It all Begins with Human Nature

The subheading of a short article discussing research into bullying at work read ‘Workers should be treated like human being’. What a strange thought. Workers are human beings. How could they be treated as anything else? The article went on to describe the dichotomy between ‘the type of boss employees want and the type needed to make companies successful’. This sums up many of the problems we face in organisations today. As the proportion of work that is reliant on the contribution of people increases, the ingrained attitudes that workers can be viewed as resources to be exploited will become a millstone around the necks of those who perpetuate such views. There is already a growing recognition of the link between employee satisfaction and productivity and customer satisfaction. Xerox’s European services business headed by Olaf Odlind has shown this relationship. The maintenance teams with the highest productivity also have the highest customer and employee satisfaction.