Orphans in the Workplace

In today’s workplace, we find changes everywhere. It is normal to move around employees, desks, take down the old buzzword slogans, notices from the wall, and replaces it with the new one. Company logos, organizational flow charts, mission statements, values are everywhere. In contrast to these wall decorations of company value messages, there are also that tells the truth beneath the surface. These include memos with the content that says, “Few people are needed to work today, and or we need volunteers to take the time off or we will select people to let them go home”. Other memos will follow with messages such as “no over time message or memos with modified health insurance where you may only qualify for generic drugs or employees cover the cost of brand medications”. I saw both messages, messages that foster belonging from the value and mission statement of the company and avoiding responsibility from email and daily memos of the company. I see a very weak and sometimes non-existent connection between the conflicting messages of the wall and employees. The relationship between employees and the company, the relationship between the message and employees, and the relationship between teams are not real. There is a cloud of mistrust and suspicion. Long time employees are the new temporary workers with no obligation to loyalty. The loyalty and goodwill that had been developed over many years between employees and companies are no longer a factor. We are all lost and abandoned in the workplace. In the eyes of the companies, we are all costs with no recycling value but only to be disposed like outdated machines. It is reaching to the point where the character of an orphan is the everyday norm of the work place.