Labor Day

Today is Labor Day.  When I was teaching, school started in mid-August, so the early September holiday was a good opportunity for me to give my university students an extra credit assignment.  "What is this holiday about?" I'd ask, "and how does it relate to the subject of this class?"

I taught a number of classes--human resource management, organizational behavior, management strategy, and even labor relations.  Labor Day had something to do with all of them.  If you go to Google today, you will read, "Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers."

My students didn't get off that easily.

In the late 19th Century, a lot of blood was shed to acquire for workers basic rights that most of us take for granted today--paid vacation, sick leave, and benefits packages.  While many achievements were the result of labor-management contracts that were assured by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA,) which was passed in 1935, to my mind, the real impact of the labor movement came from legislation: legislation that prohibited child labor and made school attendance mandatory, a minimum wage, a 40-hour work week which allowed for overtime pay, and a reasonably safe workplace.

To a certain extent, the success of labor unions in accomplishing so much legislatively may have led to weakening the movement.  With that weakening, coupled with the advent of technology which allows it, has come the 24x7 work life.  As more and more employers have figured out ways to circumvent overtime pay, work days and work weeks have expanded dramatically. 

In the years when American workers were treated more sanely, they produced incredible creativity and breakthroughs in productivity.  In the last decade of the 20th Century many employers actually expressed and demonstrated an interest in the souls, spirits, and passions of their workers.  A "Spirit in Business" movement blossomed across the country.  (Really across the world, but my concern is what is happening with American workers.)

My first two books Leading from the Heart and The Alchemy of Fear were written to leaders who wanted to foster a more compassionate workplace.  Not because the NLRB said that they had to negotiate or one piece of legislation or another required them to do so, but because in their hearts they knew it was the right thing to do, and they wanted to do the right thing. 

On Labor Day, I am concerned that the kind of compassion and caring by employers that was reasonably common in the 1990s has all but disappeared today.  I truly hope that people, who read this post, will reassess and ask themselves, "What can I do to make work in American more humane, more caring, and more compassionate?"  Of course, it is easier to make an impact from a formal management role, but, like I said in Leading from the Heart, we are all leaders and have within us the ability to make a difference.

The difference that I am committing to make is to be more compassionate to myself.  If my bosses choose not to, then I have to draw a line.  I also commit to not feeling guilty because workaholic coworkers choose to work the despicable hours.  Finally, I will do a lot of prayer work to find my way to a work situation where compassion is not only present but still rules the day.