In this blog, you’ve heard me rail against corporations that disregard workers, and the consumers of their products. And you’ve read my posts pointing the finger at government agencies who are supposed to protect worker safety and uphold the rights of workers but drop the ball.
Well, today I want to point the finger at workers.
A lot of people across the country are outraged at the recent meat recall at a major meat packing company in California that supplied ground beef to schools around the country. There are actual videos of workers prodding and poking sick cattle to get up as the animals headed for slaughter.
This is a bad thing because the government strictly prohibits to consumption of sickly cows because they may carry Mad Cow disease.
Despite this fact, workers supposedly were encouraged by managers to brush aside this fact and get the bovines dancing.
From the Wall Street Journal today:
The video showed workers at the company’s plant here forcing sick or injured cows into slaughter by kicking them or ramming them with forklifts.
Thanks to those workers and managers, the meat from those cows ended up heading right for the bellies of little kids. And the workers must have known this. Did they themselves feel okay eating this meat?
I know, the U.S. Department of Agriculture must take some blame here, especially since this particular meat, because it’s heading for school kids, required even more inspections by the goverment agency.
And I know, the company, Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co., must take some blame here as well. The top dogs know what’s going on in their own facilities. I have seen first hand how plant supervisors keep on top of every bathroom break their workers take. I can’t imagine they missed something like this.
But folks, I want to lay a lot of the blame at the feet of workers today. If the workers at the facility refused to engage in this illegal behavior this would not have happened. If workers reported the problem to government inspectors, who had come to the plant often, this wouldn’t have happened.
I know, if an employee stands up they risk their job. I understand that. Employers retaliate in this way against their workers often. But when is enough enough?
I address this issue in my column today on MSNBC.com.
I am in no way diminishing the importance of holding the USDA or Hallmark/Westland accountable.
But it’s about time that we realize we also contribute to the ills of the workplace, ills that unfortunately end up pouring out into our society at large.
We’re all responsible for the bad beef out there, no?
February 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
I just spoke about ethics today on my personal branding blog. We all need to make choices and have to learn to say “no.”
You bring up a very interesting point and example here and it goes to show that it takes someone dying to realize a mistake or to make a new law.
-Dan
February 25th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
As a former employment lawyer, representing employees and employers in employment disputes, I’ve heard arguments from both sides on the issue of when to take on a supervisor. I’ve concluded that the best option for an employee is to make themselves as much a career free agent as possible, so that they can get out of a unethical, untenable situation whenever they need to. Building skills and acquiring training as part of your career planning will make you a free agent.
While whistleblower laws are great, they are often not enforced without a lot of pressure and the employer’s conduct has to be very shocking for lawyers to be interested in it. And they are expensive for the employee, not just for their reputation and time spent on the case, but even plaintiff lawyers need money for significant costs to pursue claims.
If you want to be in control of your destiny, make yourself attractive to prospective employers and don’t put yourself in a financial situation where you cannot afford to leave a job.
Juliet Jones, Vice President
www.careerkey.org
February 25th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
As I raised my children, I taught them how to work for the other person.
They were expected to perform all duties as assigned so long as it was not:
· Illegal
· Unethical
· Immoral
· Or, harmful to themselves or any other person.
If any of these applied, they should refuse to perform the task even at the risk of being fired.
Otherwise, perform the assigned task cheerfully and efficiently.
When they were young, I received orders, from top management, to lie about a project to the customer.
I refused to do so even though I was the sole support of my family and we were half way across the country from our relatives.
After a few days of wondering what might happen, my Supervisor came back to me saying that Top Management had decided to tell the truth and suffer the consequences.
I later told my children about this incident as an application example.
My son used this test when he was 17 working at a restaurant. The boss came to him telling him that they were out of limes, handed him a $100 bill, and told him to buy every lime in Wilmington, NC. He had a blast racing around everywhere, running into the stores, scooping up all the limes, and taking them back to the restaurant. Afterwards, his co-workers derided him because it “wasn’t his job” and for wasting his gas. His reply was to cite the test. “Besides, Dad,” my son later told us, “It was fun.”
Needless to say, both have grown up to be good workers that will never suffer for lack of a job.
Rotary has a similar 4-way test that each Rotarian applies to the things we think, say and do.
· Is it the Truth
· Is it Fair to All Concerned
· Will it Build Goodwill and Better Friendship
· Is it Beneficial to All Concerned
http://www.rotary.org/en/AboutUs/RotaryInternational/GuidingPrinciples/Pages/ridefault.aspx
Anyone who applies this simple test to their business and personal decisions and associates with people who do likewise, will find their lives less stressful and more rewarding.
Best Regards,
Scott George, CEO
Mid-America Dental & Hearing Center
Mt. Vernon, MO
February 26th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Management is most assuredly responsible for the occcurence. You could blame the workers for making the wrong decision, however it is the responsibility of management to make decisions. Reguardless of the destination of the product, the reality of doing harm to another human being makes this incident criminal. The actions of the workers are undeniably irresponsible, however the ignorance or lack of mangement is culpable. You could have all the intelligent and durable employees there is, and it is meaningless without good management. There simply is no way I can comprehend how the actions of this obviously mismanaged and misinterpretted company company reflects workers in general in today’s world. I may sound naive in thinking today’s workforce is too afraid or does not care about the quality of what is being produced. In many occupations, this may be so. But we are talking about a job that produces products that are digested. This company has to require far more intense supervision. This is why I hold those in a more prominent position accountable.
Scott, I absolutely agree with your criteria and congratulations are raising wonderful children. At the same time, I have personally destroyed the smaller independant retailer with simple phone calls and establishing business contacts. This never promoted goodwill, however it did create customers,,
may
February 26th, 2008 at 8:33 am
You are right Robert, management should be held accountable. Indeed, good management is at the heart of a great company and product. But my point is we also need to expect more from employees.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:35 am
From experience I tell you this. At no point in the history of employment (I know this is a stretch) have you ever had those that do, do more than what managment expects of them. If a standard is to be acieved as far as a job requirement, and is achieved, then obviously managment has given proper instruction. Tose that are self employed have an almost contrapuntal obligation to achieve. I have known an excellent cabinet maker who simply vanishes from time to time. And in an extremely similar fashion, I know an author who does the same thing. These examples I use to illustrate the same point about day to day employees. They do what is necessary to have their jobs. When I was in management in a retail environment, I rejected every supervisors ‘excellent’ reviews. This company ‘used’ to hand out merit badges for ‘outstanding customer service’. I rejected mine every time and although I was booed athe monthly presentation, I did make my point by simply stating my case to my fellow associates. I said, “Why should any of us be given an award for doing something you are supposed to be doing in the first place? We should have demerits and actual accounts of customer’s not receiving customer service. Perhaps our managers are completely unmanagable”. I received cheers for that one and went about my job. When I did become a manager there, I criticized my peers for being unmanagable. They tried, however failed to have me terminated. Sales in this location skyrocketed. I had every sales associate on edge because they knew my philosophy before every shift and I had this Peter Drucker quote in 4″ bold letters in every location the employees would see, but not the customers…’YOU ARE IN BUSINESS TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN CUSTOMERS’ I was in motion constantly. The many times I would see an associate walk by any customer without a greeting, I owuld greet them with a keen eye on that employee. Every warning was a written warning and three written warnings in a 120 day period was a termination. In the two years I was a manager, only 4 out of about 160 were terminated for this reason. Our sales were almost 30% higher. Unfotunately, to achieve this required at least 65 hours weekly. 15 of those hours were to manage my paperwork. With six children this was] not fair to my loving wife. She became ill, and I now work elsewhere at 40 hours. I tell you all tis because this is what is required of a good manager. If you do not tell your employees what to do, they will do nothing wrong. Your employees will do what you tell them to do
In this serious incident, it is obvious there was a dereliction of what was purportedly a very high standard. The most pressure you can put on any worker under your charge is not managing them. If an employee does something that is considered above an beyond what is expected, you mis managed them by not instructing them. If an employee does something wrong, you mis-managed them by not giving them the confidence to inquire as what is proper.