Culture of Fear
April 29th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
Seth Godin recently ran an excerpt from his book Free Prize Inside that got us thinking about fear in the workplace. Godin finds the root of workplace angst in Henry Ford’s decision to pay workers based on productivity rather than replacement value. His take is that we’re insecure in our jobs because deep down we know that we’re replaceable.
We’d like to add another source of our insecurity. When you go into work today you have two responsibilities. One is to get your job done. The other is to meet the cultural expectations of your workplace. The cultural expectations are the unwritten rules and codes that add a layer of complexity to your job. Some of those cultural expectations may include:
1. Being on time
2. Showing obedience to your boss
3. Using certain buzzwords or slogans
4. Sending ideas up through “proper channels”
Not all cultural expectations are bad. There are work cultures that genuinely value transparency, innovation, community involvement, and so forth.
But there are also cultural expectations that are crippling and destructive. If you’re stuck in a workplace that has any of the unwritten rules we mentioned above, then you know what we mean.
Take the relatively common example of a workplace that strictly enforces traditional working hours. You may be absolutely terrific at your job, but if you’re not on time every day (or if you leave “early” one day) then you’re branded a bad worker. So you have to be afraid of your kids taking too long to get ready. You have to be afraid of catching a bad break during your commute. You have to be afraid of something coming up in your life that might require you to leave at 4:00 instead of 5:00.
You’re afraid of being replaced not only because someone else could do your job, but because someone else might be more willing to tolerate the culture. We wonder how much workplace insecurity out there actually has to do with people worrying about not being able to do their jobs. How many people are in over their heads when it comes to the task at hand? And how many people feel like they’re drowning because of the culture of their workplace? Let us know.
Here’s me being annoying again…
You mention employees being afraid to be late because their kids take too long to get ready.
Lets assume you have a tight schedule. We have a 30 min meeting at 10:00 am (what we have to discuss will really take 30 min). And you have the next meeting at 10:30 (it’s a very important meeting and you shouldn’t be late).
What if I show up at 10:15 and say that my kids were taking longer than usual to get ready?
Hope my questions are not too annoying
I once worked at a job with a palpable sense of company-culture fear. The CEO of the company was controlling (he recommended that I get rid of my dog in order to spend even more time at work), demanding (he refused to give salaried employees paid sick days), and abusive (if he was in a bad mood you could count on being told you were a miserable excuse for an employee) and everyone in company showed the effects of this treatment after awhile. People started quitting in droves and the huge turnover only encouraged more people to quit.
Truly, a company culture with no grace or flexibility is a miserable place to work.
Cali & Jody,
I am amazed at how many individuals continue to exist in a culture of fear or intimidation. I realize sometimes we can be trapped by compensation or limited options for other opportunities, but in my line of work of corporate chaplaincy, there are plenty of “life” issues in great companies, let alone the difficult ones. I found your blog extremely interesting and thought provoking. Even in the best business cultures I witness rampant fear by the employees. Part of that is due to the baggage some employees bring into the position from life, but some of it comes from very poor managers or owners who come with their own baggage. I appreciate your thoughts and willingness to address such a tender and frightening reality of business. God knows we need more voices exposing and bringing focus to such a critical area of our work life. Thank you for carrying the torch!