners from various ethnicities. Some people like to bargain a lot and sometimes so much in their favor that they really don't care if they leave you nothing on the table. They are happy as long as they get the best deal, and get something for nothing. It doesn't matter if you end up being the losing party, what they want is to be the winner. They see life their way, not your way.

What I quickly realized as well is that those individuals who get their way, end up not respecting you when you give them everything they want. Since they got something for nothing, got what they wanted and left you nothing why would they respect you? After all they know they got the most from you.

It is the same for many employers. If an employer gives nothing to its employees, no health insurance, no sick day, no retirement, and no vacation why would they respect their workers? They don't. I have worked for enough employers in my life and the worst ones I've worked for, were the ones who gave the least to their employees.

The very worst employers are the ones who cheat the law and their workers. The worst employers I've had, were not paying labor to EDP, and workers comp. When I was a server in the restaurant industry there was an French owner who was not even us paying hourly wage. YES HE WAS NOT PAYING THE SERVERS THEIR HOURLY WAGE. The only income we had was the gratuities from diners, and I highly doubt he was not keeping some of it. He was a mad man, who was yelling all the time at his employees. He used to own a French restaurant in Eagle Rock, California. He decided not to pay any benefits to his workers, no vacation, no sick day, no retirement, nothing at all.

These are the signs of someone who disrespects his employees. He was the worst employer I've ever had. SO DISRESPECTFUL, YELLING AT US ALL THE TIME. Mean to everyone, including the customers. What do you expect about someone who refuse to pay what the law requires him to pay?

How could he respect us, if he was stealing from us and not paying us hourly wage?

Another terrible employer I had in downtown Los Angeles, a French restaurant but this time not a French owner, but an Iranian owner, and a woman. She was not paying overtime, and was in fact stealing the tips of the servers to pay the managers salaries. Completely illegal in the state of California. When you think of it, how could it be legal to have workers pay their supervisors salaries? Completely insane.

She was breaking the law in so many ways. Not giving breaks to the workers, not paying overtime to people working 12 to 14 hours a day, stealing the tips of the servers, and SO MUCH MORE. When I left the restaurant after two and a half years of hard work she did not thank me, nor said goodbye to me. She was not paying sick day, retirement, healthcare, nor vacation. She just hired anyone to work there, and preferred to hire cooks out of school so she did not have to pay them much.

I felt in the end that that woman had no respect for her employees. But how could she, when she was taking advantage of her workers, stealing from them and not paying overtime? Obviously she could not have any respect for those she was mistreating and stealing from.

In life if you want to be respected by an employer you have to be with a acompany that is going to give you the most for your hard work. Meaning health insurance, sick days, vacation, 401K etc... The employers who give the most to their employees are the ones who tend to respect their employees the most.

You would probably feel more respected if you were to work with Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, Boeing, GE etc....

The more someone gives you, the more respect they have for you.
The least someone gives you the more disrespect they have for you.

So it should be a no brainer that you should be looking for an employer that will give you a lot in exchange for your hard work. In the hospitality industry you would be better off working for the RITZ CARLTON, as opposed to working for my ex French employer who owned a French bistro in Eagle Rock California or my ex female employer who owns a French bistro in downtown Los Angeles.

YES life experience is so VALUABLE. You realize that those who gives the least are the ones who disrespect you the most. That is the law of nature and cannot be changed when someone is so rotten inside and has no regard for other human beings, even when they employ them and expect the most from their workers. Quite a dumb thought. How can you get the most from your employees when you cheat them?

The law of nature also tells me that those who cut corners, disrespect their employees, steal from them, break the laws and disregard their basic needs, their wishes, their well being cannot go very far in business. Greed means that someone acts selfishly. But how can you possibly go far in business when all you care about is yourself and your own pocket book? How will you involve the hearts and soul of your workers when you don't give a damn about them? IMPOSSIBLE!

Even worse is that those self-centered people do not realize that when they disrespect their own employees they also disrespect the customers. After all your attitude is always the same. You are who you are and if you don't give a damn about your employers, you don't give a damn about anyone, that includes your customers.

So the choice should be clear. Work for a great employer who gives you the most for your work. Work for an employer who offers career advancement. Work for an employer who cares about you and your family. In the end that employer will survive and outlast the employers who has nothing to offer.

And don't forget that an employer who breaks the law will never stay in business, because of all the damage they create. With social media the news will be all over the Internet, accessible to anyone.

Don't hesitate to call a lawyer to defend your rights as a citizen of the United States. The law is the law, and no employer should break the law to cheat its own employees.

In the end as previously stated, the most wonderful companies in the world, who have the most to offer to its employees and customers will far outlast those employers who have nothing to offer to the rest of the world, and have so much disrespect for others.

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Restaurant & Hospitality Consultant








No comments:

Post a Comment