Yesterday was May 1st - Labour Day here in Thailand and in many countries around the world. I was slumped in a state of pure exhaustion, aimlessly watching episodes of Border Force (preparing for international travel in the near future 😆) and considering a virtue signaling blog post about our astounding fair trade labour practices in our Thai social enterprise business. After all, my Thai social enterprise business IS getting it right.
- Our staff get paid more than double the legal minimum wage, since we have personally tested the legal minimum and found it to be IMPOSSIBLE to live on;
- Our staff get family leave, on request, with pay;
- Our office officially closes at 4pm so staff can manage the after-school pick ups;
- Our staff get sick leave without restriction, with full pay;
- Our staff (unlike most workers in Thailand) receive Thai government social security, which allows them long term disability, maternity and even a tiny-weeny stipend when they are old and retired;
- Our staff are encouraged to bring kids to the office if childcare is a problem;
- Our staff get free lunches, coffee, tea, kid drinks and drinking water, every day.
😆 I wish I had all of that, I laughed to myself wryly.😆
You see, as the business owner, buck-stops-here-person in a post-Covid world, I'm the ONLY one on our small team scratching around for cash, working 18 hours a day and NOT enjoying the Labour Day Weekend, since someone had to go in to the office and ship orders. The whole online retailing thing is fiercely competitive and Sweet Goddess forbid if the lady who urgently ordered Lip Balm and Eye Area Treatment Oil at 6.50pm on Friday should have to wait till TUESDAY to receive her couriered parcel. Cos that would trigger a negative review and we all know where that goes.... keeping staff employed with orders flowing is WHY we do what we do, and so yes, the buck-stopped and I went.
Contemplating all of those dynamics and the huge PRESSURE I'm under as a business owner in a rapidly changing entrepreneurial world, I realized that May Day might actually be cause for Mayday, Mayday!!!
Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash
It really hit me yesterday just how much online business, covid cash flow and supply chain challenges, higher costs etc etc have ERODED working conditions for small business owners.
Owning a café, restaurant or food business? You're expected to be open 18 hours a day, 7 days a week AND handle online orders and deliveries. Selling online in multiple timezones? You can expect customer queries 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. Turning off your phone?? There comes that negative customer feedback again....
Side hustle on Hive to PAY staff while we're restructuring to repair and rebuild after Covid? Damn - I can barely be bothered to EAT somedays, let alone think of something witty and original to post on Hive.
The best part about being an entrepreneur and a business owner? You get to not only COMPLAIN but you get to fix it too!! And I realized (yet again) last night that the BEST thing I can do is put on my own oxygen mask.
Today, my Personal Development Challenge is to find creative ways to embody the spirit of Labour Day and the 40 hours working week and apply it to myself.
I DO HAVE a new office manager starting in later May, so part of the challenge will be splitting the online tasks in a FAIR WAY so that she doesn't end up burned out and resentful, messaging customers at 11pm on a Sunday night.
The FIRST STEP towards more sustainable work habits is identifying the problems, and I think I've done that. And it's fair to say that the 40 hour working week and 4 weeks paid vacation is an expectation that no longer fits or works in a post-Covid, entrepreneurial world.
I'm GIFTING myself some hours this week to IDENTIFY those things in my world that have suffered or been sidelined due to entrepreneurial overwhelm, and finding some out-of-the-box ways to achieve things-that-matter in new ways.
If there's ONE thing I've learned in 20 years here running a physical business with staff, it's that the health of my business is defined by (and sometimes limited by) my own personal health and development. And that the BEST thing I can do for my business is to be more generous in managing my own needs and wants.
Pondering...
Do YOU have thoughts about employment, labour law and the changing entrepreneurial landscape? I'd love to hear them!
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What you are giving your workers are how it should be everything instead of greedy Ceo's taking all the money / all the bonusses x)
Humanity first :D
Agree with you 100000% - just have to find that balance to include myself in that generous equation. 😁
Staffing instability is one of the BIGGEST crises most businesses here face, with staff being hard to both find and retain. I've made it my mission to treat them as I would want my own daughter to be treated. My accountant barks at me regularly about it and it's definitely something that needs to be balanced for shareholders, but in the end, loyal, well trained and happy staff is a win-win not only for the HUMANITY side, but for the repeat business and profitability side. I measure profit in a lot more ways than just $$$
Yes! Balance is key and as long as you ain't struggling, I would say you are successful :p
The whole shareholder is another aspect of greed if you ask me x)
We couldn't grow without shareholder investment - they put in real $$ and have a reasonable expectation of ongoing return. But yes, balance. Probably the person getting the least out of the whole equation right now is ME - but that could (a) change at my whim and (b) is balanced by gains over time.
Do you employ staff or have shareholders?? I'm always bewildered by the view that people who own shares are greedy. Is different from people who have success - and delegate - on Hive exactly how?
I actually think we need a whole RETHINK about the nature of work and the nature of getting our basic needs met. My socialistic Dutch self thinks a level of basic income should be a given. But I equally see the challenges as an entrepreneur. And currently leaning towards food forests and our sustenance raining down upon us without needing to be defined by another controlling human. 🤣
Okay Okay. Wrong wording from me.
But is growth nessercary? Or is it good enough if its sustainable and have a circlar Economy build in?
I don't might people building wealth, but as you can see in crypto, people are chasing that high APR to get more as fast as possible.
When I say Shareholders I am more referring to the big players who just want more and more money.
I have this whole idea about building sustainable business while paying the staff a properly salary and if we need shareholder the max dividend % would be 1% and never more.
Hopefully I can do it without shareholders.
Let me see - about 5 million unbankable Karen refugees, displaced indigenous people with no jobs, few language skills and no right to travel or work.... is growth necessary? For me? Yes. Because I'm not OK wiht only 7 people having enough to eat while the other 4,999,993 people look on.
But heck yeah - I AGREE with you about growth for its own sake being pointless.
You will see my Hive holdings very depleted right now - we're undergoing some licensing processes that are chewing up our revenue faster than we can make it, and so yeah, I am selling my Hive for a couple more weeks to make sure 1 family doesn't have to be laid off. It is what it is.
The first 2 licenses which we finally obtained last week will enable me to employ 5 more workers soon AND encourage some organic farmers. For me scaling up is about creating livelihoods.
I'd take a sweet sugar-daddy over shareholders 🤣 only the repayments in kind to the shareholders might be less onerous. 🤣
Understandable. I don't mind growth or investments at all, but at somepoint the money is better servered used somewhere else.
I am starting to make my own NGO with the focus on Renewable Installments, so its cheaper for the end-user ^^
Damn, sorry to hear that! It sounds painful to have to get all the licenses!
Good I like that :p
I am trying to build up crypto wealth, so I can give some away every now and then, since I don't need or use crypto at all xD
I am not quite there yet, sorry :p
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Hi There!
Yeah seems about impossible!
I am glad You're taking some "self-time"!
Looking at what Your Company has to offer, You almost have Me sold!
That and social security would put Me in a nice place!
You take care, I am sure it will work out for You!
Have a Very Amazing Weekend!
🙋🏻♀️👍🏼🤗🌄🤗👍🏼🙋🏻♀️