The 10 Tenets of the New Social Contract Between Organizations and Their Employees

Mergers, divestitures, and constant restructuring make today's work place
a most volatile environment. Job security seems to be a contradiction in terms. Workers at all levels in organizations of all sizes and descriptions, including government agencies and not-for-profits, find themselves bracing for a new era of colder, harsher employment that some term "predatory," "ruthless," and even "abusive."

What does all this mean for the future of those who work on another's payroll?

We must redefine, clearly and explicitly, the implied relationship between employers and their hires. Here is an attempt to codify, in ten succinct principles, the new employment covenant between organizations and their workers in today's turbulent, post-entitlement environment:

I. The organization that employs you does not exist to provide you a job.

II. You are solely responsible for your career. Most likely, its full potential will be realized at many organizations other than the one for which you currently work.

III. Your "income security" is derived from your continuous efforts to acquire marketable work experiences and skills (often at your own expense), not from any assumed guarantee of continued employment. Those skills must fill a market need and likely will change over time.

IV. You are expected to go beyond your job description,for it can only be a starting point for the value you must add to justify the continuing expense of employing you. Find vacuums and fill them.

V. You have a duty to contribute constructive suggestions to help your employer both serve its customers better and operate more efficiently.

VI. When you believe that senior management is missing an important opportunity or making a big mistake, you have an obligation to speak up. Management is obliged to pay attention.

VII. You have a right to expect fair compensation and a duty to earn it.

VIII. You are entitled to dignity, fairness and respect in the workplace, and required to notify senior management if you ever receive anything less.

IX. You have a right to expect honest and timely disclosure of information that affects the future of the organization including your prospects for continued employment.

X. Realize that someday, even if you perform consistently above what's required of you, your current employment may end suddenly as the organization responds to changes in a most unpredictable world.

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