Give Me a Break!

Today is the day when everyone starts thinking, "Where did I hide that other egg?"

Most people will never find the missing egg. Either the dog will find it or the smell will become so rancid, your neighbors will call the cops because they'll think you're a serial killer. Either way, the problem is, we need an extra day off following Easter. Many countries already do it and have for many years.

• Austria.
• Australia.
• Belgium.
• Canada.
• Croatia.
• Czech Republic.
• Denmark.
• Finland.
• France.
• Germany.
• Guatemala.
• Hungary.
• Ireland.
• Italy.
• New Zealand.
• Norway.
• Poland
• Sweden.
• The Netherlands.
• The United Kingdom

Just to name a few. Why not? Its all part of the celebration of the arrival of Spring, which. aside from allergies, is a very good thing! So why, in the United States, do we not take such holidays as Easter Monday or Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. I'll tell you why. We work too hard in the United States. It wasn't until I traveled abroad that I realized that this was true. In France, for example. I was asked, and not so politely, to leave a supermarket for going in to try to buy something at two o'clock in the afternoon. Why? This was their rest period following lunch. At first I was annoyed, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. It was a stress reliever from work. 

France isn't the only country who practices such traditions. I didn't see it practiced in the UK,but I've heard they do the same thing in Italy. I can't personally verify that because I've never been, but I think it's true. Imagine if we did that in this country. Shareholders in most companies would go completely mad! After all, its the almighty bottom line that matters, not the health and well being of they employees; the ones who make the company tick.

I remember a time in my twenties when I was a national trainer for a very large retailer. We were in Hawaii for a training session/retreat. I was sitting with a Senior Vice President, having breakfast and talking about my future in the organization. Suddenly, the CEO of the company showed up and cut me off mid-sentence and asked the VP if he thought they were putting too much pressure on the customers to buy extended warranties, a very profitable part of our organization. I said to the CEO that I thought we were putting too much pressure on the employees to sell it and therefore the pressure was ultimately put on the customer to buy them. The CEO looked at me and very sarcastically said, "Who are you?" I said, "I'm your number one trainer in the country, so I know what kind of pressure the employees face." He said, "I couldn't care less about the employees; they're a dime a dozen. I care about the customers."

This guy clearly didn't understand the trickle down effect from associate to customer, never mind that the employees were the ones who would execute the strategies that the corporate fat cats created. Its hard to understand that this once billion dollar juggernaut is now out of business. What a shock.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that we have only a handful of companies in the US that treat employees like the valuable assets they are, and that's a shame. Companies like Google, In-N-Out Burger and The Ritz Carlton know how valuable their people are and treat them like it. I just wish more American companies would treat their employees better. It just might be the secret to increasing their bottom line and shareholder earnings.

See you tomorrow.

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