HUMANIZATION: AN INDEFINABLE END POINT

I heard on TV that some magazine had put together a list of the 100 best places to work. Of course, it is difficult to know precisely how such a subjective evaluation was made but it sounded like the best companies to work for were places that had the most work friendly environments and employee-oriented programs; safety considerations, day care, exercise areas, generous coffee breaks among other things. In addition, the employees were happy with the pay scales. The thought crossed my mind, what the editors of the magazine were describing was exactly the opposite of a sweatshop. I would think it would be informative to correlate company profits with workers contentment. My guess is that the companies that do all these good things for their employees would make less profit—less income per dollar invested in doing business. Our “slam bam, make a buck society” tends to put such high values on profit at the expense of the workers that we lose sight of the fact that we only live once. We substitute profit for individual welfare. The masters of business arts degree holders have no sense of humanization. They have no sense of altruism, only greed. Our culture seems to be evolving in a direction, which would suggest more and more of us are moving away from our bestial past and choosing an altruistic approach to life as being the best way to live. I felt good about the 100 best companies, as companies that seem to be doing that. At the same time, it reminded me that most workers work for companies that have no place on such a list. We have along way to go before we reach the implied but indefinable goal of “heaven on earth”, which may conflict with our survival thus not be achievable but still seems worth the effort.