The View from Under the Bus

 

It’s no secret that I detest coming into the office and being part of the “working-professional” crowd. Although I do make more money from “white-collar” activities than blue-collar ones, there’s a lot of baggage that comes along with it and if I really was part of the ruling party’s internet brigade and making the billions that people assume I am making, I would never set foot into the office unless seduced by one of the sexy things that I see on the streets of Shenton Way. However, I’ve reached the age where I know which fantasies are just that and I do my best to stay away from things that will cause me unnecessary stress without criminal compensation.

An office is a cesspit for the worst type of human interaction. Very little actual work gets done inside an office and you end up breathing plenty of hot air on things like loyalty, values and culture by the people who have placed you under a bus:

 

 Copyright – South Park

However, I live in a city obsessed with corporate success. I seem to be in the minority. Given that the largest landlord in Singapore is the government, you cannot escape being bombarded with messages about how essential the office Is to your daily life. One of the most interesting message has come from an article in the Today Newspaper, which was taken from Emma Jacobs who writes for the Financial Times:

https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/employers-beware-hybrid-work-weakens-workers-loyalty-1812426?fbclid=IwAR0d_jYD3pDIANKrWIFYDY289iZWNY-3XNvajUyv6FMKk5T-sNEBUEKnXP0

 

 While I believe Ms. Jacobs made an interesting point, I’ve reached a stage in life where I tend to wince when people talk about “loyalty.” The reason for this is simple – the word “loyalty” has been misused to the point of becoming meaningless. A few days before the Today Newspaper published Ms. Jacobs’s article, we had Mike Pence, former US Vice-President, saying that his ex-boss was “wrong,” when it came to his constitutional role in the 2020 election. This was a stunning act of “disloyalty” from a man who had previously been regarded as someone who was “loyal to a fault.”

What happened? How did such a “loyal” man turn “disloyal? Well, it turned out that the man he spent four years of his life being exceedingly loyal to, threw him under the bus at a crucial moment when he had to be loyal to something more important than his boss – the laws. Result of trying to be law abiding was to have his former boss send a mob after him, proudly declaring their intention to hang him.

His former boss believes that it was common sense to send a mob after him and one has to question why Mr. Pence took so long to openly disagree with his boss after being on the receiving end of a murder attempt:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-hang-mike-pence/2021/11/12/64a17142-43b0-11ec-a88e-2aa4632af69b_story.html

 

Sadly Mr. Pence’s experience is merely the most visible and dramatic example of how an “underling’s” loyalty is often abused. Underlings are constantly reminded to be loyal to the people above them. Think of how many times one is told that you have to be loyal to your employer because your livelihood depends on it. In small corporatist societies like Singapore, we are told that we need to be “loyal” citizens to the government that brought us all the good things we apparently enjoy.

The narrative on loyalty is a one-way streak and while Ms. Jacobs clearly has a loyalty to her social life around the office, one has to ask if she’s enforcing the message that we, the plebs at the bottom of the heap, should be grateful for the scraps that get thrown at us.

Let’s face it, corporations will happily trade a worker for a cheaper version or a machine that does not require lunch breaks, overtime pay or talk about work-life balance. However much a corporation talks about caring for employees, the ultimate duty of the leadership of a corporation is towards the bottom line and the amounts they can pay shareholders. Everybody in a job needs to understand that the job is a business transaction. You are being paid to do a certain set of tasks. The message of “Be loyal to me and I will look after you and your loved ones,” never actually existed. A job is an employment contract not a marriage.

What is true of corporations is also true of governments. The only difference is the currency. Businesses are primarily about making money. Governments are interested in power. In a totalitarian system, the government will expect you to support it with your sweat and labour. In a democracy, they want your vote. Take Chinese history for example. Confucius who lived in ancient China talked about an ancient era where loyal citizens were looked after by benevolent kings. Think about it, the era where this took place was an ancient man’s ancient times.    

We have been so conditioned to think of loyalty as a bottom-up affair. However, has anyone ever questioned this? Shouldn’t it be a top-down affair to, when people at the top had loyalty to the people at the bottom. Contrary to what the late John F Kennedy said, you should be asking what your country has ever done for you. Instead of worrying about hybrid work models weakening corporate loyalty, Ms. Jacobs should actually be encouraging governments and corporations to remember that loyalty is a two-way street.