What companies buy from their own employees (yes, from you)
I started my career at the beginning of the 2000s. I was a fresh graduate, with little or no practical knowledge or skills, demoralized and confused after almost 20 years of schools.
Back then, in Romania, the waters were very muddy, with endemic corruption and mineriads (violent social protests of the coal miners riding the capital of Romania and beating people indiscriminately). We were not part of the European Union, and therefore our mobility was almost zero. And the local IT industry was basically not existing, with a single concentrated cluster in Bucharest, the capital city.
After 5 hard, long years of polytechnic studies, with my diploma and final exams passed, I had some very basic choices on my plate: remain in the academic system (although I was a mediocre student), follow the family tradition and work in the local industry as an engineer or do something on my own.
And the choice I made was to do something on my own. I was only 22 when I found myself carrying out job interviews to hire people. The most important thing I learned back then is that the companies you are working for are in fact acting as one of your customers and buy stuff from you.
What do they usually buy? Here you are:
Time. Your time, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, 11 months or more per year. Sometimes, those 40 weekly hours will turn out to be more, and sometimes you might get rewarded for them. You will travel, on your own time, spend some weekends away from home and nobody will give back those days to you, even if in exchange you get some free time. Because by far, time is the only finite resource we have. And strangely, none of the candidates that passed by my interview table asked about how much time will the company really take out from them.
Money. Sometimes, instead of getting paid, you will pay your company. Don’t you think so? Well, I have some friends commuting 3 hours every day for already 8 years without compensation. And it’s not only money they spend, but they also throw in their own time. Another example is me: I left a company for another for a project I really wanted to do and I lost 15% of my salary in the process. Great businessmen, right? And you? How much money are you willing to spend for a great job?
Skills and certifications. One of our guest at the podcast I do with Dorin Boabeș told us a pretty cool fact, among many other cool things: IT specialists speaking another language than English, like German, French, Italian or Spanish, add to their paycheck 15–20% just for that. And nowadays one needs to learn something new every few months or so; otherwise, the only remaining jobs for people that don’t learn new things will be those of cashiers, as they last — since self-checkout spreads very fast.
Freedom. The concept of freedom is anyway getting more and more blurry, but I visited the United States two years ago and I was shocked by the number of announcements telling people what not to do and what the penalty for doing it is. Land of the free. Right. I know, ironic, isn’t it?! And with the companies is pretty much the same, once you sign a contract you give up a large chunk of your freedom. As you don’t get to use your time as you want, nor to speak out as you wish or to freely say what’s on your mind. How much of your freedom are you willing to give away?
Productivity. I am in my 3rd month of leave of absence from my job. I did not leave, I just wanted to break for some time and to think back at what went on the last 7 years. I will write in another article maybe what I discovered about me in these 3 months, but what I wanted to tell you is that companies take away from you your peace and rest. Every company I worked for was laying down pressure on their employees. They are calling this pressure productivity, and in Europe, Luxembourg is the champion. Productivity expected and given varies a lot depending on your seniority, competencies, and skills, but what you can be sure of is that you will give those away and in return, you will get back all your corporation and its customers anxiety and stress. How much productivity are you willing to put in?
Goals. I was reading these days an article about millennials (cannot find it back to quote). About disillusion and failure. About how the guy from that story found his journal when he was 14 and what he was dreaming to realize by 25. He was 25 at the time he wrote the piece, and those goals, not very wild anyway, were far from being in sight. Companies have also goals, and they might not be similar to yours. Some trade-offs will take place, you will need to give away some of your own goals and take over those of the companies you will be working for.
Loyalty. This use to be gold, and people were taking pride in the number of years they were spending in a single company. The 21st century radically changed that, but in my view loyalty still stands for something. I especially appreciate it when people stay loyal to a complex domain or industry, mastering the theory and the practice through years of hard work and dedication. They deserve better because of that, and for the fact that they are still believers.
So, to conclude, what are companies buying from their employees and what more could you sell them? Put all the variables from the above in an equation and solve it — your professional life will become much easier. How much time are you willing to invest in a company? How much money? What skills and competencies will you throw in? What goals are you willing to give up? How productive will you be? And how loyal? Evaluate the answers honestly and you will get a better image on how a company really sees you.
And if you find your correct answer to this equation, you just discovered the sweet spot were professional satisfactions lives. The ideal intersection where everything is balanced and tuned. And there are many who discover one or another correct answer to the equation. And many who don’t.
I count myself in the first category.
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I also publish (in Romanian) here and my professional profile is available on LinkedIn here.
