Are we all contributing towards the next big organizational crash?

It seems more and more each day our organizations are quickly returning to the “Entitlement Culture” that developed during the dot com boom in the late 90s. Solid employees were in high demand and recruited daily beyond their competence level. These dot com organizations threw ridiculous salaries, comprehensive benefit packages and the right to play ping pong and foosball for hours of the day at candidates. Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, Board Members and Senior Executives continued to pour money and time into the next Microsofts of the world. These organizations would set a vision and many times even promise the recruits they would walk away millionaires after such a short work life with the organization. Employees and recruits knew how in-demand they were and started asking for things above and beyond anything reasonable.

The problem was employers felt compelled to accept unreasonable wishes and demands as their investors and boards wanted to see the organizations grow as planned. There was so much a sense of entitlement I actually remember when a then recent B.S. in Management graduate told me that an online test determined their worth at six figures plus a hefty benefit package. I remember thinking I had been in the workforce for five years already (with a B.S. in Management) and I wasn’t even close to that.

The culture of entitlement is very much a “you owe me” attitude, one where people believe they are owed without having to earn or deliver value for what they receive. This turns into the old saying that looking good is more important than doing the right thing. Organizations that take on this attitude will ultimately fail in the long run. They will be infiltrated with B, C and D employees (as the A’s have moved elsewhere) that truly believe their organizations exist to serve them.

Well, we all know how this story ended… Few did walk away with more money than they would ever be able to spend in a lifetime, but the majority was caught up in the wave of lost money, lost jobs, shattered dreams and “eye opening” exposure to some of life’s hardest and most difficult to comprehend lessons.

Things of course changed dramatically after the crash. Companies struggled to find ways to return to the basics of business 101 and build a business the right way. The sense of entitlement had to change within organizations or they would fail to survive. Most employees (that were still around) appreciated that they still had an employer who would actually pay them a salary and offer their family some form of benefit package.

The big question today is, are organizations and employees on the path of returning towards an entitlement culture? It seems many are in fact headed in this direction. Old and new employees entering the workforce (who were in their teens during the last workplace entitlement culture) have entered with some of these characteristics already in place.

We all need to realize most organizations in a capitalist economy exist to maximize shareholder value. These organizations employ us because it is necessary to reach the goal of enriching these shareholders. What can we do as recruiting professionals to ensure we are helping our organizations transform themselves before it becomes too late?

Determining if your organization has the sense of entitlement

1. Does our organization give employees raises year after year without basing them on some predetermined goals and objectives completed or exceeded?
2. Does our organization give promotions based on how long someone has worked as opposed to how well they perform?
3. Do poor performers get reassigned as opposed as being asked to leave?
4. Do our employees expect they can show up when they want, leave when they want, produce how they want without any repercussions?
5. Do our candidates expect to receive out of line pay and benefits without any predetermined goals and objectives that must be met?

If your answer to some of these questions is “yes” there is a strong possibility the organization possesses the entitlement culture I have been discussing. What then can we do as recruiters to steer away from this entitlement culture?

Develop a hiring strategy to screen out “entitlement” candidates and employ “merit” based ones

1. Revamp your screening process to include assessing whether or not a candidate has an entitlement attitude.
2. Ask cultural behavioral questions during the interview process, such as:
• Give me an example of how the corporate culture of one of your previous organizations positively or negatively impacted your performance on the job?
• Tell me about a time where you set and achieved a goal and were rewarded for this achievement? How did that impact your performance following the situation?
• Give me an example of how you have been held accountable on a project or assignment and how you handled this accountability?
3. Train all associates, managers and executives that are involved in the hiring process.
• The organization is looking for team members as opposed to family members. We must screen out the non-team members at any part of the interview process.
• Clearly communicate the organization’s mission and vision of accountability and merit based performance.
• Be on the lookout for entitlement based question from the candidate. If the candidate is more concerned with vacation time, flex time, work breaks etc., than the actual position you are discussing, the yellow and possible red flag should be raised.

Bringing the right people on board can help us avoid the entitlement culture. Corporate recruiters are on the front line of this battle in keeping up with a culture of merit in the workforce. We must make sure we are doing our best to hire the most accountable and talented employees.