Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Simple desires for the workplace.

Years ago, a wise old man once told me, “The workplace should be pleasant and profitable.”

He worked in a commercial business. No profits, no business, no jobs. Profits were necessary. Also necessary, in his experience, was that the workplace be pleasant. If it wasn’t pleasant, people would go elsewhere. No people, no work, no workplace. Simple.

I worked in government for 28 years. Profit was not for us. I substituted another “p” word. Non-profit work should be pleasant and productive. It is easy to goof off in many non-profit jobs. Enough non-productive work eventually catches up with the most non-profitable of the non-profits—even government.

These little sayings aren’t complicated. Perhaps that is how I have always remembered them. Please consider them for your workplace.