Freedom from what?!?!

The discussion  of what causes such high employee turnover has been popping up quite frequently in many of my conversations with friends and family. I find this topic very interrelated with the Holiday that Trinidadians are celebrating today - Emancipation Day.

My friends have observed the high employee turnovers at several companies in Trinidad and they really want to know why is this happening. Companies in Trinidad are asking how do we keep employee costs down. The cost that they refer to most of the time is "cost of recruitment".

We have a basic problem in Trinidad and Tobago - the cost of living is high, salaries are low and employee moral is non-existent.

Recently I read an article on Forbes that talked about getting rid of Work-Life-Balance and start moving towards Work-Life-Integration.

Side-bar : Now for those who think - that working for 3 hours out of an 8 hour day (not calling any names)-  they have a problem with work life balance, I'm here to inform you that you don't have a work-life-balance problem, you are suffering from a lack of  "work ethic" problem.

I don't know about you, but my work is not integrating into my life.
I still hold fast to the tenants that say keep the office out of the bedroom.

But if a lack of Work-life-balance is the cause for such high employee turnover in Trinidad, then companies really need to start looking at how to respect their employees personal time.

Employees also need to learn how to set boundaries for their employers.
If you let your company walk over you, believe me, they will take pleasure in doing just that. When companies take pleasure in making their employees' lives a living hell you've got the magic bullet for high employee turnover.

If you the employer treat your employees like the dirt under your shoe, don't expect  people to stick around for very long, much less have any loyalty to you, or your brand.

Yes work-life-balance probably plays a HUGE role in whether an employee stays loyal  to their company or jumps ship, but at the end of the day I believe the root cause for employee turnover is that people are no longer being treated as people.

This past Sunday at Mass - the priest made a very specific point that most companies have lost - "Work was made for Man, not Man for Work"

The concept of Man is made for Work is the reason slavery ever existed. However the work that we do should always be done well and to perfection so that no one could ever accuse us of not doing our work properly.

And although today in Trinidad we celebrate Emancipation Day, the mere fact that there are so many people in Trinidad who leave their jobs for another, means that slavery still exists - just in a different legal form.

Work is there for people to do. People do NOT exist for the sole purpose of work to be done. When our nation and the people of this nation begin to truly understand this concept then my friends, we can celebrate real Emancipation.