From existence in nature as Energy and Matter, Coexistence moves into the Corporate World
The history of work goes back to prehistoric times. The early humans having the primal instinct for survival, exerted themselves to fulfill basic needs like food, shelter, childcare, etc. After approximately 190,000 years of leisurely hunter-gathering, human beings started to settle down and grow crops and raise livestock. With the emergence of the science of agriculture, human beings learned to work with nature and animals, playing new forms and techniques of work.
This continued until the human being’s curiosity and a strong itch for innovation ignited the industrial revolution. With the dawn of industrialization, the core concept of work saw a decisive shift. The labor got monetized, and a full-fledged employment structure emerged. The current work scenario is the continuation of the industrial revolution.
Throughout history, the story of work kept unfolding. It is still evolving with changes in the employment standards and employee treatment taking place around the world. But, one thing that remained the same all through the history of work is human labor has been subject to exploitation. Except for the reforms introduced in the last 10 to 20 years, work was always about exploiting human resources for maximum material gain. Slavery, debt bondage, sweatshops, low-wage labor, etc. have been a part of the evolution of the work.
The concept of ownership and money has made human beings a species that exploits its own brethren for monetary gains. This directly reflects in the work culture today. The beliefs encouraging the exploitation of human beings and nature for material gains dominate the employment system. This has caused innumerable hardships to the human race, and the same is the reason for the animosity among human beings.
In all the 70000 odd years, after settlement started as a result of agriculture, Human race has been trying to cook up a system of order in society. They adopted many isms and the one most popular today is economy driven. Food, medicine, education are all economy driven. They have led to more problems than solutions.
Employee engagement is the dawn of Coexistence in the Corporate world
Culture because of improper understanding encourages wrong practices as a way of life. This makes human beings feel bad from the inside. In many cases human beings try to justify and nullify this feeling for a short time but close to death are found regretting.
Incomplete knowledge and misleading ideas/concepts are now being replaced with better and more realistic thoughts in the employment system. The human race is gradually progressing towards harmonious and co-existential living. The same is evident in how employee policies and treatment of employees is shifting from oppression to appreciation and exploitation to engagement. The emerging offbeat lifestyles are also beginning to introduce a change in employment trends.
Gone are the days when people were called as a cost center and something that needed to be optimized. Earlier, enterprises used to count job guarantee and stable income as the ultimate requirement of the employee. Nowadays employees are the social investment, an integral part of the organization adding value to the company. Today, careers are no longer narrowly defined by job security and money but cooperation, emotional connection, passion, learning, and recognition.
Companies are working to make sure that the employee and the company both are in a win-win situation. The new corporate norms are encouraging even the smaller companies to participate in employee engagement and wellness programs. This shift in employee treatment is an indication that people are questioning existing beliefs and practices.
Many global corporations like Google, The Virgin group etc. are setting an example for the corporate world to follow through their versions of employee engagement programs. Like a butterfly effect of the dawn of enlightening knowledge of coexistence, global communities are changing the way of their living and age-old practices. Employee engagement is just another example of the same.
