2018-11-21

Good, Loyal Workers Victims Of Poor Decisions By Corporations Because Of Social Media

I don't know how often it happens but we've seem a few examples on the Internet of employees immediately losing their jobs (usually without an investigation or due process) because of an incident posted on social media.

On a few occasions, the employees weren't necessarily wrong in the first place and thanks to the very same social media hunting down the facts, the truth prevailed.

It's understandable businesses are sensitive whenever their business attracts bad press but their handling of these incidences are not only over-reactions but unfair on a basic, decent human level.

The irony is in their rush to 'do the right thing' they're hurting good, loyal workers. The first high profile firing happened with the CEO of Mozilla Brendan Eich. There the problem was he had the audacity to donate funds to a group against gay marriage.  So much for freedom.

For a period, his life lay in ruined for merely having an opinion (the wrong with in the eyes of illiberal minds) but has since recovered.

Another dimension is race. Everyone is walking on egg shells in fear of being called a 'racist'. The more the idea 'whypippo' are all racists is pushed the more any incident is immediately perceived to be a racial one, and the more hucksters (hello Al Sharpton!) will take advantage as the latest case with Chipotle showed.

Two things worth considering. Stop apologizing for things you nothing to apologize for. At this point, the apology is a form of fetish for the alleged victim; it's a kind of pleasure-torture watching decent individual grovel for forgiveness. I think they call this 'power dynamics' first brought up by Michel Foucault. A notion left-wing progressives basted in critical theory took and ran with.

The other is stop rushing to judgment and sacrificing employees to the wolves.

It's cowardly and unprofessional.

Companies demand loyalty from their employees but don't seem to stand by them when an incident happens. They're all too willing to cut them out. All is replaceable is the message.

While this is true to some extent, you don't do it for the wrong reasons. Nonetheless, it's not a perception you want for your company.

This is how you lose the 'loyalty' part. It's not a good thing when employees don't feel you don't have their back.

Alas, this isn't exclusive to the social media era. Finding scapegoats that it is. But where people were forced to accept being wronged in the past, today it's not so easy in the age of technology and cameras in one face.

Companies seem confused and challenged as to how to handle the social justice angle to all this. Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole.

We're witnessing mature companies with established clientele transcending pretty much all class, political and demographic lines to go after a youthful segment to boost sales. Why take action on something that could potentially alienate and lose customers you have? Never mind those like me who shift between brands and need an excuse to not buy your product.

Again, why test loyalty?

The most recent example was Nike and their Kaepernick campaign. This just came off as disingenuous because Nike is an already mature and established brand who just wanted to capitalize on a social justice trend. But was Kap the guy to stake their reputation on?

I don't think he was.

The stock was around $80 at the time. It pulled back from $82 to $79-80 if memory serves me right. Now as I post this, it's down to $72. Sure there are reasons for this, it wouldn't surprise me the Kap campaign is among the reasons why it lost so much ground.

Corprorations are highly protective of their image and for good reason. However, in the age of social media, this protectiveness is giving into paranoia. And when paranoia sets in, sales get hurt.

And the paranoia is seeping into mistreating employees.

It's not the employees who need retraining.

It's companies. Particularly those who seem to be sensitive to SJW causes.

****

Speaking of social justice fools, Apple CEO Tim Cook chimed in with this gem:


"Exclusive: In an interview with "Axios on HBO," Apple CEO Tim Cook says big tech regulation is "inevitable." "[W]e have to admit when the free market is not working. And it hasn't worked here."

This is the CEO of a major company folks.

No, the free markets are fine.

It's just that you figure it doesn't fit into your narrative.

Funny how Apple benefited from the marvels of the free market all these years and now suddenly a woke CEO comes in and decides na-ah!

Ridiculous. 

What is it with these giant companies almost begging for the government to bust them up?

Cook should step down if he feels this way.











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