May 1st, 2009

Corporate Compassion: Oxymoron?

On the 10 yr. anniversary of the Columbine High school massacre – the impetus for many of the 38 state versions of anti-bullying laws for children – the father of one of the victims is expanding his presentation about learning that we need more compassion in the world, a lesson he learned from Rachel’s sacrifice. The resulting nonprofit Colorado-based Rachel’s Challenge is now poised to take her story to the corporate world. This is all positive and good. We need a rekindling of compassion at these desperate times. And it has to happen in the workplace.

A Columbine Victim’s Spirit of Hope Grows

By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: April 17, 2009

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Darrell Scott has told the story of his daughter Rachel’s life, death and legacy thousands of times in schools all over the world in the 10 years since her murder at age 17 in the mass shootings at Columbine High School, a few miles south of here.

Read the entire article at the NY Times

However, has it dawned on corporations that it needs to treat its own employees with dignity, compassion and humanity? The employees hear the story of bullying at Columbine and tearfully resonate with the tragic consequences for Rachel, Scott’s daughter. Since 37% of  U.S. adults have been bullied at sometime in their careers at work, they know bullying firsthand. But owners and corporate executives might accept this feel-good message without acknowledging that it happens on their watch in their workplace due in large part to their indifference or loyalty to the abusive bullies who work for them.

There’s a major discconect going on here. Shed the tears for Rachel, but don’t shed any workers in the trenches who are told to grow a thicker skin, to “work it out between yourselves,” or to leavel the job they once loved because someone arbitrarily decided to launch a campaign of cruelty to drive them out.

Oh, did I mention the 600,000 jobs shed per month that allows companies to disassemble families’ economic security, physical and mental health, and hopefulness? And what about those compassionate employers who rushed to dump fixed pensions for long-term workers, to make them gamble in the stock market with 401K plans with lots of stock invested in crappy companies who drove everyone except the executives into the ditch?

So, feel-good corporate stories about discovering compassion have their place. Just don’t let employers off the hook when it comes to bullying in the workplace.

GN

Tags: Columbine, compassion, teen bullying

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 11:00 am and is filed under Employer Action/Inaction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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