Fast Company Article #10 November Issue by Bill Berning

"Betrayed by Work" by Ramelal Kuger

At an increasing rate, more and more people are suffering from work stress or associated mental problems related to work. People are using work to fill voids in their lives and letting it be too personal in their lives.

The three signs of warning that work is getting too personal are: 1) You rarely miss work. People that force themselves to work when sick or miss family matters due to work end up only hurting themselves and their family. Giving 100% to work will leave youwith little to give to friends and family.

The second sign is that many people work long days and nights becuase the love their jobs. Actually their real motivation is the praise they get. They need approval and they need to be needed.

The third sign is you closest friends are your co-workers. You should form friendships, but you need freinds outside the company. The danger, according to the author, is if you get fired or let go, who do you turn to for support.

I feel the author touced on some very interesting topics. Corporate America is promoting the three warning signs as how employees can benefit from working at their company. They want you to feel comfortable and feel like a family member. I believe they do this hoping you won't look for another job. What they don't tell you is the effect their system will have on you if they close down your facility or fire you. When they do this, it is a business decision that is black and white and their idea of family only applies to those employees left at the company.

I feel large corporations will always exist but the prestige of working for them has gone down. The reason for this is that they have hurt people who were very loyal to them because of black and white decisions and strategies to reduce payroll.

My co-worker feels that corporations offer the needed security small companies cannot provide. He also feels job movement and advancement are easier. He does feel that wages will not be the wage leaders rather they will fight to keep wages low.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 1999