Life Goes On...

This has to be the craziest couple of weeks I've had in a long, long time. Clearly, I'm not going to go into specific details. However, those "in the know" (all two of you....and my mom) can understand what I'm talking about. The week prior to Easter was hectic, and sad. My wife's grandmother passed away quickly, and that left us reeling (as all deaths do to everything who has ever experienced it). During the middle of that week, my wife and I discussed some job opportunities that would better our family. Not only would it mean more money, but it would mean less travel (less travel=less gas). By Good Friday, I had interviewed for and accepted a new job. I've been in my current place of employment for four years. Not counting a year and a half working somewhere else in between, I've been with this agency for around seven years. When I thought about it at first, I felt guilty leaving.

That was before last week.

Again, I'm not going to go into specific details, but my wife is now going to be working with me. We have worked for the same agency before, and even in the same office building (I know, I'm sure you all sympathize). We'll be working together in the same building again, which I'm actually looking forward to (believe it or not).

It's sad to leave a place that has so much potential to help others, yet allows bureaucracy, top-heavy management, and a slew of counter-productive policies that harm more than help. When you're in the human services field, there will always be tough people/families to work with in all aspects of the job. That doesn't mean we, as an agency, make it tougher by presenting an air of aloofness and indifference. Not only are the clients and their families important (because let's face it: No clients = No revenue = No job), but the employees who come to work every day are important, as well. Are all employees good? Nope. Are there employees who deserve the hammer to fall on them every once in a while? Yep. Should you treat employees, who deliver crucial services to persons with disabilities, as expendable 100% of the time? No.

I've heard someone, "higher up," liken this job to that of a sales job. It doesn't matter how many families you reach, and whether or not you're the most liked person that delivers the services to your families. What matters is how much money you bring in.

That's a load of crap.

If you don't consider the impact of the employee on the families they serve, you are making an egregious error. Again, this doesn't mean I can pay you X amount of money a year for you to sit around and not make yourself financially reliable to the agency giving you a job. However, when the "bottom line" means more to you than the service you provide, in a service-driven field, you are in the wrong line of work. By the way, it's no secret to those around you if this is your mindset.

Your employees see it.
The public sees it.
Your clients and their families see it.

If you, as a client, felt like you were nothing more than a dollar sign, then you'd begin to discuss other possibilities with other people. Once that happens, all bets are off. You lose credibility in the community. You lose respect of your peers in the field. Most of all, you lose the people that make your "business" financially viable. You lose the families who utilize your services. Unfortunately for you, these families don't live on little islands in the middle of nowhere. They all know each other.

Literally.

They all talk, and they all come to the same conclusion on certain issues; unfortunately for you.

If you don't like it, take your philosophy of management and business somewhere else. I'm sure Wal-Mart or McDonald's management would be willing to take you into their family, where sales and financial results matter more than the happiness of those they serve.

In the meantime, enjoy the hot dogs, spelling contests, and Christmas parties with made-up song lyrics. I for one am glad to be rid of that nonsense, and I can get back to what I want to do with my life: helping the people who need it, and appreciate the fact their son or daughter are treated like a person instead of a dollar sign.