We love a workplace jungle...

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Entrepreneur Yaneek Page has recently been using her platform to shed light on the toxicity behind the cubicles many of us sit in every day. While some people were happy that someone finally said this out loud, the ride-or-dies in the peanut gallery had every excuse in the book.

One of the points she made was that members of leadership teams need training, and I couldn’t agree more. I think we’re all tired of being in organisations where managers expect us to be grateful for the tools and equipment we’re supposed to have to do our jobs.

These are the leaders who want you to be happy to be part of the struggle Olympics because they want to hit targets with barely the minimum, or even below-minimum, resources.

Let’s not forget them sharing stories about how they continuously work even when they’re not being compensated. They took on those roles willingly and now want us to pity them. I remember hearing a member of the C-suite say, “Remember, we are on call 24/7.”

In any workplace jungle, there will be people who, no matter what, will never be satisfied because they bought into the “we are a family” narrative. But give us the tools we need to work with, and don’t hire us only to seek our opinions when things have already gone wrong.

One thing I’ve noticed about organisations is how reactive they can be. When the ball is in their court, there’s little urgency. Emails go unanswered, issues linger, and matters that should have been addressed weeks ago are allowed to drag on. But the moment the ball lands in someone else’s court, emails start flying, deadlines are emphasised, and everyone is keen to establish who’s responsible. The same urgency that was missing before suddenly becomes non-negotiable.

We don’t need you to be our friend. We have lives outside work. What we need, and I mean heavy on need, are the resources to do the jobs we’ve been hired to do. No sob stories. Tell us what you need, give us the tools to get it done, and let’s work together to make it happen. It really doesn’t have to be this complicated.

An Employee