Worst Companies to Work for in B.C.

Image by: Flickr / HikingArtist.com

Undesirable quality #22: sucking up every last ounce of employees' self respect

We've told you about the best workplaces, now brace yourself for the worst. These are the qualities to avoid while seeking out jobs in Vancouver and throughout B.C.

Walking into the headquarters of 1-800-GOT-JUNK is like stumbling onto the set of The West Wing, NBC’s fly-on-the-wall fantasy about life, love and the pursuit of power in the Oval Office. Like President Josiah Bartlet’s White House, Brian Scudamore’s corporate headquarters overlooking Granville Island is full of energetic people running hither and yon. This eager, scrub-faced enthusiasm permeates the office and extends to the inspirational slogans painted on the walls and the daily ‘adrenaline’ meetings during which employees gather in a circle and talk about the days in which they are advancing the common cause. On the surface this corporate culture is easy to make fun of, but if you judge by results rather than appearance, you have to admire what Scudamore has created.

We've told you about the best jobs, now brace yourself for the worst. These are the qualities to avoid while seeking out jobs in Vancouver and throughout B.C.

In addition to being one of the fastest-growing franchise companies in North America, 1-800-GOT-JUNK – with 150 franchises and sales in excess of $65 million – also took the No. 1 spot on the 2004 Best Companies to Work for in B.C. list profiled here in December, and for all the right reasons. In addition to earning competitive salaries, those lucky enough to land a job at the ‘Junktion’ enjoy a progressive work environment where flex time rules and communication is a two-way street. Call centre employees with big numbers can look forward to anything from free dinners to the use of a Mini Cooper for a month, and quarterly retreats take place on the slopes of Whistler or the banks of some river in between whitewater rafting trips. Employee satisfaction is in the numbers; the company’s turnover rate is a stingy 1.4 per cent.

Unfortunately, for every 1-800-GOT-JUNK there’s a Janus-mirrored opposite we like to call Skrewu Inc. Companies where dysfunctional and occasionally psychotic employers seem to enjoy grinding their workforce into dust, wringing every last bit of labour and self-respect out of their people before replacing them like batteries in a flashlight. These are the kind of leaders who would admire the actions of an infamous restaurant owner in Victoria who demanded that his waitresses, all recently arrived young women from Japan with uniformly poor language skills, turn all their tip money over to him for permanent safekeeping. When confronted by a customer who discovered this odious practice, he defended his policy thusly: “They’re all stupid, ignorant immigrants. They wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.” He then asked who the squealer was so that he could fire her, presumably to teach the rest of the malcontents a lesson.

TRUE STORY

Naturally, we’d love to publish an issue honouring these throwbacks to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. We’d like to name names and sling some well-deserved mud, but unfortunately our lawyers aren’t quite so enthusiastic. (Evidently this has something to do with the fact that even bad companies can afford good legal counsel.)

We have, however, devised a list of qualities we’d be looking for among our imaginary Worst Companies to Work for in B.C. Read on. If your company fits any of these criteria, consider yourself a nominee.

ALWAYS DICTATE, NEVER LISTEN

Here’s some good advice for making our list courtesy of Jane Graydon, director of HR for B.C. Biomedical, a company which has occupied the top spot in Report on Business magazine’s Best Employers in Canada list for the past three years running. “Impose programs from above and never ask employees their opinion on anything,” advises Graydon. Don’t undertake employee surveys to see how people feel about the company or their roles in it. If you do, never say thanks for the input and, whatever you do, don’t act on the results – a guarantee that the exercise will foster additional mistrust and future non-cooperation. Have a one-size-fits-all attitude and make sure the square pegs fit the round holes you’ve made for them or send those recalcitrant staffers packing. Don’t empower individuals or committees because that tends to make them uppity and will lead them to challenge the wisdom of their superiors. If you do, override any decisions they make that you don’t like. Don’t explain why. Trust us, this stuff works.

BE A BULLY

Ah, power. What good would acquiring it be if you couldn’t let it go to your head? Push people around. Bang your fist on the table and watch them tremble. Fun, huh? Doing this will make your company a shoo-in for at least an honourable mention on our Worst Companies list because an abuse of power in the executive suite invariably results in a culture of abuse throughout the organization. A fearful workforce is a productive workforce, right?

Then again, maybe not. When we asked him what effect bullying tends to have on a corporate culture, Vancouver-based psychologist Gordon Reid responded by quoting Newton’s Third Law of Motion. “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction,” he observes. Hence, when employers bully their employees – and this can include a range of activities from verbal abuse and exploitation to thwarting ambition and failing to help people realize their true potential – those pushed-around employees will figure out a way to push back. And because doing so openly can have adverse consequences (like getting fired), these paybacks tend to be sneaky and underhanded. Productivity plummets as the disgruntled underlings slack off, use up sick days and spend their time hanging around the water cooler bitching and complaining.

IGNORANCE IS BLISS

Another great way to stir up dark thoughts among employees, foster a climate of fear and sabotage productivity is to deny them information about the company. Particularly information they need to do their jobs or protect their own interests. Stephanie Shelton, an internal communications specialist at Creo, says this is especially good advice for Worst Company-owners facing an unexpected crisis. So do not do what Shelton and her colleagues did when Creo faced a crisis of its own recently. The company was rocked by what amounted to a shareholder revolt and demands that Creo’s entire board be sacked. When the company announced it had agreed to a takeover worth US$950 million by Eastman Kodak, the bid mollified investors but the in-house uncertainty continued unabated. What would the takeover mean? Would there be wholesale layoffs? “I’ve seen it before,” says Shelton. “When employees don’t get enough information about the company it leads to speculation and rumours.” Instead of ducking the issues, Shelton and her team tackled them head-on, grinding out emails explaining the situation and clarifying whatever was posted on the company’s intranet site. She made sure the employee newsletter was relevant to the situation and not just a bunch of rah-rah, we’re-the-best bafflegab. She helped quell rumours and assuage fears. Gunning for top spot on our Worst Companies list? Don’t follow Shelton’s example.

EMPLOYEE TRAIN THYSELF

If you think facilitating ongoing skills training for your employees is a waste of time, avoid having lunch with Brian Merryweather, HR manager at the City of Surrey’s head office. He’s going to say something that will really annoy you, like: “If you think it’s tough having somebody leave your company on whom you’ve invested a fortune in training, it’s far worse to have someone stay on whom you haven’t spent any money.” For dessert he might add something about how training programs “regenerate and invigorate people and help them think about other things when they get back to their desks.” And you’re probably thinking, “What? He lets them leave their desks?”

KNOW THY ENEMIES

Gervase Bushe, an internationally recognized organization development scholar at SFU, has some advice for companies with a unionized workforce interested in competing for a Worst Companies award. Start by hiring a director of labour relations who understands that it is his or her job to get every possible concession from the union, and then work to ensure that the union is given as little power as possible in return. Teach senior management to isolate and ignore the union so that the only way for it to have any influence is by enforcing the letter of the contract. Be sure to promulgate the view that union leaders are elected based on their ability to harass and embarrass managers. Prove your point by allowing simmering resentments to boil over into a work stoppage over a minor issue. If necessary, provoke the union so you can show how tough you are. Unions can do their bit to help this process along by fighting to protect employees whose lack of competence and motivation is detrimental not only to the company but to the job satisfaction of other employees. Bushe says he has seen all this before and assures us that it is a foolproof way to enrage your workforce. Or did he say foolish? Whatever.

IGNORE HARASSMENT ISSUES

Robert Hungerford, a lawyer with Hungerford, Tomyn, Lawrenson & Nichols, a firm specializing in employment issues, has a terrific idea for our Worst Company wannabes: pretend harassment is never going to be a problem. Start by not having a harassment policy (despite the fact that you can find a suitable template by just Googling the words ‘harassment’ and ‘policy’). If harassment issues related to gender, sexual orientation, race or religion do crop up, ignore them. You stand a good chance of losing not one but two valued employees. You can watch in delight as the fabric of your company is torn asunder as other employees pick sides. You’ll also enjoy defending your policies, or lack thereof, in front of the Human Rights Tribunal, which can levy fines that you will no doubt be delighted to pay. Assuming your tale of non-engagement hits the press – as it usually does by the time a case gets to the tribunal stage – you can enjoy having your company’s reputation dragged through the mud.

• Tags
  • British Columbia, 
  • ian macneill, 
  • Businesses, 
  • Trends