He got his start laying pipe for the Atlas Water and Sewer company. Eventually, he climbed the ranks, becoming responsible for a staff of 800 and annual revenue exceeding $120 million. His name is Victor Kipling. This is his weekly column.
In their never-ending quest to show a human face, most corporations claim that they want you to think of your cubicle, or assigned bullpen area, as a ‘home away from home.’ After all, you are expected to spend a helluva lot of time there.
If you believe this stuff, then I strongly suggest a reality check. Just think about this seemingly benign little memo that a friend who works at a major company recently shared with me. The text is from an e-mail which she received from (you guessed it) her HR department. By the way, and it’s probably not coincidental, that this was sent to all staff shortly after everyone had to complete a mandatory on-line ‘sensitivity survey.’
“While we at the Corporation seek to encourage individual expression by all staff members, and welcome employees decorating their individual work spaces, the following are some specific guidelines to which you are expected to adhere.”
Sparing you the painful details, the text goes on to explain that all photographs, posters, nick nacks, tsotchkes, etcetera must conform to good taste. Worse yet, the memo also demands that all such items must not be deemed ‘offensive’ by anyone. Yes, anyone!
Unreal? Surreal? Could these rules be any dumber, let alone any broader? Could they be more ominous? What exactly are they telling you, in this spineless, eel-like way? Well, the big thing they are saying is that anything you display in your minute corner of the world can, and probably will, be used against you. So understand that any move you make to relieve the sterility of your cube places you at risk. Because not only will you be ordered to attend sensitivity re-training, but you’ll be considered ‘trouble,’ non-progressive, or far worse. And there goes your career.
What if the clerk down the hall takes offense at a family photo that you displayed? What would happen if the night porter is upset by your cross-shaped desk clock? So, a Che poster is acceptable while one of George Washington is not. A statue of Mother Teresa is fine, but one of Madonna is anathema (or vice versa).
The real issue here is where do we draw the proverbial line? Damned if I know…because in fairness to the corporate world, they are under attack. They are now being subjected to the tireless and unending scrutiny of the Politically Correct (PC) police. And just who are these self-appointed arbiters of the public (and soon to be private) good? I’m sure that you can spot them a mile away. They’re the screeching, narrow-minded zealots that love to add new causes to their messy ideological palettes. They and the organizations that back them routinely abuse the legitimate EEO process, retain shyster lawyers to litigate against anyone who dare disagree with their agenda, who encourage discontent and feelings of victimization where none previously existed.
Thanks to these vigilantes and crusaders, everyone is running scared. Boards of Directors worry that the corporate image will be tarnished; their legal departments are concerned about having to defend against specious and frivolous law suits; line managers are afraid of losing their jobs. As a result, we now are forced to function in an environment where companies are almost as obsessed with regulating your behavior (and appeasing the new idea bullies) as they are with turning a profit.
Ultimately, you know that it’s really you and me that pay the price for social, racial, religious, political, sexual, gender, ethnic and all other kinds of over-sensitivity. Operating under the guise of fairness and equality, this is social engineering and elitism at its very worst. We can also thank the PC police, by the way, for bringing back a level of stupid prudishness not seen since Queen Victoria.
Don’t get me wrong, no ones asking you to be a kamikaze and fight the system to the bitter end. But just as you can see that this article is peppered with a lot of questions (more than answers, I’m sorry to say) The least you ought to do is ask the hard questions. That alone may help begin to detoxify the office atmosphere so that common sense and decency can once again become the norm, rather than the exception.
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