Seth Godin's blog started out with the following paragraphs:
A hundred and fifty years ago, when people finally began organizing to eliminate child labor in American factories, they were called anti-business. There was no way, the owners complained, that they could make a living if they couldn’t employ ultra-cheap labor. In retrospect, I think businesses are glad that kids go to school--educated workers make better consumers (and citizens).
The term anti-business actually seems to mean, “against short-term waste, harmful side effects and selfish shortcuts.” Direct marketers were aghast when people started speaking out against spam, but of course, in the long run, ethical direct marketers came out ahead.
If anti-business means supporting a structure that builds a foundation where more people can flourish over time, then sign me up.
It often seems like standing up for dignity, humanity and respect for those without as much power is called anti-business. And yet it turns out that the long-term benefit for businesses is that they are able to operate in a more stable, civilized, sophisticated marketplace.
It’s pretty easy to go back to a completely self-regulated, selfishly focused, Ayn-Randian cut-throat short-term world. But I don’t think you’d want to live there.
That first paragraph really got my attention when I think about some of the pay company drivers are receiving and the job requirements they are expected to do on their own time off of the books and clock.
Seeing how our lives changed when entering the trucking industry with Bob a driver instead of a supervisor and a former small business owner was an eye opener. In order to have income, the wheels needed to be turning as there was no pay for being broke down, dealing with a truck or trailer repair, or dealing with a shipper as the paperwork was not right or that empty trailer could not be found.
Within companies we have been involved with the recruiting ads have become staggering of the recruitment bonuses being offered. At the same time we saw that the discontentment growing as the level of respect dwindled and the standards lowered of the requirements that needed to be met in order to haul the freight. As time went on the bonuses became bigger and the flood of drivers leaving or being asked to leave becomes even higher.
The only way this can be changed is for a company to stop the recruiting and hold on to what they have. Spend the money hiring retention specialists instead of recruiters and fix the problem from within. As with the business owners a hundred and fifty years ago maybe cheap labor is not as cheap as it once appeared. The rules are going to have to be broken for this problem to be fixed.
Jeff Clark had a great analogy that I believe fits perfectly:
A buyer walks into a Cadillac dealership and wants to buy a car for a certain amount of money; the salesman says we cannot sell you a car for that amount of money. The buyer walks out of the dealership telling the whole world there is a shortage of Cadillac’s, as he cannot buy one.
Is there a lack of Cadillac’s or drivers if the price is right?