Employees
It is often said the greatest assets a company possesses are the ones that walk in and out the door every day, their employees. But for an Objectivist entrepreneur what is the nature of the employer/employee relationship? Should employees be treated like family, with the entrepreneur the patriarch of that family? How do you motivate employees? How do you compensate employees? What differentiates an entrepreneur and their employees? These are the questions these essays will address for the Objectivist Entrepreneur.
“..jobs do not exist “in nature,… they do not grow on trees,… someone has to create the job you need”
Ayn Rand
1 – Employer/Employee Relationship
What is the nature of the relationship between an employer and an employee? Is it based on Paternalism, the idea a company is like a family with the employer as the patriarch to which employees subordinate themselves? Or is it based on Individualism, with both the entrepreneur and their employees, in pursuit of their own rational self-interest, are joined by agreement in a common pursuit? Many companies view their employees paternalistically. They believe they are responsible for the health wealth and well-being of their employees. They provide numerous incentives expecting this alone will motivate employees to make the company’s success…
2 – Employee Incentive
Compensation in all its forms, salaries, wages, benefits, profit sharing, stock options and perks is certainly an incentive for an employee even if ideally not the source of their motivation. Can an executive be paid too much? Can a wage earner be paid too little? Who gets to decide? For an entrepreneur actively seeking the best employees what principles underpin the determination of their compensation? Governments certainly attempt to impact compensation on both ends of the spectrum. Minimum wage laws attempt to impose limits on how little an employee can be paid. Simultaneously influential politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria…
3 – Employee Motivation
An Objectivist entrepreneur is motivated to pursue an idea for their own purposes, applying their creative ambitions to produce something of value. The execution of their creative abilities toward a purposeful goal is self-rewarding, self-fulfilling and the source of their motivation. But does the same motivation apply to an employee? Or are incentive and motivation synonymous for an employee? Can the principles that motivate an entrepreneur motivate an employee as well? Motivation amongst employees varies depending on their skill levels and personal ambitions. Unfortunately, for some employees, incentive, in the form of compensation and benefits, is synonymous with their motivation.…
4 – Teams and Groups
Companies usually organize employees that share common activities and responsibilities into teams and groups. Teams meet for a variety of reasons ranging from simply exchanging information to collective decision making. There are varying opinions on the use and effectiveness of meetings. Bill Gates is quoted as saying “You have a meeting to make a decision, not to decide on the question.” Yet Mark Cuban is quoted as saying “The only way you’re going to get me for a meeting is if you’re writing me a check….. They’re a waste of time.” That’s a broad spectrum of opinion on meetings. But…