Men And Their Employees
I have observed and carefully taken time out to watch how things happen between men and their employees. I once did an article on women and their domestic staff. I used to believe men don’t have issues when it comes to their relationship with their workers.
When I talk about employees, I am not referring only to your office employees, but your domestic staff. I have also realised that a good number of men are good natured and want to see their staff happy and comfortable, but the issue is that they are surrounded by women who don’t want anything good for their staff.
Honestly, I can’t stand to see human beings like me in pain. I don’t like the sight of bosses trying to make their employees look miserable. But I have seen this to be one of the major problems in Nigeria today. We are so selfish even in our homes. I keep wondering why we should be complaining about the selfish nature of our leaders when in the real sense of it Nigerians are known to be selfish.
I don’t expect you to totally agree with me, but I want you to look at it this way; a man gets blessed by God and is comfortable. He then employs people to work for him both at home and office. He pays them salary while sometimes he does not pay at the right time. He does not care what happens to his staff and how life treats them. To this man it is all about his family. Now tell me; what happens when such a man gets into a position of authority in the society?
The problem is that, most times, in our relationship with people, who we think are second class citizens of the nation simply because they are not as comfortable as we are, we tend to forget there is a God somewhere who holds the key to life.
I see men beat their servants and employees over every little thing. You abuse them emotionally and tell them whatever you like before your friends because you are the one feeding them. Sir, life is not always the way we want it to be. I tell people that most of the rubbish employees take from their bosses in Nigeria are things that would have made them millionaires in the western world.
I see men treat their managers in the office with so much regard, but their secretaries, messengers, and drivers remain inferior humans. You may not know this, but in most cases they are very important to your success and failure in business.
With so many people moving around with negative mindset, I am here today to speak for the less privileged among us. These ones cannot talk to their bosses because they don’t want to be sacked. Don’t think your employees are happy with you because they are working for you. They are with you because there is no hope of getting another job elsewhere. Some men have even turned their employees into zombies and robots who now move and live their lives in fear of their fellow human being.
I have seen pastors dress wonderfully well with their wives adorned in gold and costly designer clothes. Even their children wear designers and drive good cars. But guys, what do you have to say and how do you feel when you visit their churches and see their assistant pastors, their wives, and children looking impoverished? I don’t know about you, but this has made me to stop giving things to so many General Overseers who keep getting richer while their followers are getting poorer.
These pastors come up with the defence that their junior pastors should wait for their time and go through their own wilderness because they were once there. Sir, until the true love of Christ is seen in you; heaven is still very far from you. I salute the persons of Pastor Sam Adeyemi of Daystar and Pastor Sarah of Family Worship Centre, Abuja for their relationship with their junior pastors. They have even gone the extent of giving them brand new cars and holiday trips abroad.
Guys, we most times think God is happy with us when in the real sense of it, he abhors what we do. We see those little children from the junior pastors looking hungry and sent out of school due to the inability of their parents to pay their school fees. We see the junior pastors sweating under the hot sun. We see church workers looking miserable. We move past them straight to the GO because we want to be recognised. Your GO recognises you, but definitely not God.
Nigerians are people who believe so much in the power of fetish things. I remember when I had a landlord I respected so much and took care of due to his age. There was this time that I travelled out of the country and bought a very lovely suit for the old man. I gave it to him months before my rent was due. I saw his wife wearing the dress I gave her while the baba never wore the suit. It was later I heard that baba kept the suit in his corridor because according to him, I could have done something to make him forget his rent.
A very funny incident you may say, but that is obtainable among the bosses. I have seen men who will never give out their used and old clothes to people serving them because they believe they will use it against them.
Sir, I have this to say; if your hands are clean, you won’t fear those things. I have been giving out my things for many years now to my house helps and staff and I can tell you I get more blessed. How do you feel when you are properly dressed for a function and your driver or PA is with you tattered? Have you ever stopped to think of what people say about you?
I once had a driver who people saw as a very rough person. Everyone wondered how I managed to stay with him for nine years. He looked so dirty when he joined me that people couldn’t imagine why I would employ such a driver. I didn’t look at him (though I was afraid) as someone who wanted a job, but I saw myself in a position to affect his life. I employed him and when I saw that he has a very good spirit, I gave him new clothes and shoes. I got my husband to pay his house rent and all through his years with me, I paid virtually all his bills.
Today, he is finding it very difficult to stay with another person because, according to him, no one can ever accept him the way I did. He goes about telling everyone that I made him what he is today. Even sometimes when I travel now, I invite him to stay with my kids at home. I gave him to a friend, but he never fails to be there for me whenever I need him. Guys, this is what life should be. Are you aware that so much of your life and safety is in the hands of your drivers, security men, and cook? You should always make sure they are happy.
I make it a point of duty that any day I use a driver; I must give him at least five hundred naira as he is going home and in a case where I don’t have, I promise to make up. A few weeks back, I had just N700 in my bag after work. I got home very late with my official driver. On getting down from the vehicle, I gave him N500 and kept N200. I was shocked when this man fell on the ground and started praying for me because he heard me telling someone how much I had with me.
You give more than that to your girlfriends and spend so much in the bar, but just a little comfort for your staff is too much a discomfort for you. The look of the people working for you in your house and office says it all about your real person.
Have you ever bothered about how your drivers and PAs feed when you attend those parties with them? I have had to send drinks offered to me in parties to my driver because I see him to be the one who needs it most. I take whatever kind of drink I want regularly. I can afford a whole chicken if that is my problem. But these ones rarely have them. I make sure that people eat something in my house once they set their feet into my compound. I don’t do it to friends alone, but also my staff. I even allow them go to the fridge and kitchen to sort themselves out. Guys, why do we hold so much to the things of this life when we know they are nothing.
Some men are in the habit of draining life out of their staff. I have seen men who keep their employees till late in the night on a daily basis. Things can come up occasionally, but when it becomes a daily routine, it becomes a sin against humanity. Why should you use a fellow human being for seven days a week? He has a home like you; he has issues and problems to attend to just like you. You over-use them and at the end of the day, not even a simple thank you and/or a little allowance.
I was so happy when I asked for a friend’s driver recently. He told me his driver does not work on Sunday even though he lives with him. He advised I call him myself, persuade him and try to pay him for the extra time. You summon your staff any time (even when they are with their wives) and feel they must be there for you. Sir, sit down for a while and meditate about your relationship with your staff.
I think the issue here is that so many of us have stopped seeing our employees as fellow humans. We now see them as robots that should be remote controlled. If you like, be the Bishop or Sheik of your group, if you don’t treat your employees just the way you treat your own relations, you have not started practising religion. Change your ways and become a better master to your servants. They are humans like you. The only difference between you and your staff is that you were opportune in life. Some of them would have been great today if not for circumstances of life that were beyond them.
Take care of your staff. Don’t allow them depend on their salary alone for survival. Be the god and saviour they see.
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