Creating an Empowered Workplace

To feel empowered at work might mean:

• feeling like our work is important;
• we are valued;
• we are listened to;
• we earn what we deserve for our work;
• our rights are respected;
• we face no corporate oppression.

Many of our workplace models are built on hierarchical and profit driven principles. While this may be good for the company in the end profit-wise, it might not be good for competitors, the environment, consumers, and company employees.

For example, a purely profit-driven company might abuse the environment and write it off as “the price of doing business” this may alienate some of the more discerning costumers but will likely not alienate those only looking for a “good deal”.

Even if a business can retain the customers looking for a good deal (which is likely the majority of consumers!), the products are not always good – because a product that is designed to fall apart keeps customers buying more and more.

Furthermore, a company that is only profit driven to the point of taking cut-throat tactics with competitors may miss important collaborative potentials with competitors. This is not to say that corporations shouldn’t protect themselves, but only that they shouldn’t do this at the sake of bearing other costs.

Often profit-driven companies are not supporting society by giving anything positive back to the communities that they operate in.

And, sometimes, the workers are not viewed as a resource and employees may lack job security and feel under-appreciated.

    "An empowered workplace values the people it serves and the people that work there."

There are several ways that business can change to operate differently:

• Having unions that protect worker’s rights
• Following a “Business Code of Ethics”
• Creating a sustainable business
• Operating in a “green” way
• Creating quality products
• Respecting the rights of its employees
• Working with competitors to create win-win relationships
• Giving back to the community
• Co-op ownership
• Profit-sharing with employees
• Creating a “Community of Practice” (CoP)

Yet, many people feel like they need to keep earning more money in order to spend more – but, this cycle of “produce and consume” can be broken. To read more about freedom from mass consumerism click here.

This decision often boils down to a decision about “quality of life”. That is, we often hear of stories where people choose to earn less money, perhaps moving outside of the city too, in order to have more free time for themselves and to be with their family.

In fact, some European countries actually measure their wealth as a nation not by their GDP, but by quality of life indicators!