ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 7, 1996 TAG: 9605070088
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: BETH MACY
SOURCE: BETH MACY
She is in her early 40s, divorced, a Roanoke health-care worker with more than 20 years of experience.
She is - like most people working in today's era of ``re-engineering,'' ``right-sizing'' and ``doing more with less'' - not at all sure what she'll be doing a year from now. Or if she'll have a job at all.
She agreed to be interviewed, but only if her name was left out of this column. She can't afford any more strikes against her.
Last year, in the middle of her company's downsizing scheme, she and her co-workers were made to reapply for their jobs, re-interview, and rehash all the nagging, harrowing uncertainties that come with not knowing whether you'll be able to pay your next month's bills.
When the supervisor's call finally came - at home - the news that her job was safe was soured by the uncertainty of how her co-workers fared.
One friend, she learned, was reduced to part-time status with a 68 percent cut in salary and no benefits. Many lost their jobs entirely. Still others were sent on a roller coaster of angst: First, they were cut to part-time status, then laid off, then later rehired as part-time workers.
``Even now, talking about it, I get this unsettled feeling in my stomach,'' she says. ``It just makes you feel so unsure of things.''
Welcome to the work world of the late '90s, where the only constant is: There is no constant.
``Things are changing faster in this society than ever before - in history,'' says Ben Bissell, a business consultant and nationally known writer and lecturer who's speaking in Roanoke Friday. ``Nothing stays the same long enough for us to get used to it.''
In a telephone interview from his office in Knoxville, Tenn., Bissell chided corporate America for not being more open with workers about impending changes. Employees, too, should more assertively seek answers from managers and make their needs known.
``It's not what we know that hurts us, it's what we don't know,'' Bissell says. ``I handle bad news better than I handle no news.
``All change produces anger,'' even good change, he continues. For instance, if one person wins a promotion, it's likely to cause anger among the others who don't.
``What companies have gotta do is develop healthy models for expressing anger so people stop going home, getting guns and coming back and shooting people,'' says Bissell, whose clients include NASA, Monsanto, Westinghouse and IBM.
Managers should communicate the idea that all feelings are accepted; all behaviors are not. ``I tell companies, `Your single most expensive overhead item is unresolved anger.' People are late when they could be on time, sick when they could be well, they forget things when they could remember. Their anger is so great they can sabotage the product or service.''
Managers also need to listen better, he says, and to more freely praise good work.
``Our nation has become obsessed with blaming instead of problem-solving, and that's got to stop,'' he says. Innovative employers encourage workers to take creative risks. If the risks don't pan out, they learn from the mistakes rather than berate the risk-taker.
For employees in the throes of downsizing, Bissell's words are strong: Don't be a victim, be a pioneer.
The Roanoke health care worker, for instance, lost her shift-differential benefit (about 20 percent of her income) when her department reorganized. Rather than fret about that - and the uncertainty of her current position - she began taking college courses in a field that's always appealed to her. To gain experience in that field, she also began volunteering for a Roanoke nonprofit group.
``Before this happened, I wasn't really trained to do anything but what I've always done,'' she says. ``So for me, this has been a wake-up call. You have to look at the positive side.
``You have to learn to look after yourself because you can't count on your company to do it for you anymore. You have to be pro-active.''
Ben Bissell speaks at the Council of Community Services annual luncheon meeting, noon Friday at the Roanoke Airport Marriott. $18, including lunch. Call 985-0131.
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Business consultant Ben Bissell: "I tell companies,by CNB`Your single most expensive overhead item is unresolved anger.'"