The notion of “easy times” and “hard times” is mostly a myth. All times are a generally an unpredictable mixture of easy and hard.

What does change from time to time is our culture, values, priorities and politics. 

Over America’s evolution, we have gained some really good things and lost some really bad things.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true and I thought we might look at one of the bigger losses – the way we once took care of the average working person.

The hospital mentioned above popped into mind as a good example of an employer who no longer does that well.

Lest the rest of our region’s mega-employers presume innocence, Ingles, Walmart, Asheville’s city government and a whole lot more fall into the same basket.

All represent places where people once worked, thrived, grew and enjoyed. 

Today, with unreliable exceptions, the average Mission, Ingles, Walmart and City of Asheville employee looks like they’re serving a sentence on Devil’s Island with a swamp reclamation crew.

How did this happen? How have we – as a broader culture – become so shallow and heartless in our treatment of people who carry the load in most working environments? 

That’s an easy call – marketeers, attorneys, accountants and MBAs have taken over the rudder of major companies. Incrementally, they have converted and subverted each to places where money, growth and economics come first — and people, patients, customers, quality and relationships come in a distant second.

Balance matters.

Are there examples of employers who do it better? Yes, consider Chick-fil-A, Trader Joe’s, and AdventHealth. These are companies who try to care for their people and the people they serve.

In the hope there are those in control of these places who understand the difference between “high-touch” and imagery, I thought I’d offer a few “Do’s” and “Don’ts” on managing your human resources in a way that keeps them – and you – human:  

Do pay attention to Sam Walton’s quote above. It’s as reliable a managerial construct as you’ll find.

Don’t confuse pretending to care about your people with really caring about your people. The more you rely on cheerful advertising to sell a compassionate image, the less you will be able to see how corrupt your leadership model has actually become.

Do teach your managers to be leaders. Managers tend to get lost in self-protection, bureaucratic priorities and subterfuge. Leaders get turned on by uplifting, producing, creating, improving, uniting and really caring. High tides lift everyone.

Don’t expect that money will be a reliable stand-alone motivator. It will lose its luster for the same reason steak every day loses its taste. Human’s require a more complex motivational feast.

Do recognize that although money doesn’t stand alone, it does matter. Seventy-percent of the wealth in this country is in the hands of 10 percent of our citizens. Never has prosperity disparity and the cost of living been so high. Overextending and salary-squeezing employees is the managerial equivalent of using suicide as a stress-management technique. 

Don’t give into the social engineering pretense of Diversity-Equity-Inclusion programs. It’s a lazy approach to the rightful mission of uplifting people; creates attitudes of entitlement and serves to isolate and divide your employees — and thus undermine morale and productivity.

Do practice a leadership model of “questions down – answers up.” Leaders make the decisions, but they make sure to borrow from the expertise and experience of those closest to the impact point of those decisions. Markedly improved employee morale is a bonus to this wisdom. 

Don’t treat people as throwaways. Keep a working environment that salvages people. Employees should always be held accountable – never be viewed as disposable. 

Do understand that jobs are our best social service. It’s up to business-owners, managers, and others to make sure that this amenity gives fair consideration to everyone involved – not just those with the power.

Don’t confuse a clever mission statement with a mission. Mission statements are mostly make-up liberally applied to conceal deeper, unpleasant, or insincere truths.

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to suggest there are economic, social, and very, very personal challenges on the horizon.

When our financial ship starts to sail into a likely recession, traditional rescue boats will not be found.

Government can’t borrow more and their unfunded promises are beyond honest measurement. Consumers are broke and debt waterlogged. More than 60 percent of us are living paycheck to paycheck. The potential for plummeting housing values will further stifle a traditional economic generator. Fed promises to lower interest rates won’t help most existing loans and a tapped-out populace won’t be able to take advantage of rate decreases. Tax cuts won’t help the majority who don’t pay taxes, and the wealthy who do are more likely to hunker down than open their wallets. Gold, at $4,000 an ounce, brightly spotlights these and other risk factors.

We – as in our leaders, voters, small businesses, the media, mega-corporations and the rest – have used up all our economic reset tools.

For Mission and everyone else who has sold their soul for 40 pieces of silver, it’s a good time to rediscover our humanity.