What do you lose when loyalty is lost?

Recent discussions about companies considering whether employee blogging needs to be controlled, put under policy, policed, etc. have gotten me thinking about what the root cause behind the concern is.

When my father worked he knew that he would always have a job as long as he did a good job for the company and the company knew they would keep him on as long as he did a good job. This commitment between each other provided a great deal of benefit for both parties and I suspect a great deal more intangible value was obtained by the company from this relationship than my father got. One benefit was my father's loyalty to his company. This loyalty was strong and he always spoke very well of his company even when they did things he did not really care for. He seemed to believe that even though he did not like it he never believed the company did any thing that was not in the best interests of the employees

It is obvious today that there is no such commitment between most employers and their employees. This lack of commitment has broken, or failed to build, the bond of loyalty and therefore employees are much more free to speak about their employer. This is not to say it causes employees to speak ill of a company but it certainly does not have the power that loyalty has to prevent employees from speaking ill of a company. With loyalty the conversation seemed imbalanced in that more good and less wrong was spoken about. Now without loyalty it would seem that either side of the scale may be prevalent.

So are employers worried that there is a lot more bad to speak about than good?

Perhaps companies should count blogging as the blessing it is, knowledge they never had before. Instead of worrying about what is being said a company should consider why it is being said or not said.

For another interesting view on this topic look at John Porcaro's blog http://johnporcaro.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/blogging_on_the.html

Should employers be allowed to police employee blogging?

There have been several stories in the news about bloggers getting fired or facing other reprimand from employers because of their blogging activity. The Delta stewardess that was fired for her blog has started a campaign to promote a bill of bloggers rights. People are asked to visit the site and sign on as supporting this effort, even if they want to sign anonomously.

The rights as stated are:

International Bloggers’ Bill of Rights.
posted 01/04/05 (edited Wednesday, Jan 12, 2005 15:52)
We, the inhabitants of the Blogosphere, do hereby proclaim that bloggers everywhere are entitled to the following basic rights:
FREEDOM TO BLOG. FREEDOM FROM PERSECUTION AND RETALIATION BECAUSE OF OUR BLOGS:
1.) If an employer wishes to discipline an employee because of his/her blog, it must first establish clear-cut blogging policies and distribute these to all of its employees.
2.) Blogging employees shall be given warning before being disciplined because of their blogs.
3.) NO ONE shall be fired because of his/her blog, unless the employer can prove that the blogger did intentional damage to said employer through the blog. Blogophobic companies, who violate the Bloggers’ Bill of Rights, will be blacklisted by millions of bloggers the world over.

Seems to me that most companies already have an arrangement setup with employees that basically says do anything that reflects badly on the company and you are likely to be disciplined. A company can fire an employee for the way they behave in other situations why not in how they behave in their blogs. You may not like this but this is really how the business world has worked for a very long time. It is very common for employees to sign an agreement with their employer that essentially takes away all of their constitutional rights in any way that could be connected, even remotely, to the employer.

Most neighborhoods with covenants do the same thing in the covenants, you sign and agree to give up your constitutional rights as well. Many people do not know this.

I don't use iTunes Music Store for the reasons stated in law suit

I have been purchasing music online for about a year now and I chose to use Napster over iTunes because it provided me the flexibility to use the portable music player that I wanted to use. No it does not work with the iPod but this is because Apple does not want it to happen. I like iPod its a very cool portable music player but I also like options and with iTunes music store I did not get options I only get one choice, the iPod.

I know many will disagree and give me dribble about Apple being the Cadillac of computing technology, baulderdash. This issue is not about a better car, its about designing a specific restriction into the car such that you can only buy a car stereo from Cadillac. Something that Ford was once sued for doing.

I agree with the position this consumer is taking, Apple has no reason to have built restrictions into iTunes downloads other than to prevent consumer choice through use of a monopoly position, something I think they have accused Microsoft of for a long time.

Another year at the grindstone begins

Well, happy new year to everyone, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas or enjoyed other holidays that happen at the end of the year. My holidays were great as usual and I start another year counting down until the next holiday season. Yes, I am one of those cooks that really enjoys the entire holiday season, from Halloween on I am in a Christmas state of mind. I decorate my office cube, I start playing Christmas music and create new compilations from Christmas CD's I got the previous Christmas, I enjoy the shopping and I even enjoy the company of a grinch or two. Grinch's make me appreciate this time of year even more.

But now the real grind begins again in earnest. Besides working full time I am a full time student at the University of Phoenix Online Campus. Going to school online is the only way I am able to fit schooling into my life. Between work and family it is not possible to go to a campus at set times on set days of the week. The class I start today is Marketing, oh joy, oh joy. My view of marketing is not exactly a positive one so it will be interesting to see if this class causes me to drink the marketing kool-aid causing me to believe that a practice that consumes as much as 50% of the price of a product is really worth while.

I also wonder if the end of this year will find me employed where I am today. The industry I work in (IT) is cutting thousands of jobs every day and very few of us will survive the next 5 years. My boss reassures me everything is fine but I suspect I will be rated average at my next review and that is not a good thing when trying to keep your job. At my company all employees are ranked from worst to best in each department so the company always has a set of names ready to lay off. Of course they say the ranking is for other reasons but we never believe them, at least not me. I do like the boss I work for, although she is not the best I have ever had she is at least in the good range and getting better I think. Like all of us she is overworked but she does a good job of keeping in touch with her people. Some of my bosses in the past have been absentee bosses until something went wrong. Not my current boss, she is engaged, helpful and willing to provide constructive feedback that helps me to improve. This is a far cry from the bosses that do not help and only show up to chop your head off.

Let us begin the year together and hope that we end the year as happy as when we started.

On a last note, I do grieve with many over the losses suffered last year from natural disasters and I know that we will all do our part to help during the current crisis just like we do during any other natural disaster. Americans are strong, compassionate people and while not everyone agrees with our methods all of the time, no one can say we do not care.