Who benefits in the company-person relationship? This somewhat biased and tendentious question aims to clarify what happens in this playing field, an arena where a significant part of our lives unfolds. In light of the increase in worldwide consumption of anxiolytics, the situation does not seem very promising.
Work, for a not insignificant percentage of the world's population, has become a necessary evil, and companies embody these modern "cages" where much of our lives take place. Moreover, when we think about companies, we always come to the same conclusion: they exist to make money. Is that really the only reason? In a world understood in that way, it's common for the weakest link to be the employee, as the company gains at the expense of the individual's effort and time.
Under this logic and considering statistical data shown by some studies*, it is expected that the average lifespan of a company by 2027 will be 12 years. These figures may vary depending on the country, but without dwelling on whether it's a year up or down, what really catches attention is how short the lifespan of a company is.
What could be the cause? I hesitate to enumerate them, but I venture to say that the relationship of employees with the company and its business model have much to do with it. And of course, this leads me to revisit the premise stated a little earlier: if the goal is simply to make money, could this be one of the reasons that lead a business to its decline and disappearance? When money is the goal, instead of the consequence, anything goes in that relationship. And not everything can be acceptable. If everything is permissible in a romantic relationship, do you really think it would be sustainable?
Much is said about sustainability in a world that seems increasingly less sustainable. In the West, we have developed an exaggerated focus on short-term thinking. This thinking, in itself, is very unsustainable because it goes against any kind of coherence. And today, we are astonished because a "young" person, on average, does not stay in a company for more than three years. This is how we have educated them, and this is the world we have. A world that thinks in terms of no more than 5 years. Companies, as part of this framework, are no exception, making them outdated ecosystems where profit matters more than many other things.
When I think of humanly sustainable organizations, I visualize another order, an order where profit is almost at the end. This is an indicator that things are being done well and everything functions properly. Perhaps that profit may not be as great in the short term, but it is more enduring in the long term. In such companies, the value of relationships, the care of leadership models, the attention to hiring, the constant listening and monitoring of how the expectations of their professionals are evolving, ethics in internal and external decisions, ... are the key for us to talk about humanly sustainable companies. Not everything is acceptable. Not everything can be acceptable.
Sources:
- The key to the success of the oldest companies in the world
- Business longevity or the survival business
- 60% of Spanish companies do not reach five years of age
