It’s an epidemic, workplace violence. A violent assault on the morale of the American worker.
Many of my Dear Monica letters begin with, “Please help me, I’m about to lose my mind at work“. Your anguish is not lost on me.
The workplace could be and should be the Switzerland of our daily lives. A corporate structure from which to exercise our talents, our heavily funded and deeply indebted college educations, aspirations, gifts and our ability to make a difference in our lives and the lives of others through hard work and prosperity. The American Dream.
But it’s not.
We now reminisce of the days gone by when work was about a central focus of meeting goals, deadlines and bottom lines. Today however, the American worker suffers a barrage of socio-political assaults ranging from direct harassment for one’s perceived or actual political affiliation to a perpetual drip of unsolicited opinions around the water cooler or cubicle to cubicle.
If you’re really adventurous or just into mental anguish, take the time to peruse some of your co-workers’ social media accounts. This may help you understand the psyche behind the person(s) who can’t separate their work life from personal political persuasion.
To put it in ‘liberal’ terms, there’s basically zero place to find safety from the derangement of an ill-informed society of double minded socialists earning a paycheck under the umbrella of capitalism.
I want to encourage you today. I want to remind you of a few things. First, take your peace. No. Really. Take your peace back from the thieves of joy and fellowship.
I’m acknowledging your anger, grief, confusion, feelings of helpless in today’s hostile workplace environment are completely warranted.
You are validated, heard and not alone. You have every right to feel the way you do.
I’m not pacifying you. I’m validating you. It’s important. You know why? Because without validation, we go numb and numbness precedes apathy and apathy precedes low voter turnout and low voter turnout is exactly what the leviathan of all reason, decency, order and established law hinges its hopes on. That you will simply tire of the constant assault on your psyche, person and values to the point that you no longer engage on the political landscape of life. And like it or not fellow American, every single aspect of our daily lives is affected by a municipal, state or federal election.
I shouldn’t have to tell you how necessary YOU are to the conversation and continued curation of liberty in this country. But I will. I can’t stress this enough. On the heels of Veteran’s Day, I will stop short of reprimanding you for taking any stance short of bold, courageous and pro active.
As patriots, we love our heroes in uniform. We love them because they signed up to defend us and not shy away from battle. You are now charged with the very same courageousness. You must take this battle TO the corporate battlefield with understanding, wisdom and the prescribed conduct of your respective corporate entities. Your battle isn’t in Syria, your battle is likely two cubicles down.
It’s time to engage your Human Resource departments for something other than a one-sided referee training of unsuspecting tax payers on the necessity of inclusion, at the expense of actual diversity. Corporate inclusion rallies at the exclusion of the autonomy of others, who may or may not desire to engage in political warfare at the water cooler, need to come to an end. YOU are the only person who can restore sanity within the workplace environment.
My experience tells me it’s not the conservative who utilizes the HR department for playground nuances in the workplace. Power struggles are usually tried on the court of hard work and ideas. If you want to seek peace with your co-workers, surrender is not an option.
If you view your life in concentric circles, your personal needs are best met outside the corporate ring. Sure, team building, continued education and conflict resolution all have their place in the paradigm of corporate harmony, but I wonder if a day on the docks of our ports might call to our remembrance the real reason for the season. What would a few days on the corporate ‘chain gang’ of manual labor do to reawaken in the DNA of a nation taken hostage by our feelings? Our minds have become so educated, our ability to reason for the sake of fellowship and advancement has all but left us waiting on the short bus of thought with every passing campaign cycle. Harsh? No. It’s reality. And it’s costing us.
Your family deserves to have you show up in tact and fully whole at the end of a long work day. While we champion the cause for the unborn, how about we realize the countless familial casualties we leave in the wake of an unmanned corporate environment.
All things equitable, I’m going to challenge you to a mind shift where the workplace and your voice is concerned. Your family will thank you. Your mental, emotional and physical health all depend on your ability to take a reasonable stand in the workplace.
If Human Resources is the bastion of all corporate culture, I’m calling you to show up and shape the narrative. If politics needs to be off limits on the premises, make it happen. You will have to actively choose to speak up in a respectful tone and manner when accosted with caustic political opinions. Set your compass every morning to not engage in petty nuances of politics. Recalibrate your thinking daily. Make peace your goal with the understanding that most, if not all, peace comes through resolving a perceived or actual conflict.
You will have to know what your personal and corporate code of conduct is and live by it. Holding others accountable is not an act of liberalism. On the contrary, it’s an act of sobriety and maturity. It’s an actual act of love.
Becoming co-dependent or otherwise disengaged in your work place is a costly choice, on many levels. Your self respect, peace and joy will suffer. Your work will suffer, your family will suffer.
Selfishly, I’m calling you to pro activity because I don’t want to find myself alone on the country’s current socio-political battlefield. I need you.
It’s dereliction of your patriotic duty to sit idly or bitterly by as the nation implodes one college or corporate campus at a time.
You are not helpless. You can conquer mountains with ideas, sobriety, knowledge and wisdom. If you are fed up, write out your grievances, cross reference your corporate manuals and see if there is an open door for you to seek remedy within the HR structure.
Humility will take you a long way. Leave accusation at the door and let your ‘why’ be about the bottom line of not only your life, but the company’s. HR is not there to fix you, rather to foster proficiency and the spirit of unity when remedying a bottom corporate line for ONE reason, to protect the COMPANY’S interests.
The country is enjoying an economic harvest, but most of you are more miserable than ever. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Take your country back.
You can LISTEN to my podcasts on this subject on iTunes, stitcher and other download mediums.
xo,
