RUSSELL WANGERSKY
The Telegram

You just don't work as hard as you used to. That's the way the boss sees it, and he's worried about it. Worried enough that employers in this province want to do a little research to find out why.

The provincial employers' council has launched a study called The Disappearing Work Ethic: Fact or Fiction, and here's how they describe what it's all about.

"This study is in response to concerns from employers regarding the effect employment insurance and worker's compensation benefits have on the work attitude and productivity of employees, employee turnover, absenteeism and competitiveness of businesses in this province."

Hmmm.

It's interesting, and perhaps not surprising, that the primary issues the employers' council are examining - employment insurance and worker's compensation - are both things that, well, employers pay a large part of.

It's also interesting what the study seems to be leaving out.

Perhaps its scope should be a little more broad and examine what could be called the "disappearing employer ethic."

To me, employers in this province suffer from two distinct problems: first, they're far too used to the benefits of a captive workforce and, second, in many cases, tight financial times have turned those same employers into dishonest bosses.

We're all yours

First, though, to the captive workforce.

For years, through the wonder of the small job market and the geography of this province, employers have been able to pay people less than mainland employers do - sometimes, far less - and at the same time, expect more in return.

Why? Because, without opportunities or the ability to move easily, workers put up and shut up. Don't like being arbitrarily told you're working a weekend shift? Well, you're welcome to look elsewhere - except there's nowhere else to look close to home. So suck it up.

Don't like the pay? Choke it down, because bad pay is better than no pay. You still see lower rates of pay in this province than in many other provinces, even though the economy's strengthened.

But with that new economic strength has come a broader range of workplace opportunities. Now, if boss tells you you're working a stat holiday for straight pay? Yes, it's against the Labour Standards Act, and yes, you can report your employer. (Don't tell me it doesn't happen, because I can show you St. John's employers who have tried exactly that, as recently as Labour Day.) Even three years ago when there were fewer jobs to go around, you had to fear being fired.

Times change

But now you tell your boss that it's against the law, and if they won't pay you, they can work the shift themselves. And you don't even have to stick around for the inevitable firing - you can get a job somewhere else.

Yep - it's employee turnover all right, but the cause isn't EI or worker's comp. It's the ability of an employee not to be held for ransom on the wrong side of the supply-and-demand equation.

Now, especially in areas of low wages, like minimum-wage employees, there's actually flexibility. Not only that: good employees get poached by other employers, with offers of better pay and working conditions.

But that's not the only thing eroding the benefits to employers that used to spring out of the good old "work ethic."

Imagine, as has been the case in recent years, the experience of employees being told for the first time that they are integral and valued parts of a company.

It wore off

That was the mantra of the prerecession employer. Training and job growth was important; employees were told they were as valuable to a company as customers and owners. We're all in this together, the spiel went, and employees are as important as anyone else.

Then, times got tough. Many discovered that employers talked the talk - but that was it.

What's the first thing to go in many companies? Usually training, followed by travel, and then you get to watch as other "valued employees" empty their desks and leave the building - because in a recession, the truth comes out, and the only really important thing is the bottom line.

Usually, it's only the employees who hear the "we have to tighten our belts" talk, and usually, it's the employees who feel the squeeze. Employees then realize that their value is only cheap talk in good times - and that's where employers are suddenly made into liars.

It's one thing to know you are primarily there to make a company money. It's worse when you're told you're something more, and then have that belief yanked back as if it had never existed.

Is it any wonder that in recessionary times, employees take a step back and say "the only person looking out for my welfare is me"? Of course it isn't. Nothing takes the wind out of your sails quite like finding out that "valued employee" and "cost centre" are interchangeable.

But if you're an employer and you want to, you can pretend that the cushy world of making a fraction of your pay for a couple of months on EI makes people walk out the door, or that getting an on-the-job injury is somehow like a vacation. You can even set it up as a study.

By all means, study the question.

But study the whole question.

I think the whole concept could use a healthy injection of the view in the mirror. Employers, you might, in fact, want to look at yourselves.

Russell Wangersky is the editorial page editor of The Telegram. He can be reached by e-mail at rwanger@thetelegram.com.