On Being Replaceable

It’s obvious to those of us in the lower half of the food chain that the economy sucks. We judge this by a number of factors; are there fewer job ads in the paper? Is it harder to advance in whatever company we work for?

But mostly we can tell how the economy is going by the way that our employers treat us. Case in point: three people close to me have had their bosses pull employees together and tell them this:

You can be replaced.

In a previous life, I was a manager of people. I know the pressures that managers face. I know your bosses want everything in the world – and they want it now. I know that the people you manage will sometimes take advantage of your good will. I know that your job is only as good as your last spreadsheet. I even know that, really, everyone can be replaced. Hell, I’ve actually been replaced.

But only in a bad economy do managers get bold enough, desperate enough or desperately bold enough to actually say these heart-killing words:

You can be replaced.

Many managers immediately regret saying these words, but slough off the guilt because they are only “telling it like it is.”

Well, there are two types of people in the world, those who “tell it like is” and those who tell the truth.

Here’s some truth, managers. Because you use spreadsheets to gauge our progress, you will be tempted to reduce us to something like a “Dungeons & Dragons” character. This person has an Intelligence of 13 (out of a possible 18), that person has a Budgeting skill of 8. We have a certain amount of “Hit Points” and when we run out of those, we’re not “dead”, we’re “fired”. And then we’re replaced.

We’re more than that. Me? I’m a cable technician who is terrified of heights, but climbs telephone poles every day. I do this in the wind and rain, not out of loyalty to a manager or company, but because at the top of that pole, I see something more real.

I see health insurance for my family; I see diapers and formula for my infant daughter. If you’re a manager and think you have your employees by the “short ones”, you’re right. In my case, the “short ones” are named Gabriel, Julian and Riley.

I’m not writing this because a manager has told me I’m replaceable. I’m writing this because managers are saying this to my friends. I can hear the anxiety in my friends’ voices and I can identify with that angst.

I know that the managers who say this are anxious, too. But you get paid the bigger bucks to look at the whole of the problem. You get paid the bigger bucks to realize that though spreadsheets are useful tools, they only describe your employees. Your employees are bigger than spreadsheets.

You should be, too.