This amuses me. Actually, it enrages me, so I should write it down. My girlfriend and I work in completely different industries, and earn totally different salaries, and the attitude of our employers could not be more stark.
Her company
She is junior, yet is included within the company’s decision-making process. Even if they don’t care what she and her colleagues think, they’re asking her. Her response? She loves the company and feels included, involved and motivated. The company are small (70 employees, I reckon) and it sounds more like a family.
She earns a pittance, but the little touches her company makes as her employer compensate, to a small degree, her low income. It’s emotional compensation.
My company
I am experienced and reasonably senior. I work for a large American firm, owned by an even larger American corporation. We are lied to, deceived, belittled and ignored. People are made redundant or fired, their positions never replaced, and we’re told by anonymous emails that the company is still “passionate” about our region, still committed; there is nothing to worry about, and keep doing what you’re doing because it’s great. Oh, and by the way, Jon Jones will be leaving the company next month too, so please wish him well. His duties will be taken over by someone half his age, and a quarter of his salary.
I earn pretty well, but have no loyalty toward the company, the brand and increasingly the people. I am emotionally bankrupt. Worse, for someone usually so motivated about his work, I loath every aspect of this firm and it’s even begun to effect how I perceive Americans. I know, deep down, this is an irrational reaction but it’s also hugely symbolic of how an employer can ruin not just my working life, but dozens of others.
Crucially, it signals how chasing decent money is always the worst possible thing to do.
And then there was me 