@Lindsay – thanks for commenting. While on some levels it’s true that we are thankful to have jobs, it’s just plain wrong to throw it up in employee’s faces.

I am often left wondering why many people have to leave their personality at the door. Go to work and do that job…leave your brain (sometimes both lobes) at the door when you come in!

Well if you have been to any bar and overheard after work conversations that is where the outpouring of what is good and bad about work is said perhaps because of the in pouring of alcohol. Sometimes it does not even take alcohol!

I fully agree with your sentiments our people are under pressure, but you know what? “Twus ever thus” That’s why unions came on the scene to do the work managers didn’t!

What an indictment companies need unions to take care of their employees!! Now I cut my teeth in the highly unionized auto manufacturing business so I am good to go with Unions, some great visionaries lie in that arena, many better then the managers I worked with!

Now I am not a psychologist either but is not crying an emotion and is that not what we ask for in engaged employees.” We ask and want engagement and the hearts and minds” It’s harnessing that emotion in a positive way that is our raison d’êtres.

Until I worked in healthcare the only person I ever saw cry was a quality manager who was being chastised because of the high level of rejects. In healthcare I found that that it was good to cry and often did, just because we loved what we did and cared enough to show unabashed emotion.

I agree we need to throw away old outdated thoughts and truly engage people. The sad statistic is that only around 20% are, so we need to do a much better job!

With the heart and soul comes the stuff that people are made of.

@Kevin – excellent point. We can all be moved by emotion and it doesn’t always have to be negative.

@Maureen – so true. I guess we should be asking “do you want to talk about it?” instead of assuming something is wrong.

@Leanne – I agree in today’s economy, people are being asked to make huge decisions in short time frames with little information. And, chances are they haven’t been trained in the past on how to work through these kinds of decisions. The pressure just builds and people need some kind of release.

I agree crying at the drop of a hat is silly. But crying after having a child and trying to figure all that out, having your job usurped by someone else while you were on maternity leave with management’s approval and support, then having management tell you point blank that you have a week to decide if you want to get with the program…or get out…might just be cause to cry…I’m just sayin’