Tales of a coffee-holic: A different attitude

When I went the Cabela’s shareholder meeting last year, a few days after I moved to Sidney, I can’t tell you how surprised I was at how devoted Cabela’s employees were to their company. Some of the workers’ emotional attachment to Cabela’s and its founders astonished me.

This observation of Cabela’s employees’ dedication to their employer continued through my time here. At the shareholder meeting yesterday, as I milled through the crowd and spoke to a few people I heard nothing but positive comments.

I’m sure everyone who works there isn’t happy all the time, but most of the people I’ve spoken with even casually, seem to enjoy working for Cabela’s and like the company that employs them.

While some of us might enjoy our jobs and be happy to be getting a paycheck, I think this sort of love for one’s company is a rare thing. Personally, in quite a few of my past jobs, I simply tolerated the company that employed me because I needed a paycheck. I think that’s probably how many people feel.

During recent campaigns, many of those running bragged that they’d created jobs. Tom Bell, president of Bell Lumber & Pole said at the company’s recent grand opening that his passion was putting people to work, and it struck me as an honest statement. While these men say that job creation is their goal, and I hope it is, I think we know that many other people who start businesses do it simply for the money and don’t actually care about their employees.

I find this terribly sad. Companies who treat their employees well, who offer good benefits and make their workers feel like they’re part of a team that is accomplishing something make loyal employees who might stick with that company for years. This does good for both the employee and the company. Employers are doing both themselves and their workers a favor when they give their employees a break after working too much overtime or some vacation to re-group and de-stress.

I’ll never understand why an executive would decide that he doesn’t need to treat his employees like people just because he’s in charge and can make an extra buck by decreasing staff size, failing to replace old equipment or denying benefits.

I know many large companies do this sort of thing. It doesn’t benefit anyone. An overworked staff will inevitably do a lackluster job and disappoint customers. Old equipment can cause tasks to take much longer than they should. Any company who doesn’t offer benefits won’t get the best employees because other places can offer something better.

I think it’s sad that places like Walmart pay their employees so little, when it’s obvious that these big companies could afford to shell out a few more dollars per hour without hurting profits.

I’m a big advocate of companies with a heart. Employers and employees should work to maintain a mutual respect so that each party gets what they want and need. A company who treats its employees poorly is not getting the best out of them and in turn is hurting its own business. I think many of those who make decisions at large companies based on profit margin alone should stop and remember that their peons are people too.