I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.
---- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
In society, some people work for
other people; we can simply call this relationship as employment – the
employees work for the employers. In this section, let us look at the
“employer” in detail.
Who is the employer
Generally speaking, an employer
is the owner of a business who provides work opportunities for others.
There are many types of business
units. You have the government service department, big enterprises like
public-listed corporations and small businesses like a retail store in the
shopping center.
For convenience, we will just use
“company” as a general business unit, meaning that when we say “employer”, they
can be government officers to the civil servants, the human resource department
of a corporation, or the shop owner to the salesperson.
Know your first employer
When you take up your first job,
you are switching from the learning phase to the career phase. For most people,
the first job does not last for long. This may be because you may not be
comfortable when entering the career phase – you are still exploring the job
market and trying to adapt to the new environment. However, you still need to
take this opportunity to get to know your first employer. By doing this, you
will be able to better adapt to your future employers and work with greater
freedom later in your career phase. This is a necessary step you need to take,
even if you may not want to create your own business to become an employer.
You need to find out the answer
to the following questions:
● What is this business?
What is the future of the business (in 5 years, 10 years, etc.)?
● What is the market for
this company? What comparative advantage does this company have that
differentiates it from the others?
● What is the culture of
this company?
● Is the boss trying to boost employees’ morale to promote productivity or just to make use of the staff?
Bear these questions in mind as
you work and try to answer them within 2-3 months after you have joined the
company. These 2-3 months are normally the probation period in the employment
contract, during which you can terminate the job with immediate notice without
receiving a penalty.
From the answers, you will decide
if you want to stay there or not.
My first job was working as a
technician to develop a road light control system. Four fresh graduates worked
under the boss who had just quit university one year before. It was a
project-based development and we did not have a marketing staff. We were free
most of the time, and playing computer games became routine when the boss was
absent. If you check the above question list, you would find that there was little
reason to stay in such a company for long.
What is the most important factor to confirm a job
Is there a perfect job? There may
be but these are often difficult to find. A job needs your attention, your
effort, your concentration, and your cooperation with your colleagues. This
means you have to make a commitment and contribute to the job first, only then
will you be able to harvest the fruits of your labor.
So there is no easy job, but when
you consider a job, what is the most important factor?
Unfortunately, there is no
definite answer to this. One man’s meat is another’s poison. If we look at some
specific angles, however, there is something we may have a clearer answer to.
If you have chosen an industry,
you can consider finding a “good” company to work for in the short term (e.g.
for the next 1-3 years). In this context, I would say your direct boss (i.e.
your supervisor) is the most important factor.
Focus on your supervisor during
the probation period to see if you want to continue the job after that. Observe
his or her attitude to your fellow colleagues – how he or she interacts with
and promotes cooperation among the team, how he or she handles customers’
complaints… Consider these, and if you feel like your supervisor is good to
work with, then you can confirm your stay with the company after the probation
period.
If the company is big, you may
consider looking to your supervisor’s boss for answers as well.
There's more than one way to skin a cat
If you never write, a pen is
nothing to you. When you write, a pen is a tool for you to use; if the pen runs
out of ink or is not comfortable to write with, you can throw it away and buy a
new one.
The same relationship applies to you and your employer. Without employment, you don’t care who or what the employer is. The employer only matters to you when you are employed. But you don’t have to stick to one company. You have the right to terminate a service according to the employment contract you signed.
Note the company is not a
charity, as an employee you should contribute and dedicate yourself to its
business. Apply for a job only after you have conducted sufficient research on
the company – you will not waste time trying out a company you would not work
for that way.
What should an employer do
Once upon a time, I was an
employer myself. I was a co-founder for a blooming company – the market niche
was there, what we had to find was potential customers to help sell our
services. However, frequent business socializing and the constant pressure of
the next payment of rentals and employees’ salaries deteriorated my health. The
business is now obsolete today.
It is not easy for the employer.
The employer should be able to look far into the future to make sure the
business has a future. In simpler terms, the employer needs to have a vision.
Only by creating one can he progressively re-organize the company to adapt to
the business evolution while maintaining its core foundations.
The employer then has to be kind
to the employees if he or she really wants to realize their vision. The
employees determine the strength of the company and are essential to making the
employer’s vision come true. The employer should understand that happiness
breeds productivity – it is a virtuous cycle. The vicious cycle is contrary:
when one feels bad, everything he or she does becomes inefficient and may even
go wrong. Hence, a boss who knows how to motivate the employees will benefit
far more than those who exploit employees as tools.
If you are a boss and not aware of this, stop
and ask yourself: in retrospect, was there anything I’ve done wrong? Did any
staff I had valued leave due to management problems? Will my ambitions be delayed
without a productive and collaborative team?
