How do you approach your work at the workplace? Many people point out that it is wrong to give too much of yourself to the employer, but I disagree — it’s not that simple. True you don’t want to have your employer take advantage of you but at the same time, it is important to invest yourself in whatever you want to do and to do what you feel may be right for yourself and/or the people you work with.
Milo Sindell and Thuy Sindell, authors of The Career Bill of Rights, suggests that this is a definition of a career employee, particularly because the employee’s relationship with their job has become blurred:
A career employee is an individual who spends their career working as part of a company, as opposed to working for their own company.
Classic examples from Dilbert:
Obviously Dilbert is a little too involved with his work but I’m pretty sure that a lot of people are, myself included. The thing I recognize the most about engaged employees are that they are objective oriented and that they look for meaning in the work that they do. That said, is it worth it to do whatever it takes? That’s up to you. I can honestly say that the many different stints in various industries has taught me that there are three ground rules to work with:
1. Never forget where you worked and never forget how you felt, and what you did when you started working.
2. If you’re going to do something … don’t do it the way you think should be right — do it right for yourself, your colleagues, and for the people you serve (i.e. customers or citizens). (…or at least the best you can)
3. Make sure you fail over and over again until you manage to not fail. If you don’t fail, what’s the point?
That is how I generally operate. But what the Sindells are suggesting is quite interesting. They are proposing that career employees (aka. engaged employees) should formulate and embrace their own bill of rights. Here’s the gist of it:
Enter the Career Bill of Rights
1. You have the right to take advantage of your employer.
2. You have the right to only give as much as you can.
3. You have the right to roam.
4. You have the right to the truth.
5. You have the right to enjoy your work.
6. You have the right to more. [Look out for more of this!]
7. You have the right to leave an inspiring legacy.
8. You have the right to fire your employer.
As the Sindells’ state, “they are the rights you have as a person who chooses to work for another individual.” Whether you decide to exercise those rights is up to you. I don’t necessarily know if a bill of rights will make life easier for the engaged employee but it is something that I have pointed out to people before.
We have the freedom to decide where/when we want to go and where/when we want to stop. Just like we market our products, the act of hiring a particular employee is a form of marketing as well — except the fact that employees are the customer. We either buy into the work we do — or we lose interest and become disengaged. The funny thing about this is that it demonstrates the simple importance of a company’s ability to market their own product and policies to their own employees — if it doesn’t work for your own employees, why would it work for your customers?
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