There are companies that value employees only at the level of loud promises. At the interview, they talk about amazing financial and career prospects, but in fact they use people to enrich senior management. Psychodramatist Anastasia Bashlykova explains how not to fall into the trap of such organizations.
“I worked in the regional office of a large company. Sometimes some decisions and reactions to our letters, calls, proposals from the center seemed strange to us. But my colleagues and I attributed this to the fact that we don’t understand something in the provinces and “our Moscow” knows better. Then I was transferred to the head office, promising a career and «the best earnings in the capital in the best company.» I flew to Moscow on wings — I imagined a friendly team, exciting projects and a high salary, for which I had already rested in a five-star hotel in my dreams. From the first days, I was alerted by unusual relationships within the company, 31-year-old Ella recalls. — At the planning meetings, the leaders allowed themselves obscene jokes, they could ask frank questions about their personal lives. And all those present either laughed in response, or lowered their eyes in shame. If the general didn’t like something, he could scold in a boorish manner, with a foul language at a general planning meeting and deprive him of part of the monthly bonus, which accounted for the lion’s share of the salary. When I was deprived of a quarter of the bonus “for arguing with the authorities” and I demanded to show the order on the amount of fines, another quarter was taken from me, “so that I know my place.”
When the needs of an employee are not interesting to the employer, employees turn into disenfranchised cogs
Many still managed to return the prize: for this it was necessary to crawl into the office to Himself and beg for forgiveness. I started looking for a new job. When I found it, I accidentally dropped the name to a colleague whom I considered a friend and trusted her. The next day I got a call from the new company and was told that they had to refuse my candidacy. They said that they could not poach such a valuable employee, saying that they received a call from our management. And I was called to the carpet and stripped of all bonuses for uncorporate behavior. I was furious. I quit with a lawyer — otherwise I could not escape from this sect and get a work book.
Perhaps Ella’s story is an extreme case. But surprisingly, many are willing to tolerate the «weird attitude» in the company. And the reason is not only money.
Expectations and illusions
“People work to ensure material well-being. Now the topic “turn a hobby into a job” is popular. But, to be honest, in order for this to happen, you need a fair amount of luck and certain personal inclinations, says psychodramatist Anastasia Bashlykova. — To provide financially for yourself and your family so as not to survive, but to live with pleasure — this is important for everyone. It’s good if a person looks at things sensibly, understands why he chose this particular place of work, sees all the pros and cons (which are always there in real life). He consciously agrees precisely to this optimal option that satisfies his current needs.
But it happens that the expectations of the employee do not match what the employer offers, especially if the company does not advertise the true state of affairs. Sometimes we come to a new place with a set of illusions, and impartial things fall upon us, which often diverge from our life principles and values.
“If you don’t see reality behind dreams, you can get hooked by those enterprising employers who simply use dreamers as expendable material,” warns Anastasia Bashlykova. — Any workplace owner has personal interests related to business development. The difference is in how the owner treats employees. Does he see in them people who voluntarily, according to personal interests, came to his company. Is he ready to provide conditions in which the employee will not only be as efficient as possible, but also satisfy his own work ambitions and everyday needs?
And a completely different situation, when the employer is not interested in the needs of an employee and hired employees turn into powerless cogs, actually exist as serfs.
“When I turned six months of my experience in a construction company, I was once summoned to the chief’s office on Friday. A table was laid there, several colleagues were sitting. They raised their glasses for me and announced that they had been looking at me for a long time and now I entered the narrow circle of those who are on a special account, I was among those close. What this meant, I realized a week later, when I was asked to go to the boss’s house on Saturday and do something.
From that moment on every Saturday for several months I worked for him. When, after three months of working weekly, I asked a question about payment, I was told that it was included in my already high salary and in general we are one team, where it is indecent to ask such things. It was especially funny after this conversation to go out into the territory and see the slogan that hung on the facade, “We make people free,” says Evgeny, 38 years old.
The main difference between toxic organizations is that the real and declared missions diverge.
How does it happen that a person falls into a «labor trap»? Exactly the same way as other people get into sects, Anastasia Bashlykova believes. “Only instead of a spiritual ideology in working companies there is a corporate culture, a corporate spirit, to which you can be attached. Do you want fairy tales? Come visit us! We give you the opportunity to make your dreams come true. What does the candidate get? Great hope. In the case of a workers’ organization, this is the hope for rapid career growth, a rapid increase in personal income, as well as a «unique opportunity» to join an important common cause.
Each person has some, often unconscious, «general idea» or mission, as they say now, which he follows. Companies also have a mission. However, the main difference between sects and toxic organizations is that the real and declared missions diverge.
“The first is hidden, the second simply serves as a bait. The true goal: enrichment, increasing the social status and self-worth of the business owner by any means. In practice, employees are usually promised the same thing — enrichment, promotion, but in reality this is not the case.
How to distinguish the bait?
What to pay attention to in time to see the bait? Often, for this you will have to spend some time in the company — far from immediately, «totalitarian» corporations reveal their cards. It is worth comparing what was promised at the start, and what is offered “in kind”, recommends Anastasia Bashlykova.
At the start:
• The promise of «paradise»: a significant improvement in the quality of life after joining the company.
• Well-established communication of the interview, which contributes to the emotional upsurge of the applicant, up to euphoria.
In progress:
- You notice that the promise is not in a hurry to come true. You begin to notice the “invisible border” between employees who have reached noticeable heights in the company and the “lower link”. How their functionality works is shrouded in mystery. But ordinary employees have a lot of work to do: constant overtime in excess of the standard time is a common thing.
- The working enthusiasm of employees is supported by emotional motivation — a “kind word” — and is encouraged by awards that do not cost the employer material costs: diplomas, “prizes for good work” in the form of cheap gifts or “gaming” incentives. For example: “This month, the best employee has the honorable right to come to the manager without an appointment.”
- The employer does not skimp on spending money on corporate events: organizing joint leisure activities for employees. The goal is to make employees feel grateful for the company. On weekends, a corporate trip to a cheap boarding house, and when you try to refuse reproaches: “Do you fight off the team? We don’t do that!»
- There is also such an undertaking as constant refresher courses “on account of wages”: it is important for an employee to “grow above himself” for his own sake — after all, knowledge will remain with him forever!
- Five days a week overtime without pay «for the benefit of the company’s prosperity»: «You are also a member of the company, you must understand …».
- The company has a well-established system of control over employees, up to the encouragement of reporting information to the authorities «in private», simply — squealing.
- You suddenly realize that there are some unthinkable number of managers in the company and, as a result, the bureaucratic paperwork exceeds common sense and creates an overtime load. It turns out to be impossible to “fulfill the plan”, because the set norms exceed the realistically feasible ones.
But if all this becomes obvious, why do many employees work in such companies for years and are in no hurry to quit?
“Often the reason is the inability to recognize toxic relationships and misunderstanding,“ what’s the catch, ”explains Anastasia Bashlykova,“ As a result of this, there is a feeling of guilt that “I’m some kind of wrong worker, others succeed.” And shame: “to me as a native, they invested so much in me, but I don’t find the strength in myself to justify the trust.” An illusion arises that “the place is good”, I fall short of this, a fear is born of not being able to find a job, not only better, but at least no worse than this one.
test questions
What is important to remember in order not to get into such a working relationship? You can try to answer control questions, the expert advises:
- How much do I trust that someone better than me can know what I need?
- Am I ready to take on faith everything that is promised to me?
- How clearly do I realize my interests and clearly imagine what this job will give me?
- Do I understand well how I should not be treated?
- Do I often feel guilty and ashamed in my life because I “fall short”? And how much effort do I usually put into earning sympathy by doing not what I need, but what others will like?
- What else is my life filled with, besides work? Am I running away “to work” from a reality that does not please me?
- What do I plan to spend my money on? Do I have the time and energy to spend on this? Is this what I’m dreaming of?