Tales from a Mid-Lifer

Cultural differences

A few years ago, I was working in Human Resources with father and daughter co-owners of a small healthcare company. Having moved to the U.S. with an unlimited cash stream from their home country, they wrongly assumed that money really can buy anything.

Payroll was viewed as a gift, resulting in regular demands that experienced engineers never question the insisted bypassing of OSHA and FDA compliance. The father/daughter team expected all employees Do. Exactly. As. Told. because they were being paid.

My older two kids were nearly finished with college and while continuing my teaching gig, it was time to re-up in business. Though the American university classroom had certainly changed since my early days teaching, I was unprepared for the vast upset in American business. 

Within a couple of months, they requested I report directly to the daughter who was President. She was initially enamored with me, regularly praising my professional appearance while complaining about my relationship with the staff. My good rapport with employees upset her the most. “You work for me, not them.”

She frequently texted me on days off. One day she called while I was at the bank telling me to get home, log on, and do something immediately. I gently explained what the word “weekend” meant. When I stopped answering during off hours, she swooped in on Monday morning asking why I didn’t answer her all weekend.

The cultural expectations became an issue. “You start writing up any man not in a necktie by 8AM. Three violations, you fire them.” Even pre-Covid, engineers generally did not wear ties outside of meetings. These are independent thinkers, often moving-on-their-feet professionals who do not function well in a dictatorship. I engaged in the same, redundant conversation where I explained what constitutes a fireable offense.

Daily, she rushed into my office at exactly 4:55PM, pulled up a chair to my office window, announcing the names of employees who were walking to their cars at 5:01PM. They deserved an HR reprimand. Three violations and they should be fired. My reminders of her 10AM start time, while the engineers began work between 7-8AM, and having worked over eight hours did not reduce her outrage.

Employee lunch breaks were another grievance. She leaned closer to my desk, whispering. “People should not be thinking about lunch; they can have lunch when we start making money. They need to work!”

The company was losing thousands monthly but all were instructed to participate in the façade of success. Ignore lab violations. Stop recording meetings.

The staff began to feel the increasing pressure of irrational rules and practices. Intelligent professionals walked into my office dropping off their keys, announcing they had never departed a company without a two-week notice, but that moment would be their last. I understood.

Then, Covid happened.

Covid was a nightmare across the country for anyone in HR. At this company, it was exponentially worse. Recruitment was more important than ever and society at large relocated to their sofas. The daughter decided they would label their company an “essential service” like nurses and doctors, demanding everyone return to work immediately. You can imagine the employee complaints made to the state.

When I entered the workforce 30+ years ago, employees were thankful for the opportunity, worked hard and most possessed similar work values. Because I was in the university system for a couple decades while raising my family, the reentry was more stunning to me than my friends who never left. Cultural battles within the walls at work are not new to them.

For me, I eventually parted ways with the company and upon the announcement, the daughter expressed her disappointment by not coming to the office for the next 15 days as I wrapped everything up.

This particular experience is an extreme one, but the shift in cultural office norms and employee as well as executive staff behavior, is fascinating. Perhaps I’ll share a few more interesting business stories I’ve recently collected in upcoming posts.

Image Credits: Office Yeller: upi.com; head in hands: iqpartners.com; cash: huffingtonpost.com; covid: axley.com

Read More: Joining the Rat Race Mid-Life: When I Returned, The Workplace Had Changed