I was on site with a company last week, meeting with an employee who had just been told that her job was eliminated. She was unceremoniously terminated after 22 years and today was her last day at work. Through her anger and tears she told me that she had been planning to retire soon and was hoping to leave on her own terms. That hope ended when she was asked to meet her supervisor in a sterile conference room located near the building exit.
As we continued to talk, she told me about a company that had changed dramatically over the past few years. It used to be good place to work, a place where people knew each other and cared about each other. But recently, things started to change. The global marketplace had shaken a business that produced a commodity product. Margins were thin and the Chinese could make the product cheaper. Two years ago private equity stepped in. The old world officially spun off its axis and was replaced by a not so kinder and gentler approach to business.
By now most people understand the challenges of running a successful, profitable organization in today’s twitchy corporate world. One of the products of these challenges is a reliance on outsourcing to gain efficiencies … technology, customer service human resources and accounting processes (and people) have all felt the sting.
And, as I watched this sad woman leave her place of employment for the last time, I wondered if we haven’t also started to outsource empathy.
3 Connections 