April 23, 2024 โข 20 mins
Why do we go to work? Well, most likely, we do so in order to make a living and provide for ourselves and others. And yet, understanding the reasons of why we work transcends mere economic necessity; it delves into the areas of culture, societal norms, and individual aspirations. Culture shapes our perspectives and attitudes towards labor; it also defines the relationship between employees and the organizations they serve.ย
Cultures around the world charge work with various meanings, whether it's viewed as a means of sustenance, a path to self-fulfillment, or a communal obligation. Whether driven by a collective ethos emphasizing communal harmony or by an individualistic pursuit of personal fulfillment, cultural values intricately interlace with work attitudes, influencing everything from work-life balance preferences to the extent of loyalty towards employers.ย
๐๐ฌ๐ค ๐พ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ โ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐พ๐ช๐ก๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐๐จ is the worldโs #1 show on the business of culture and the culture of business. Christian Hรถferle and Brett Parry ponder culture in short bursts and deep dives, featuring your questions and comments related to culture, business, and personal growth.
Be sure to check out and subscribe to our YouTube channel for even more great content: https://www.youtube.com/@TwoChapsManyCultures
Visit https://theculturemastery.com/ for more information about the skills for working in a global context.
The music on this episode is provided courtesy of Sepalot.
โDuum Diipโ - Artist: Sepalot - Label: Eskapaden - Copyright control
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Two chaps, many cultures, and you might notice
this is not an illusion.
We are actually in the sameplace.
Look we are overlapping.
This is not AI.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is actually in the same location.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
And I came all the way down here to talk about this
topic.
Believe it or not, we are goingto talk about why do we work,
what is behind our motivationsfor turning up every day,
leaving our house, going out andkilling something, bringing it
home and feeding it to ourfamily, and what role do
organizations play in offeringthe things that make us happy in
(00:36):
terms of our work?
That's what we're going to talkabout.
Stick around, what we call whenwe get together it's like
wrapped up, it's like a Chipotle.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Welcome to 2Chaps Many Cultures.
In an increasingly globallyconnected world, it is vital to
possess the essential skills ofcultural intelligence.
Listen along as we present thetopics, tips and strategies you
can use to develop the power ofcultural understanding in your
personal and professional life.
(01:10):
Here are your hosts ChristianHuffala and Brett Parry.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Welcome back everybody.
Two chaps, many cultures, twochaps in the same place doesn't
happen often.
Today we do because we like itthe way.
That's why we work.
That's the name of this episode.
Make sure that you ring thebell.
You subscribe.
Wherever that dingy thing is onyour screen.
Click that or click down here.
(01:36):
Subscribe to this channel andalways get an update on the
latest episodes and know whereto navigate to on YouTube to
find the old episodes that aresold just as good as this one.
Some might even be better thanthe one we're doing right now.
They might be, maybe not.
(01:56):
Maybe this is the best onewe've ever done.
Why do we work?
Why do we go there?
Because we get a paycheck,because the company puts money
into our bank account so wedon't have to go out and kill
something to feed to our family.
Sometimes he's still stuck inthat hunter-gatherer mode.
(02:17):
I don't know what's going on.
Some of us actually go to anoffice or to other places of
work where we do something withour hands.
Do we do that because we wantthe money or do we do that
because we feel fulfilled whenwe do this, that we serve a
purpose, that it gives our livesa meaning or an additional
(02:41):
meaning to why we're here.
What drives us, what drives you?
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Well, I was going to ask you because I was thinking
about just as you were talkingabout that when you were a young
boy back in Germany.
What did you see?
What did you see in yourparents?
How did you feel they gotmotivated to go out to work?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
every day, to go out to work every day.
Well, in fact, my dad did goout to kill animals.
My dad was a butcher.
My parents did not choose theirpath, they were.
They had a limited scope ofwhat they were allowed to do
because family pressures,post-world war II economic,
(03:25):
societal pressures, which alittle bit predetermined what
they were going to do in theirprofessional lives.
My father confessed in me thatthat was not his dream job and
yet he did it with dignity, hedid it with devotion, he did it
with expertise and with anentrepreneurial drive to not
(03:46):
only succeed economically andfeed the family and provide for
the family.
He did it also because herecognized the honor in the
profession of producing food forother people.
My parents, my family, was inthe grocery business, if you
want to give it a biggerumbrella term, and that is an
(04:08):
honorable profession because itcomes with an obligation to not
only do the right thing, also tocontinue to improve the process
, make sure that what peoplereceive as our product is good
for them, it's healthy and it isup to health standards.
(04:28):
So that was the reason why,aside from the financial gain of
the enterprise, what was it foryou?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, I don't, you know really.
You know I usually watch myparents work hard.
They were hard workers,certainly, any time there was a
possibility to go out and dosomething for a quid, as we say
in Australia, they went out anddid it.
They worked hard, they savedmoney and I guess I never.
(05:01):
That this is slightly differentbecause my parents were were
people who did jobs, one side,the academic and aside, and the
other side in more of the, thehands-on mining industry.
So these were, so that wasn'tan entrepreneurial kind of
background.
So it was interesting when yousaid that about the bigger
picture, um, I guess I've neverdiscussed that with my parents
(05:23):
about the bigger picture, butyou saw that there was a, there
was an honor.
I love that.
An honor in terms of the biggerpicture, yes, I, I buy
something, I sell it.
I buy it for something, I sellit for something else and I make
a profit and that makes myfamily satisfied.
But also, I guess, guess, inthe community you are a feeder
(05:45):
of the community.
So this is where we kind ofthought about this episode, to
think about what responsibilitydo organizations have in
identifying?
Just as Christian and I had sawtwo different things growing up
?
How do they identify theindividual needs of the people?
And perhaps is there a generalcultural influence of that too,
(06:07):
depending on where you grew upand what your formation was?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
And I saw that with.
I mean, my parents had a smallbusiness.
Right, I saw it in how thepeople that worked for my family
came to work what drove themBecause that worked for my
family came to work what drovethem Because for me, as a
teenager, growing up working ina butcher shop was not a dream
(06:32):
job either.
Right, it was not necessarilythe occupation that a young boy
would be automatically drawn to.
I liked the product.
I think my family produced areally decent, solid product
that I still enjoy today.
There's this joke about youdon't want to eat the sausage
once you see it being made.
I saw it being made day in, dayout and I know what goes in it
(06:53):
and if it's done right, it'sgood and I still enjoy that.
Sorry to those of you who havedifferent dietary ideals I am
one of those who still eat meatand I noticed how it showed up
in the people that came to workfor my family, and these were
(07:13):
usually laborer type people fromaround the town, from the
outlying villages.
Some of them drove half an hour45 minutes to work, which in a
german context is quite a longcommute to go to work, and I
think, looking back at this.
They shared this ideal of beinga feeder of the community,
(07:37):
doing an honorable work andmaking sure that you do it right
, because when you feed people,it's an act of service.
Yes, you make money doing it ifyou're doing it right.
This idea of of providing forothers as a not gift, but as a
(07:58):
service to the community, Ithink that permeated through the
team, and many of the peoplethat worked with my parents
stayed for years and years andyears.
There was longevity to it.
So, and this is, I think, thereason why we got to think about
this topic, how does cultureaffect how people view the
(08:24):
organization that they work foror work with?
Is it simply an exchange time,power, intelligence, know-how or
labor hours exchanged for money?
Is it that transactional piecethat drives us to work or that
wants us to go to work, or isthere something more than that?
(08:45):
Is there a purpose, is there ameaning?
Is there cultural values thatinfuse that professional
interaction, professionalrelationship, and I think that's
the key.
Well, does culture influencethat.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Anecdotally, I would say it does.
There are certain cultures thatI work with where people come
and their attitude towards theirobligation to get up and go to
work is not purely driven bymoney.
It is they are doing something,whether it be their calling in
their profession, their function, but also the messaging that
(09:29):
their company puts out there,and this could happen even
before they go to work for thecompany.
It could be their parentsworking for the company, it
could be in the larger spectrumof the culture and the
environment of the countrythey're in, and they see a, see
a, they see what that brandrepresents.
And especially, I guess thiswould usually happen with older
(09:51):
companies that have hadgenerations of this messaging,
where they've seen this, thisbigger picture.
So, then, that the people mightshow up with this innate desire
to attach themselves to ascript, a scription, uh,
practice description, to thatideal, not particularly to the
company, and they may not bethat worried about the financial
(10:12):
benefits of the, the job, eventhough they still want to get
paid for it in exchange fortheir knowledge both brett and I
have had the privilege ofworking with people from outside
of our own culture.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
That's why we're here .
So in my anecdotal evidence,having worked for German small
business, my parents enterprise,so to say have also worked for
corporate Germany as an employee.
So I know both of these sides,the employer side and the
employee side.
I also know what it's like towork in a US organization.
(10:47):
So I've been an employee in theUnited States and now I'm a
business owner, entrepreneur, inthe United States as well.
So I'm now an employer orsomebody who contracts other
people for work projects.
So I've seen those fourquadrants in the two countries.
And yet we also get to workwith people from other parts of
the world that may havedifferent or very often do have
different experiences.
(11:07):
And yet we also get to workwith people from other parts of
the world that may havedifferent or very often do have
different experiences.
And I think there are two polaropposites that I would describe
as trends that I've seen isyou're either very much engaged
as an employee with your companyand also in reverse, the
company has a strongrelationship to their team
(11:31):
members, to their associates, orthat relationship is rather
transactional.
It's really the exchange fortime and money and very often,
if it's the more transactionalside, I have seen that team
members, that associates, don'tnecessarily stay an
extraordinary long amount with asingle company.
(11:54):
They chase a better opportunityor they are being hired or
attracted by other organizationswho see them as valuable for
their teams, see them asvaluable for their teams.
So here in the United States Iwould argue that the tenure that
a traditional employee has witha company is fairly short
(12:17):
compared to, let's say, japan orKorea or to Central Europe.
That would include not onlyGermany, my native country.
You see that as well inSwitzerland, in Austria, I think
, in Poland, czech Republic orCzechia.
The traditional values,cultural values, often lead to a
(12:39):
relationship between employerand employee that is built on
mutual trust, a strongrelationship and a shared
purpose.
And in more transactionalrelationship, cultures where
this relationship between, let'ssay let's use Marxist terms
capital and labor are not inthat symbiotic relationship.
(13:05):
Not in that symbioticrelationship it's easier to come
and leave because you don'tfeel necessarily that connection
to the mission or the purposeof the organization.
That's been my experience.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
If you think about, even in transactional cultures,
there may be a way to messagethis.
If you feel that people arejust turning up for a paycheck,
if you feel that they're notreally getting and communicating
to them what the big picture ofyour organization is trying to
do, then you could change themessaging to understand.
(13:38):
Perhaps you could tap into someof that humanity that they feel
in terms of what they're doingfor you as they show up and with
you as they show up.
And think about that as youmotivate, as you hire certainly
as you hire right Hire at thevery start, but as you bring
people on and even as you buildteams.
(14:00):
Of course we work a lot withpeople that are trying to build
effective teams and culture addsanother layer to that.
So oftentimes we're askingpeople what makes you turn up
here today?
What is that?
And it could be different formany people in one particular
team.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Sometimes it is the compensation structure,
sometimes it is the package ofbenefits that the company
provides.
That is the deciding factor.
Do I go to work for this placeor the other place?
And sometimes it's the.
The emotion that you feel atwork is it just the mission, or
is it also the work environment?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
in many ways, sometimes there, there is a
cultural thing in that, becausethese, the culture that they
come from, is this is where thecompany was founded.
So they feel not only a and Isteer away from the word
patriotic, it's, uh, it's moreof a pride in identity, uh,
being from that country thatthat company represents an ideal
(15:01):
also from the country thatthey're from.
And and then, as a person whoidentifies as being brought up
or attached to that country, orby birth or marriage or whatever
it is, then they feel thatthere's an added bonus to
putting that, you know, thatbadge on their, on their shirt,
and we said employer brandingearlier, right, um, I.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
I deal a lot with companies that expand globally
and when they enter a new market, their brand as an employer is
sometimes non-existent.
Right, nobody knows them inthis foreign market.
This might be the first timethey have an operation there.
In their native country they'rewell known as employer.
(15:49):
People know about them, theyknow the mission, the vision.
They may even know the cultureof the organization.
In the new place they're anobody in the beginning.
How do you create that awarenessthat you are a place of work
where people really want to showup and choose you over some
(16:11):
other employer?
And we live in, especially inthe so-called western world.
We live in a time where, um,automation is is increasing.
Where we have to, companies incertain industries have to
automate more and more of theirprocesses because we don't have
enough people to replaceemployees that are aging out of
(16:36):
the company.
The generational disparity isobvious in some of those markets
when baby boomers or even now,generation Xers are exiting a
company and there's not an equalamount of millennials or
Generation Z or Zed talentgrowing up to replace them.
So it is the talent who gets tochoose more than previous
(17:02):
generations were able to choosein employment.
So you as an employer have todo the very best to attract the
very best right.
And how do you do that right?
That's part of a culture aswell.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Some of this conversation came out of an
observation about benefits forfamilies and what are offered
for mothers and fathers in termsof looking after their children
when they first arrived to theworld.
Of course, you know and that isanother benefit it's a small
part of what could be offered ina larger package when you think
about the well-being of thefamilies, well-being of the
(17:38):
people that come to turn up foryou every day.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yes, yeah, let's make that concrete.
I'm not going to name thecompany, but here where we are
in the United States, I'm notgoing to name the company, but
here where we are in the UnitedStates, paternity leave is not a
part of the labor regulationsin the United States.
A company does not have toprovide paternity leave and job
(18:02):
security for young families whoare growing in many other parts
of the world, especially in G7and G20 economies.
That's a standard, that's agiven for many.
So we saw a news piece recentlyof a European headquartered
company that decided to extendthese paternity leave models to
(18:25):
any country that they're workingin.
So it will be a standardprogram.
No matter where in the worldthe employees are, they will get
the same form of paternityleave.
That includes the United States.
Well, what do you think?
Is that going to make thatemployer a lot more attractive
for young talent all of a sudden?
Who know, if I go to work thereand happen to get pregnant or
(18:46):
want to get pregnant, I stillhave a job and I will have time
to look after my newborn.
Is that going to be a decidingfactor for top talent?
I would venture a guess and sayit is right.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Definitely so.
Think about that.
If you're a business owner, aleader or even somebody that
gets to go and work for acompany that you feel might be,
you just might want to considerwhy do you get up every day, why
do you go there, what are theconversations that are taking
place between you and theemployer, and think about how
(19:20):
that affects your attitude towhat you do, and maybe think
about the conversations youshare with loved ones and
friends about what you do.
This is a great considerationand something to be well thought
out.
So another episode, betterthought out than we just did.
Better thought out than what wejust did.
This is great.
(19:40):
We could sit here all day, butI've got a plane to catch, I've
got to go home, but I've enjoyedthe hospitality.
The hospitality, the coffeemakes good coffee and good
sausage, by the way, too, I dolike sausage myself and uh, the,
uh, the grill and all of thosekind of things that come along
with a great visit, when you gettogether with friends,
especially great friends likeChristian here and but also
(20:03):
there is a good chance to tocommune with other people, and
that's what we've done this pastweekend.
Maybe another episode.
We'll talk about what we didthis weekend with a great group
of people, but that was mymotivation for coming here.
Thanks for doing it.
He didn't pay me anyway, so ithad to be something.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
And my reason for being here was like this is part
of what I do, right.
This is why we work.
Yet another episode.
Two Ch, many cultures, thesetwo noggins, in the same frame.
Can you believe it?
It did happen.
All right, ring the bell,subscribe.
Make sure you check us for thenext episode coming up in due
time.
See you next time.
(20:44):
Bye.
Two chaps, many cultures, and you might notice
this is not an illusion.
We are actually in the sameplace.
Look we are overlapping.
This is not AI.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is actually in the same location.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
And I came all the way down here to talk about this
topic.
Believe it or not, we are goingto talk about why do we work,
what is behind our motivationsfor turning up every day,
leaving our house, going out andkilling something, bringing it
home and feeding it to ourfamily, and what role do
organizations play in offeringthe things that make us happy in
(00:36):
terms of our work?
That's what we're going to talkabout.
Stick around, what we call whenwe get together it's like
wrapped up, it's like a Chipotle.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Welcome to 2Chaps Many Cultures.
In an increasingly globallyconnected world, it is vital to
possess the essential skills ofcultural intelligence.
Listen along as we present thetopics, tips and strategies you
can use to develop the power ofcultural understanding in your
personal and professional life.
(01:10):
Here are your hosts ChristianHuffala and Brett Parry.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Welcome back everybody.
Two chaps, many cultures, twochaps in the same place doesn't
happen often.
Today we do because we like itthe way.
That's why we work.
That's the name of this episode.
Make sure that you ring thebell.
You subscribe.
Wherever that dingy thing is onyour screen.
Click that or click down here.
(01:36):
Subscribe to this channel andalways get an update on the
latest episodes and know whereto navigate to on YouTube to
find the old episodes that aresold just as good as this one.
Some might even be better thanthe one we're doing right now.
They might be, maybe not.
(01:56):
Maybe this is the best onewe've ever done.
Why do we work?
Why do we go there?
Because we get a paycheck,because the company puts money
into our bank account so wedon't have to go out and kill
something to feed to our family.
Sometimes he's still stuck inthat hunter-gatherer mode.
(02:17):
I don't know what's going on.
Some of us actually go to anoffice or to other places of
work where we do something withour hands.
Do we do that because we wantthe money or do we do that
because we feel fulfilled whenwe do this, that we serve a
purpose, that it gives our livesa meaning or an additional
(02:41):
meaning to why we're here.
What drives us, what drives you?
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Well, I was going to ask you because I was thinking
about just as you were talkingabout that when you were a young
boy back in Germany.
What did you see?
What did you see in yourparents?
How did you feel they gotmotivated to go out to work?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
every day, to go out to work every day.
Well, in fact, my dad did goout to kill animals.
My dad was a butcher.
My parents did not choose theirpath, they were.
They had a limited scope ofwhat they were allowed to do
because family pressures,post-world war II economic,
(03:25):
societal pressures, which alittle bit predetermined what
they were going to do in theirprofessional lives.
My father confessed in me thatthat was not his dream job and
yet he did it with dignity, hedid it with devotion, he did it
with expertise and with anentrepreneurial drive to not
(03:46):
only succeed economically andfeed the family and provide for
the family.
He did it also because herecognized the honor in the
profession of producing food forother people.
My parents, my family, was inthe grocery business, if you
want to give it a biggerumbrella term, and that is an
(04:08):
honorable profession because itcomes with an obligation to not
only do the right thing, also tocontinue to improve the process
, make sure that what peoplereceive as our product is good
for them, it's healthy and it isup to health standards.
(04:28):
So that was the reason why,aside from the financial gain of
the enterprise, what was it foryou?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, I don't, you know really.
You know I usually watch myparents work hard.
They were hard workers,certainly, any time there was a
possibility to go out and dosomething for a quid, as we say
in Australia, they went out anddid it.
They worked hard, they savedmoney and I guess I never.
(05:01):
That this is slightly differentbecause my parents were were
people who did jobs, one side,the academic and aside, and the
other side in more of the, thehands-on mining industry.
So these were, so that wasn'tan entrepreneurial kind of
background.
So it was interesting when yousaid that about the bigger
picture, um, I guess I've neverdiscussed that with my parents
(05:23):
about the bigger picture, butyou saw that there was a, there
was an honor.
I love that.
An honor in terms of the biggerpicture, yes, I, I buy
something, I sell it.
I buy it for something, I sellit for something else and I make
a profit and that makes myfamily satisfied.
But also, I guess, guess, inthe community you are a feeder
(05:45):
of the community.
So this is where we kind ofthought about this episode, to
think about what responsibilitydo organizations have in
identifying?
Just as Christian and I had sawtwo different things growing up
?
How do they identify theindividual needs of the people?
And perhaps is there a generalcultural influence of that too,
(06:07):
depending on where you grew upand what your formation was?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
And I saw that with.
I mean, my parents had a smallbusiness.
Right, I saw it in how thepeople that worked for my family
came to work what drove themBecause that worked for my
family came to work what drovethem Because for me, as a
teenager, growing up working ina butcher shop was not a dream
(06:32):
job either.
Right, it was not necessarilythe occupation that a young boy
would be automatically drawn to.
I liked the product.
I think my family produced areally decent, solid product
that I still enjoy today.
There's this joke about youdon't want to eat the sausage
once you see it being made.
I saw it being made day in, dayout and I know what goes in it
(06:53):
and if it's done right, it'sgood and I still enjoy that.
Sorry to those of you who havedifferent dietary ideals I am
one of those who still eat meatand I noticed how it showed up
in the people that came to workfor my family, and these were
(07:13):
usually laborer type people fromaround the town, from the
outlying villages.
Some of them drove half an hour45 minutes to work, which in a
german context is quite a longcommute to go to work, and I
think, looking back at this.
They shared this ideal of beinga feeder of the community,
(07:37):
doing an honorable work andmaking sure that you do it right
, because when you feed people,it's an act of service.
Yes, you make money doing it ifyou're doing it right.
This idea of of providing forothers as a not gift, but as a
(07:58):
service to the community, Ithink that permeated through the
team, and many of the peoplethat worked with my parents
stayed for years and years andyears.
There was longevity to it.
So, and this is, I think, thereason why we got to think about
this topic, how does cultureaffect how people view the
(08:24):
organization that they work foror work with?
Is it simply an exchange time,power, intelligence, know-how or
labor hours exchanged for money?
Is it that transactional piecethat drives us to work or that
wants us to go to work, or isthere something more than that?
(08:45):
Is there a purpose, is there ameaning?
Is there cultural values thatinfuse that professional
interaction, professionalrelationship, and I think that's
the key.
Well, does culture influencethat.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Anecdotally, I would say it does.
There are certain cultures thatI work with where people come
and their attitude towards theirobligation to get up and go to
work is not purely driven bymoney.
It is they are doing something,whether it be their calling in
their profession, their function, but also the messaging that
(09:29):
their company puts out there,and this could happen even
before they go to work for thecompany.
It could be their parentsworking for the company, it
could be in the larger spectrumof the culture and the
environment of the countrythey're in, and they see a, see
a, they see what that brandrepresents.
And especially, I guess thiswould usually happen with older
(09:51):
companies that have hadgenerations of this messaging,
where they've seen this, thisbigger picture.
So, then, that the people mightshow up with this innate desire
to attach themselves to ascript, a scription, uh,
practice description, to thatideal, not particularly to the
company, and they may not bethat worried about the financial
(10:12):
benefits of the, the job, eventhough they still want to get
paid for it in exchange fortheir knowledge both brett and I
have had the privilege ofworking with people from outside
of our own culture.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
That's why we're here .
So in my anecdotal evidence,having worked for German small
business, my parents enterprise,so to say have also worked for
corporate Germany as an employee.
So I know both of these sides,the employer side and the
employee side.
I also know what it's like towork in a US organization.
(10:47):
So I've been an employee in theUnited States and now I'm a
business owner, entrepreneur, inthe United States as well.
So I'm now an employer orsomebody who contracts other
people for work projects.
So I've seen those fourquadrants in the two countries.
And yet we also get to workwith people from other parts of
the world that may havedifferent or very often do have
different experiences.
(11:07):
And yet we also get to workwith people from other parts of
the world that may havedifferent or very often do have
different experiences.
And I think there are two polaropposites that I would describe
as trends that I've seen isyou're either very much engaged
as an employee with your companyand also in reverse, the
company has a strongrelationship to their team
(11:31):
members, to their associates, orthat relationship is rather
transactional.
It's really the exchange fortime and money and very often,
if it's the more transactionalside, I have seen that team
members, that associates, don'tnecessarily stay an
extraordinary long amount with asingle company.
(11:54):
They chase a better opportunityor they are being hired or
attracted by other organizationswho see them as valuable for
their teams, see them asvaluable for their teams.
So here in the United States Iwould argue that the tenure that
a traditional employee has witha company is fairly short
(12:17):
compared to, let's say, japan orKorea or to Central Europe.
That would include not onlyGermany, my native country.
You see that as well inSwitzerland, in Austria, I think
, in Poland, czech Republic orCzechia.
The traditional values,cultural values, often lead to a
(12:39):
relationship between employerand employee that is built on
mutual trust, a strongrelationship and a shared
purpose.
And in more transactionalrelationship, cultures where
this relationship between, let'ssay let's use Marxist terms
capital and labor are not inthat symbiotic relationship.
(13:05):
Not in that symbioticrelationship it's easier to come
and leave because you don'tfeel necessarily that connection
to the mission or the purposeof the organization.
That's been my experience.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
If you think about, even in transactional cultures,
there may be a way to messagethis.
If you feel that people arejust turning up for a paycheck,
if you feel that they're notreally getting and communicating
to them what the big picture ofyour organization is trying to
do, then you could change themessaging to understand.
(13:38):
Perhaps you could tap into someof that humanity that they feel
in terms of what they're doingfor you as they show up and with
you as they show up.
And think about that as youmotivate, as you hire certainly
as you hire right Hire at thevery start, but as you bring
people on and even as you buildteams.
(14:00):
Of course we work a lot withpeople that are trying to build
effective teams and culture addsanother layer to that.
So oftentimes we're askingpeople what makes you turn up
here today?
What is that?
And it could be different formany people in one particular
team.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Sometimes it is the compensation structure,
sometimes it is the package ofbenefits that the company
provides.
That is the deciding factor.
Do I go to work for this placeor the other place?
And sometimes it's the.
The emotion that you feel atwork is it just the mission, or
is it also the work environment?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
in many ways, sometimes there, there is a
cultural thing in that, becausethese, the culture that they
come from, is this is where thecompany was founded.
So they feel not only a and Isteer away from the word
patriotic, it's, uh, it's moreof a pride in identity, uh,
being from that country thatthat company represents an ideal
(15:01):
also from the country thatthey're from.
And and then, as a person whoidentifies as being brought up
or attached to that country, orby birth or marriage or whatever
it is, then they feel thatthere's an added bonus to
putting that, you know, thatbadge on their, on their shirt,
and we said employer brandingearlier, right, um, I.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
I deal a lot with companies that expand globally
and when they enter a new market, their brand as an employer is
sometimes non-existent.
Right, nobody knows them inthis foreign market.
This might be the first timethey have an operation there.
In their native country they'rewell known as employer.
(15:49):
People know about them, theyknow the mission, the vision.
They may even know the cultureof the organization.
In the new place they're anobody in the beginning.
How do you create that awarenessthat you are a place of work
where people really want to showup and choose you over some
(16:11):
other employer?
And we live in, especially inthe so-called western world.
We live in a time where, um,automation is is increasing.
Where we have to, companies incertain industries have to
automate more and more of theirprocesses because we don't have
enough people to replaceemployees that are aging out of
(16:36):
the company.
The generational disparity isobvious in some of those markets
when baby boomers or even now,generation Xers are exiting a
company and there's not an equalamount of millennials or
Generation Z or Zed talentgrowing up to replace them.
So it is the talent who gets tochoose more than previous
(17:02):
generations were able to choosein employment.
So you as an employer have todo the very best to attract the
very best right.
And how do you do that right?
That's part of a culture aswell.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Some of this conversation came out of an
observation about benefits forfamilies and what are offered
for mothers and fathers in termsof looking after their children
when they first arrived to theworld.
Of course, you know and that isanother benefit it's a small
part of what could be offered ina larger package when you think
about the well-being of thefamilies, well-being of the
(17:38):
people that come to turn up foryou every day.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yes, yeah, let's make that concrete.
I'm not going to name thecompany, but here where we are
in the United States, I'm notgoing to name the company, but
here where we are in the UnitedStates, paternity leave is not a
part of the labor regulationsin the United States.
A company does not have toprovide paternity leave and job
(18:02):
security for young families whoare growing in many other parts
of the world, especially in G7and G20 economies.
That's a standard, that's agiven for many.
So we saw a news piece recentlyof a European headquartered
company that decided to extendthese paternity leave models to
(18:25):
any country that they're workingin.
So it will be a standardprogram.
No matter where in the worldthe employees are, they will get
the same form of paternityleave.
That includes the United States.
Well, what do you think?
Is that going to make thatemployer a lot more attractive
for young talent all of a sudden?
Who know, if I go to work thereand happen to get pregnant or
(18:46):
want to get pregnant, I stillhave a job and I will have time
to look after my newborn.
Is that going to be a decidingfactor for top talent?
I would venture a guess and sayit is right.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Definitely so.
Think about that.
If you're a business owner, aleader or even somebody that
gets to go and work for acompany that you feel might be,
you just might want to considerwhy do you get up every day, why
do you go there, what are theconversations that are taking
place between you and theemployer, and think about how
(19:20):
that affects your attitude towhat you do, and maybe think
about the conversations youshare with loved ones and
friends about what you do.
This is a great considerationand something to be well thought
out.
So another episode, betterthought out than we just did.
Better thought out than what wejust did.
This is great.
(19:40):
We could sit here all day, butI've got a plane to catch, I've
got to go home, but I've enjoyedthe hospitality.
The hospitality, the coffeemakes good coffee and good
sausage, by the way, too, I dolike sausage myself and uh, the,
uh, the grill and all of thosekind of things that come along
with a great visit, when you gettogether with friends,
especially great friends likeChristian here and but also
(20:03):
there is a good chance to tocommune with other people, and
that's what we've done this pastweekend.
Maybe another episode.
We'll talk about what we didthis weekend with a great group
of people, but that was mymotivation for coming here.
Thanks for doing it.
He didn't pay me anyway, so ithad to be something.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
And my reason for being here was like this is part
of what I do, right.
This is why we work.
Yet another episode.
Two Ch, many cultures, thesetwo noggins, in the same frame.
Can you believe it?
It did happen.
All right, ring the bell,subscribe.
Make sure you check us for thenext episode coming up in due
time.
See you next time.
(20:44):
Bye.
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