The workplace amongst other agents of socialization is known for the platform it creates for the conversion of man power to money which aids in providing solution to the innumerable needs of man. It also serves as a home away from home depending on its atmosphere and the working environment it provides.
From time immemorial, the workplace has served as an avenue for practical application of learnt skills for the sake of productivity, increased turnovers, profit and inputs as well as a ground for mutual relationship and co-existence. Sequel to this, the workplace serves as a venue for the development of communal relationship, peaceful co-existence, tolerance and understanding regardless of people’s status, class, qualification and age even though relationship with superiors must be defined.
Asides the room it creates for socialization, the workplace doubles as a tempting ground where only those who stand on another man’s leg can sail through. This is why vices like bribery and corruption will continue to linger in the ‘working world’.
With the integration of women into the workplace, the general workforce has experienced the feminine touch of progress, peace, organization and order, though at a price which may be considered high for the female workers. High because most times if not at all times, the female worker is often pressurized to compromise standards in her bid to aim high which of course is to the credit of the work place. Perhaps, she looks too good for the job or will not be too competent in the job is not and should not be the rationale for discriminating or using them at the workplace. Although the weak ones are sure to fall, the strong ones are often made to remain at the position they were from the start while other unlucky ones are either denied their pay or relived of thier appointment on grounds of very trivial reasons.
Generally, the problem of delayed payment of salary is almost a culture in some places of work. It is a fact that one has to fight hard in cash or kind for his/her entitlements or forfeit the fruit of a hard labour. Cases like this may arise as a deliberate act by an employer who does not appreciate his staff’s efforts and such that sees them as undeserving of their pay.
A Similar case is one in which workers are employed to pay themselves. In this case, little or no capital base is set aside for remuneration of workers; how be it, they are recruited and staffed for months without pay and expected to facilitate the speedy generation of income where their salaries will emerge recently, it was reported that a new company relieved some of its staff of their opportunity without paying them a dime from their three months hard labour. Should such fate befall a breadwinner?
Another key feature of a typical work place is the pressure it places on low-key staff. Workers who fall into this category may have little experience or low qualification in their field. As such, their targets are made to be twice or thrice as big as others when compared and their pay, non-negotiable. This goes alongside series of queries, provocations, explanations and policing by their immediate superiors.
It is also sickening to see workers rub shoulders with their superiors because of an unwholesome affair with the superior’s superior. One may quickly conclude that the women folk are guilty of this act but the men are also not saints. Since it is a law that ‘loose’ people take chances when given but a chance, such affairs, when brought into the workplace dampens the spirit of a worker whose status, qualification, experience and exposure is unparallel to that of a baby worker or a street fella. Similarly, some workers relate with their colleagues the way they feel without any consideration for age differences or experience.
Such relationships which are often devoid of respect and regards are kept on grounds of ‘working together’ or ‘sharing the same office’.
Above all, no one expects to be used and drained without being refilled. Working itself is a task and working under pressure, without payment and a handful of provocations is terrible. Hence, employers should always have the interest of their workers at heart. The working environment should be left out of pleasure and family interferences to enable workers employ their commitment and diligence in their work. The workplace should be given its official place in the society at all times and should not be less defined.
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