Nobody Wants to Work Anymore? Here's the REAL Problem | Episode 20

0:01 Nobody wants to work anymore. How many times have you heard that? You've probably heard a business owner say it. You've probably heard a manager say it. Maybe you've e- you've even said it yourself. Maybe you've even said it yourself. But here's something interesting. Pl- employees are saying something completely different. Employees are saying something completely different. They're saying companies don't care about them anymore. They're saying the pay isn't worth the stress. They're saying loyalty doesn't mean anything.

0:37 They're saying management is out of touch. So who's right? Are employees becoming lazy, or have employers forgotten to lead? Here's what I think. Both sides have some explaining to do, and that's exactly what we're gonna talk about today because I believe there's a growing disconnect between employers and employees. And if, and if, [clears throat] and if we're gonna be honest... and if we're gonna have an honest conversation about the future of work, we need to stop pretending one side is completely right and the other side is completely wrong.

1:13 Employers have responsibilities, employees have responsibilities, and neither gets a free pass. Welcome to the Discipline Over Comfort podcast. I'm Bob Terrio. I spent more than thirty years working in business, marketing, and leadership. I've managed people. I've hired people. I've worked for great leaders. I've worked for leaders who taught me exactly what not to do, and I've made some of my own mistakes along the way. Today, I wanna talk about five reasons I believe the relationship between employers and employees has become so strained.

1:48 More importantly, I wanna talk about what both sides can do to fix it. So let's get into it. Let's start with something that frustrates employees. They work hard, they show up, they talk, they take on additional responsibilities, they help their teams, they solve problems, and sometimes after doing all of that, they look at their paycheck and ask themselves a very reasonable question, "What's the point?" Maybe their salary hasn't kept up with the cost of living. Maybe they've taken on the responsibilities of two people.

2:22 Maybe they've watched someone who contributes less get promoted. Maybe they've been promised opportunities that never materialized. Those frustrations are real, and employers need to understand something. You cannot continuously ask people to give more while making them feel their contributions are worth less. That's not sustainable leadership strategy. That's not a sustainable leadership strategy. But now let's look at the other side because I've also seen employees who believe showing up every day automatically entitles them to, automatically entitles them to more money.

3:02 They've been in that posi- they've been in the position for three years, therefore, they deserve a raise. They've been with the company for five years, therefore, they deserve a promotion. Not necessarily. Ten-tenure matters, experience matters, loyalty matters, but so does performance, so does con- so does contribution, so does the value you create. If your employee... If you're an employee and you want to earn more money, you should be able to explain how your work contributes to the success of the organization.

3:39 Are you helping the company grow? Are you improving efficiency? Are you solving problems? Are you making customers happier? Are you taking ownership? Because here's the uncomfortable truth, being busy and creating value are not always the same thing, and that's where employers and employees need to be somewhere in the middle. Employers should communicate what success looks like and recognize meaningful contributions. Employees should understand how their performance is measured and take responsibility for improving it.

4:14 The relationship works better when expectations are clear, not when everybody is guessing, not when everyone is guessing, not when everybody is guessing. Here's another reason people become disengaged. They stop seeing a future. Imagine you're an employee. You've been with the company for several years. You're doing good work. You've developed new skills. You've taken on additional responsibilities. But every time you ask about advancement, you get the same answer, "We'll talk about it next year," or, "There's nothing available right now," or, "Just keep doing what you've been doing."

4:53 Eventually, you start wondering whether your career is going anywhere, and that's a legitimate concern. Good employees wanna know what their... Good employees wanna know that their work matters and that there's an opportunity to grow. Now, that doesn't mean every company can promote everybody. That's impossible. Not every organization has unlimited management positions. Not every employee is ready for the next level, and sometimes the business simply doesn't have the resources. But leaders can still be honest.

5:28 They can explain what opportunities exist. They can identify skills employees need to develop. They can provide meaningful feedback. They can help people understand what it would take to move forward. What they shouldn't do is make promises they have no intention of keeping because false hope is not a retention strategy. But here's where employees have responsibility too. Your career is ultimately your responsibility. Your manager can help you. Your company can invest in you. A mentor can guide you, but nobody can build your career for you.

6:06 You have to develop skills. You have to ask questions. You have to seek feedback. You have to become more valuable, and sometimes you have to recognize that you've outgrown a p- a particular position. This has happened to me. That's not necessarily a failure. Sometimes it's simply time to move on. But before you decide your employer is holding you back, ask yourself a question. What have I done in the past six months to become better at what I do? Have I learned something new? Have I taken an initiative?

6:40 Have I solved a problem nobody asked me to solve? Have I demonstrated that I'm ready for more responsibility? Because ambition without action is just wishful thinking. Employers should create opportunities where possible. Employees should prepare themselves to earn those opportunities. Both sides have to work to do. Now, let's talk about something that has created enormous tension in the workplace. Now, let's talk about something that has created enormous tension in the workplace. Flexibility, remote work, hybrid schedules, office attendance, work-life balance.

7:20 There are strong opinions on all sides. Some employers want people back in their office. Some employees believe they should be able to work wherever they're most productive. And I think both sides can make reasonable arguments. And I think both sides can make reasonable arguments. There are jobs that require physical presence. If you're working in retail, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, or many service industries, somebody has to be there. You can't stock a shelf from your living room.

7:52 You can't operate a manufacturing line over Zoom. But there are also jobs where employees can be highly productive without sitting in an office five days a week. And I think leaders should be willing to evaluate those situations based on the actual needs of the business, not simply personal preference. But here's a part that sometimes gets lost. Flexibility is not the absence of accountability. If you work remotely, your responsibilities don't disappear. Deadlines still matter. Communication still matters.

8:25 Being available when your team needs you still matters. Delivering results still matters. You don't get to call every expectation management. Sometimes your manager is simply asking you to do the job being paid. Sometimes your manager is simply asking you to do the job you're being paid to already do. And employers need to hear the other side of that argument. Just because someone is sitting at a desk doesn't mean they're productive. I've seen people spend an entire day looking busy without accomplishing much of anything.

8:58 And I've seen highly disciplined employees produce exceptional results in less time. So what should matter? The requirements of the role, the quality of the work, reliability, teamwork, results, and clear expectations. If employees need to be available during certain hours, communicate that. If the job requires collaboration in person, explain why. If performance is measured by output, define those outputs. But don't tell employees they're being judged on results and then secretly measure their commitment by how long their car sits in the parking lot.

9:38 And employees, don't confuse flexibility with freedom from responsibility. If you want to be trusted, be trustworthy. Keep your word, meet your deadlines, and communicate. Be dependable. That's how flexibility works. It requires discipline on both sides. Now, we're getting to what I believe is one of the biggest problems in today's workplace. Trust. Employees don't trust management. Management doesn't trust employees. And once that relationship breaks down, everything becomes harder. A manager asks for a status update.

10:15 The employee assumes they're being micromanaged. An employee asks for time off. The manager assumes they're trying to avoid work. Leadership announces a new policy. Employees assume there's some hidden agenda behind it. An employee raises a concern and management assumes they're being difficult. And before you know it, ordinary workplace conversations become confrontations. That's not healthy. And it doesn't happen overnight. Trust breaks down through repeated experiences. Promises that aren't kept.

10:51 Expectations that constantly change. Poor communication. Favoritism. Lack of accountability. Or employees who repeatedly fail to follow through. Because trust is not just a leadership responsibility. It's a shared responsibility. Let me give you an example. Imagine a manager tells an employee that a project needs to be finished by Friday. Friday comes and arrives. The project isn't finished. The employee hasn't communicated any delays. Now, the manager gets frustrated. The next time that employee receives an assignment, the manager checks in more frequently.

11:27 The employee complains about micromanagement. But what created the situation? A failure to communicate. Now, reverse it. Imagine an employee is told that they meet Imagine an employee is told that if they meet certain performance goals, they'll be considered for a promotion. They achieve those goals. But leadership changes the expectations without an explanation. Now, the employee feels misled. And the next time management makes a promise, that employee is very skeptical. Again, what created the problem?

12:03 A failure of communication and accountability. Here's the point. Truth is built when words and actions consistently match. That applies whether you're the CEO or the newest employee in the company. Your title doesn't exempt you. Your tenure doesn't exempt you. And your personal frustrations don't exempt you. If you make a commitment, honor it. If the circumstances change, communicate that. If you make a mistake, own it. And if you expect accountability from other people, be willing to demonstrate it yourself.

12:39 That's leadership, and that's professionalism. Let's address the elephant in the room. Bad managers do exist. I've worked with them. You've probably worked with them, and unfortunately, some organizations tolerate poor leadership for far too long. A bad manager can destroy morale. They can drive away talented employees. They can create confusion. They can reward the wrong behaviors. They can turn a good workplace into an environment where people dread coming to work. And here's something that business owners need to understand.

13:16 Your employees don't experience your company through your mission statement. They experience it through the people who lead them every single day. You can have a beautiful website. You can talk about your values. You can hold company celebrations. You can give everybody a T-shirt with the company logo. But if your managers treat people poorly, none of that fixes the underlining problem. Leadership is not about having authority. It's about how you use that authority. It's about setting expectations, developing people, addressing problems, recognizing good work, and having difficult conversations when necessary.

13:57 Now, let me turn this around because employees need to hear something, too. Having a bad boss doesn't give you permission to become a bad employee. I know that's not what everybody wants to hear, but it's true. If your manager is difficult, you still have to be a professional. You still have to be responsible for your job. You still have a responsibility to communicate. You still have a responsibility to treat your coworkers respectfully. You still have a responsibility to deliver the work you agreed to perform.

14:32 Now, that... Now that... Now, does that mean you should tolerate abuse or have an unhealthy workplace forever, indefinitely? Absolutely not. You should address legitimate concerns through appropriate channels. You should establish boundaries, and sometimes you should find another opportunity. But what you shouldn't do is allow somebody else's poor leadership to determine your personal standards because your work ethic belongs to you. Your reputation belongs to you. Your discipline belongs to you.

15:08 And those things follow you long after you left a particular company. I've always believed that your professional reputation is built through thousands of small decisions. How you handle pressure, how you treat people, whether you keep your commitments, whether you take responsibility when things go wrong. Those things matter, and they matter regardless of who's sitting in the corner of the office. So where does that leave us? Are employees lazy? Some are. Are managers ineffective? Uh, some are.

15:41 Are companies failing to recognize good people? Absolutely, in some cases. Are some employees expecting rewards you haven't earned? Or are some employees expecting rewards that they haven't earned? Yes. But none of those statements describes everybody. And that's why these sweeping arguments about nobody wanting to work anymore don't solve anything. They create sides, employers versus employees, management versus workers, older generations versus younger generations, and everybody spends their time explaining why the other group is the problem.

16:21 Meanwhile, in the real world, issues go unresolved. Here's what I like to see. I like to see more employers stop treating employee engagement as something they can fix with another survey, another slogan, or another company pizza party. [chuckles] Those things might be nice, but they don't replace leadership. If employees don't trust management, buying lunch isn't gonna fix that. If employees don't understand their responsibilities, another motivational speech isn't gonna fix it. If high performers are carrying the workload of people who consistently underperform, another team-building event isn't gonna fix it.

17:05 If high performers are carrying the workload of people who consistently underperform, another team-building event isn't going to fix it. Leaders have to address the actual problems, and I like to see more employees recognize that a successful career requires more than showing up and expecting everything to just work out. You have to contribute. You have to improve. You have to take responsibility. You have to understand that businesses face real financial pressures, competitive pressures, and operational challenges.

17:39 Not every decision is personal. Not every policy is attack on your freedom. Not every po-pol... Not every policy is an attack on your freedom. Not every disagreement with your manager means you're being mistreated. Sometimes the answer is that... Sometimes the answer is that leadership needs to improve. Sometimes the answer is that employees need to improve. And sometimes both things are true at the same exact time. That's a conversation we should be having. I wanna leave you with two questions, one for leaders and one for the employees.

18:19 If you're a business owner, executive, or a manager, ask yourself this: If I were an employee on my own team, would I wanna work for me? Think about that. Would you feel respected? Would you understand what's expected? Would you believe your work mattered? Would you trust the promises that are being made? Would you feel that good performance was recognized? Would you believe that poor performance was addressed fairly? And would you see opportunities to grow? If the answer to some of those questions is no, then maybe there's something you need to change.

18:59 Now, if you're an employee, I want you to ask yourself something equally uncomfortable. If I were running this business, would I be satisfied with the value that I'm delivering? Would you be happy with your own performance? Would you trust yourself with an additional responsibility? Would you trust yourself with additional responsibility? Would you consider yourself dependable? Would you be impressed with your initiative? Would you believe you're earning the opportunities that you want? And would you want the entire team of employees who approach their jobs the way you approach yours?

19:38 That's a difficult question, but it's an important one because real accountability starts when we stop measuring everybody else and start examining ourselves. Here's my final, here's my final thought. I don't believe the future of work is about choosing between employers and employees. It's about rebuilding the relationship between them. Businesses need talented, committed people, and people need organizations that provide opportunities, fair expectations, and effective leadership. That re- that, that relationship has always required trust.

20:18 It has always required accountability, and it always required both sides to keep their commitments. Technology will change, workplaces will change, expectations will change, but some things shouldn't change: integrity, reliability, respect, ownership, and the willingness to do the same thing even when it's uncomfortable. Those are not outdated values. They're timeless. And that's why I keep coming back to the name of this podcast, Discipline Over Comfort, because it's un- because it's comfortable for employers to blame employees.

20:56 It's comfortable for employees to blame employers. It's comfortable to point fingers. It's uncomfortable to complain. It's comfortable to complain. What's difficult is looking in the mirror and asking what you can do better. That's where real progress begins. So whether you're running a company or working your way up inside one, here's my challenge for you. Stop waiting for the other side to change first. Lead better, work better, communicate better, and hold yourself to the same standards you expect from everyone else.

21:33 And if this episode made you think, I'd appreciate it if you shared it with a manager, a coworker, a business owner, or an employee who could benefit from the conversation. And I really wanna hear your thoughts. Who's more responsible for growing the disconnect at work today? Employers, employees, or both? Let me know in the comments. Subscribe to the Discipline Over Comfort podcast here on YouTube. And if you haven't subscribed to the Discipline Over Comfort newsletter, I'll include the link in the description.

22:04 I'm Bob Terrio. Thank you for spending part of your day with me, and remember, discipline over comfort every time. Until next time. Bye-bye.