The Company We Keep

‘Perhaps the biggest failure by employers, and one of the greatest importance, is the failure to demonstrate to workers the identity of interest between management and employees … They want to be told more of what is happening and why; they want to be given incentives to improve productivity and efficiency; they want better pay and they want a bigger say in the everyday running of the company, particularly as it affects themselves … They do not want to get involved in the financial and other management decisions they do not understand … It is at least possible that both the employers and the union leaders are underestimating the intelligence of the workers to a serious degree for it is difficult to fault a desire for more pay in return for higher efficiency or an urge to be treated as adults and told more of what is going on’.