We’ve all heard of job offers being withdrawn or people being fired after employers discover an applicant or employee has lied or exaggerated their qualifications, education, work history, required skills or references. But what about how a person looks or dresses? Can a refusal to dress in accordance with requirements in an employee handbook be a legitimate basis for termination?

That question was the basis of one of the more interesting discussions I’ve ever had with a newly minted attorney hired by at a law firm right out of law school.

“After two outstanding interviews — where he was professionally dressed — I offered ‘Ben’ a position in our firm,” senior partner “Sharon” told me. “Our handbook contains a statement acknowledging that he read and understood its provisions, including appearance and clothing requirements. Men must wear a suit and tie and have no visible tattoos or piercings at all times.

“His first day on the job was Casual Friday, when employees are permitted to wear jeans, but long-sleeved shirts are still required. Ben wore tennis shorts and a polo shirt that revealed his arms, which are covered in tattoos. He had facial, nose, eyebrow and tongue piercings. His hair looked as if it had gone through a smoothie blender.”

Sharon said she asked him, “What’s going on, Ben?”

“This is me,” he replied. “I must be myself and am happy to work here but will dress as I see fit.”

“You are putting yourself at risk of being fired,” Sharon said.

Working for ‘The Man’?

“Your articles about the dad running a triathlon and the man who refused to wear a helmet riding a motorcycle were touching,” Sharon told me. “You motivate people to do the right thing. We don’t want to lose good legal talent. Ben is willing to talk with you. Will you help us?”

I agreed, and 10 minutes later, Ben called. He repeated the same “this is me” reasoning, but something told me there was more to his story.

“Ben, unless there is outside pressure to give up this job, no one in their right mind would. Is it possible that friends or former classmates have accused you of abandoning your law school goals of improving the world to work for ‘The Man’?”

Long silence. “How did you know that, Mr. Beaver?”

“Lucky guess!” We both laughed. “Ben, most law students have those dreams. I did.”

I went on, “The firm wants you back — properly dressed — and is willing to overlook your rejection of the dress code you agreed to. That says something truly great about this law firm.

“Getting fired right when you’re starting the job isn’t the way to establish a good reputation. So, why not work there for a few years, get trial experience, then open your own shop and accomplish those goals while dressing the way you want, being yourself and helping your clients. Will you think it over?”

He agreed.

An employer must communicate appearance expectations

“Appearance — respecting an employer’s reasonable dress codes — are important,” New York-based job search and career coach Jeff Altman says. “If there is a clash with an employer’s grooming requirements/prohibitions and the applicant’s desires to ‘be themselves,’ then before accepting employment, the applicant needs to disclose that. Hiding your true intentions amounts to misrepresentation. Unless it is based on some provable form of discrimination or violation of law, in at-will states, an employer has the right to terminate that employee immediately.”

Sometimes a dress code is important to represent the seriousness of a profession. “Law firm employees meet with clients and walk into courtrooms.” The firms want their lawyers to present themselves in a certain way, as it’s part of their branding. “Obviously,” Altman adds, “these expectations must be communicated. Orally (during a job interview or orientation) is not sufficient. In any occupation where appearance is important, this could be part of the offer letter, where the employer says, ‘We’re providing a PDF of our Employee Handbook. Signing this offer letter indicates your agreement with its terms and conditions.’”

Transparency is a must

It’s not just about the dress code either. “Regardless of the job, it is important for both parties to come to an agreement on job conditions, such as working from home vs coming into the office,” Altman points out. “This is a two-way street, as employees must be clear about their needs and expectations in the job and to disclose these to potential employers.”

I asked, “We’ve all heard or read about an employer who changed the terms of employment without informing the employees, such as their working hours or salary. Or, the flip side is the employee who wants to alter their working hours. How should these issues be dealt with?”

“Changing terms of employment without consent is not acceptable,” Altman says. “Obviously, there are exceptions. For example, in an emergency when employees are out sick and someone needs to work longer hours. Or, if the company is hanging on by a thread financially, management may have no choice but to let people go or institute an across-the-board reduction in pay.”

Advice for job seekers

University and professional schools do a poor job of preparing graduates for the realities of job interviews. Altman hosts one of the most useful websites I’ve seen, giving viewers a real advantage when meeting with hiring managers. His YouTube channel is especially helpful for recent graduates.

And Ben?

A few days after I talked with him, Sharon texted me, “Here is a Zoom link. We’re waiting for you.”

There stood smiling law partner Sharon and her very happy associate attorney Ben, in a suit and tie.

Dennis Beaver Practices law in Bakersfield and welcomes comments and questions from readers,
which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993,
or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1 – at – Gmail.com.

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Serendipity played a role, too, in Albert ‘Bert’ McBride’s rise from poisonous-snake expert to urologist. At 85, he’s still in practice.

There are many things we can be proud of as Americans. One is using our wealth to foster education, as you will see in today’s story.

If you are like most people, just reading the headline on this article really got your attention. Snakes! Psychologists believe humans have evolved a tendency to fear them, as well as spiders, which leave me heading for the exit!

But that’s not the case for Albert “Bert” McBride, who grew up on a ranch near the small town of Grants, New Mexico, located along Route 66 (which author John Steinbeck referred to as the Mother Road in his book The Grapes of Wrath), 78 miles west of Albuquerque at an elevation of 6,460 feet.

This rugged part of New Mexico has a large population of rattlesnakes, and from the time he was 12 years old, McBride — who could have been nicknamed Fearless — earned money by trapping rattlers and other venomous snakes and milking their venom for laboratories that developed antivenom, aka antivenin.

“Atkinson’s Cobra Gardens,” McBride said, “was located near my town and the owner had all sorts of snakes — including boa constrictors — which the tourists driving on Route 66 happily paid to see. When I was 15, I lectured about the snakes, going into the pits and milking them as tourists looked on. I did this every summer throughout high school. One day, due to inattention, a rattler bit me. I was given antivenom and recovered with no ill effects, but my interest in snakes attracted the attention of the science teacher at high school. He suggested that I enter a science fair and do an exhibit on venomous snakes. I did, and talk about serendipity, I won first place — which was a scholarship to Arizona State University!”

Life Sciences department has a request

While at ASU, McBride’s knowledge of reptiles came to the attention of the Life Sciences department chair, and he was asked to work in the Poisonous Animal Research Laboratory, “where I milked Gila monsters, cobras and rattlesnakes, scorpions, you name it. We had the deadliest of snakes in this amazing place. I got bit again when I was 19, milking a big rattlesnake, and one of its fags entered my thumb below the nail. Again, antivenom was administered, and I fully recovered.”

We’ve all heard the expression “do good things and good things happen.” Happen they did, McBride explained, as he was accepted by several medical schools based on good grades and wonderful recommendations.

And serendipity had greater plans for him.

‘I had nothing to lose’

“Since the sixth grade,” McBride said, “I knew that I wanted to be a doctor and help people. Among others, the nation’s most expensive, George Washington University School of Medicine in D.C., accepted me. But my parents were of modest means and could not help pay the expenses. And then I saw an article in the Arizona Republic about a millionaire in Scottsdale, Walker McCune, heir to the Pennzoil fortune, wanting to donate $20 million to establish a medical school in Arizona. I had nothing to lose, so I sent a letter to the gentleman via the Arizona Republic, asking if he had a scholarship or loan fund I could apply to.

“About a week later, his lawyer replied, ‘We have reviewed your impressive résumé, and Mr. McCune has decided that you are to be our very first recipient of what will now be known as the Medical Student Scholarship Fund. Please find enclosed checks for your tuition and living expenses for medical school in Washington, D.C., which will be renewed yearly.’”

McBride graduated in 1963 and got a residency in general surgery.

Becomes a urologist, but he’s not finished with snakes

“In residency, the professor of Urology offered me a position in his department, which is how I became a urologist,” McBride said. “I was also contacted by the zoo director in Washington, D.C., who knew about my background with deadly snakes. ‘Dr. McBride, we have no one here who knows very much about deadly snakes. Can you help us set up a program to deal with snake-bite emergencies?’”

Of course, McBride agreed.

It was the first of several snake-bite protocols he helped establish around the country, setting up teams of physicians who would be on call. His protocols are still in use today.

Spends a year on hospital ship in Vietnam

After finishing his residency in 1968, he was drafted and spent one year on board the hospital ship Repose in Vietnam. “I worked with 30 other doctors,” he said, “learning and helping each other for the full betterment of the patient, and nothing else mattered. We were practicing pure medicine — ‘we’re in this for nothing else but the care of the patient,’ totally.”

Following Vietnam, he practiced in San Diego for 26 years, served as an associate professor of urology with UCSD and taught urology at the Naval Hospital in San Diego.

Years later, McBride moved to my town, Bakersfield, where he was on the faculty of Kern Medical Center.

McBride is 85, still in practice and “loves every contact with my patients, all due to my friend, serendipity.”

And I am proud to call McBride my friend.

The post How Two Rattlesnake Bites and Scholarships Led This Doctor to His Calling appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

“Matt” emailed this question: “Do you know something I can read that would help me deal with an issue several of my employees have raised. They tell me that I am favoring the stars in our company – similar to teachers pets –instead of encouraging everyone to shine.”

In fact, I do and I’ve just read the pre-publication “galleys” of Cultures of Growth: How the Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams and Organizations, by Indiana University Psychology Professor Mary C. Murphy, who I had the pleasure of interviewing recently.

It is right on-point for Matt, and looks at ways people who are in a position of power create these cultures of genius, where the “stars” alone advance, versus cultures of growth, where everyone is encouraged to develop their abilities and creativity.

She has done extensive research in growth mindset theory, which is somewhat controversial, and questions have been raised as to its scientific repeatability. Regardless, I found Cultures of Growth an inspiring read that offers concrete steps to enhance personal creativity and development, and which apply to many aspects of daily life.

And, I have to point out that her writing style is welcoming and made me feel as if she was sitting across the table from me and we were just having a chat. Her book is an example of how to keep a reader engaged.

I asked profesor Murphy to list some of the things that we do as parents, teachers, and in the business world, that stifle creativity and personal development.

(1) Figure out what your strengths are, things that come easy to you and then only concentrate on those.

Consequences: You remain in the same rut, and are not encouraged to explore ways to stretch yourself, to innovate, to accept new ideas and approaches and integrate them.

(2) Stereotype everyone – yourself included – and decide that’s just who they are. “He’s no good at math.”

Consequences: You have slammed the door shut on the ability to learn something new by thinking, “He’ll never be good with numbers. I better find someone else who can do math.”

(3) Create a Culture of Genius where the stars horde information and pit people against each other. Anoint them as the most creative and worship them, only be friends with them, rather than others who have not demonstrated star power.

Consequences: Everyone will think that creativity only comes from this genius group and they are infallible. You have snuffed out a culture of growth.

(4) Make it deadly to make a mistake, to have a dissenting opinion, or to challenge ideas, especially from people who want to collaborate and work with their colleagues instead of competing with them.

Consequences: This ensures that mistakes and their shortcomings will be hidden.

Your people are not going to be taking risks or having new ideas in the context of high stakes evaluation and feedback that’s just focused on outcomes.

(5) Only care about the kids who are smart, their intelligence, and let the others know that we really don’t care so much about them because “we know you’re not as good.” Demonize effort.

Consequences: That will stifle motivation, learning and the desire to actually improve. If you have to try hard, it means you don’t have the requisite or innate skills, ability and talent for this thing. Maybe it’s not for you.

(6) Only solicit ideas for improvement for those deemed genius. Make their contributions and ideas unquestionable and infallible.

Consequences: You are creating a culture of anti-creativity where you will not listen to other ideas and fail to question the ideas that come from those identified geniuses. The other, non-geniuses might just have something of great value that you will never see.

(7) Identify our prototype for geniuses and then only search, recruit and retain people who match those characteristics.

Consequences: We narrow our search. We’re going to figure out who is from that gender perspective, race perspective, background, education, and work history perspective. And we’re only going to look for those same people, because, moving forward, those are going to be our geniuses. That is really going to stifle creativity.

(8) Assume new team members have all the requisite skills and knowledge they need to jump right in at the deep end.

Don’t build float into projects, don’t provide developmental opportunities or onboarding. Don’t bring them up to speed or help them get oriented, which would allow them to understand what the team is doing and their particular contributions to it.

Just assume that they have what it takes and go to the deep end and just get going and let them see if they sink or swim.

A Life Raft

We don’t have to believe every aspect of mindset theory to find something very positive. For those in power, it is proof of why prejudging is so destructive.

The post Can we grow our creativity? appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

“I own a construction company that has 30 employees. We build houses, small commercial offices and I’ve got a humdinger of a story for you.

“One of our people – 40 year-old Terry who is a highly skilled carpenter everyone likes – needs to have his vision checked out by an eye doctor, as he is having difficulty with a number of tasks.

“For example, his night driving is scary. He misses off-ramps. He has mis-measured where to saw 2x4s, resulting in expensive wood being effectively lost. He squints, rubs his eyes, has trouble reading, and when we suggest that he probably needs to get glasses, replies, ‘I don’t want to look ugly and old.’

“We are worried about him, as he is becoming a risk to our business. If he refuses to be seen by an eye doctor, may I fire him? I don’t want to – he is married and they have adorable twin daughters – but sooner or later he is going to hurt himself or someone. Mr. Beaver, may I ask a favor?

“Would you consider trying to convince Terry to be seen by an eye doctor?” Thanks, “Scott.”

When to See the Eye Doctor

I ran Scott’s question by longtime friend Dr. Bill McDonald, who practiced optometry for over 40 years. He believes that Terry needs to see an optometrist or ophthalmologist and the sooner the better, explaining:

(1) He is out of focus. If you are near-sighted, you should not mis-measure unless you are really nearsighted.

(2) This affects his night driving because when you are in the dark, your pupil opens to let more light in. When it is bright it closes down. If you are in focus, the size of the pupil only affects brightness. But if you are out of focus, a big bundle of light, and focusing wrong, makes a big blur. A small bundle of light, focusing wrong, makes a small blur. That’s why people who are out of focus squint, as they are using their eyelids to narrow the opening, to narrow the blur.

So, if he is squinting, he is out of focus. When he was younger, he could visually accommodate, but now he is likely experiencing middle age sight and needs glasses.

(3) In response to his fear of “looking old,” someone should tell him, “You are not going to get old if you have a wreck and kill yourself. You don’t have to wear glasses, as contacts might be possible or potentially Lasik eye surgery. And, you might not need to wear glasses all the time, but give it a try – wear them only when you need them.”

Could Terry lose his job?

I ran these facts by Southern California-based labor lawyer, Dan Klingenberger. He began his analysis with a warning: “Terry is an accident waiting to happen, and Scott does not have the luxury of time to wait and see what happens next. He should take these steps now:

(1) Send him to the company’s occupational doctor for a fit-for-duty type of an exam, based on the problems that Terry is experiencing.

(2) It is likely that the occupational physician would say that Terry can’t return to work until he gets an OK from a specialist. Scott could act on that finding and not permit Terry to return to work – not necessarily terminating him immediately, but not returning him to work.

(3) If Terry won’t cooperate with any of this, Scott may just have to put him on a leave of absence and eventually terminate him because of the safety risk.

(4) In jobs requiring personal protective equipment, such as goggles, the refusal to wear them allows the employer to discipline and terminate the employee.

Conference Call

Since Scott asked, I got them both on the line and said, “Terry, I need your help to keep you on the job, and I have a hunch that your refusal to wear glasses goes very deep.”

– How could you possibly know that? You’re right. As a kid I wore glasses briefly in elementary school. I was bullied and everyone mocked me, saying how ugly I was, that it made me look like an old man. I came home crying and stepped on the glasses, smashing them.”

“You love your daughters, right?

– Of course I do.

“Scott doesn’t want to fire you. Now, you can get a pair of glasses in a couple of days. Do that and you will be welcomed back. Right, Scott?

– Right.

One Week Later

Scott phoned my office. “Terry asked for a week off, and I agreed. He returned today, wearing glasses. Everyone gave him a round of applause and the office gals gave him a great big hug.

We’ve never seen him so happy. But Mr. Beaver, there was one problem.”

– What was that?

“We ran out of Kleenex!”

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The HBO comedy-drama Succession has been a powerful impetus for family-owned businesses across America to consider who will take over upon the death or retirement of the owner.

That issue is the basis of today’s story, which began with an email from, “Robin.”

“I am President of our family-owned market research/marketing firm. I want to pass the reins to our twin sons, both recent college graduates who were in a pre-law program and seem pretty jazzed on becoming lawyers.

“They told us about how great that would be, describing lectures from their teacher and guest speakers who were attorneys, painting a rosy picture of the law business.

“As we need frequent consultation with legal counsel, I made them this offer: ‘I will pay for your legal education. After passing the bar, get some experience working in a law firm that handles our kinds of cases, and then become our company lawyers, and when I retire, you take over.’

“They agreed, but then I raised an issue they had not thought of.

“We are a very religious family. Could they survive in an environment where lawyers, in general, have a poor reputation for ethical behavior? I have read your articles for years – notably, several about highly dishonest behavior – padded bills, faked invoices – and would appreciate your insight.”

Few Saints Hold Bar Cards

It is no secret that lawyers have a poor reputation. Note, I did not say, “the legal profession.” Many writers feel that law ceased being a profession when the U.S. Supreme Court declared lawyer advertising legal in 1977.

What followed was a spike in applications to enter law school, leading to our nation-wide glut of lawyers, and what we see daily on television: a never-ending parade of attorneys after your personal injury case.

But a possible answer to Robin’s question – could his boys survive in the law’s environment – came from a lengthy phone call I received from “Darren,” also a long-time reader, who taught pre-law courses at a well-known Midwest university for years.

(I vetted Darren, using a variety of research tools, so his call was legit.)

Decided, ‘Why Not?’ And Became a Lawyer Himself

“I ran of our pre-law program for many years and had a great relationship with local law firms who sent lawyers to speak with our students. They always presented the most positive view imaginable of the occupation.

“For years I’ve read your column and admit not believing the stories of bill padding, inventing billable hours, and other ethical and illegal violations brought to your attention by law clerks and recently admitted attorneys. I just thought they were the product of disgruntled employees, but no more, Mr. Beaver.”

And then Darren told a painful history of what he learned about law firm reality. His comments match those of other disillusioned pre-law teachers who became lawyers I have spoken with over the years.

“I studied law at night, passed the bar the first time, and was hired part-time by one of the firms that had sent me guest speakers. In the first two weeks, I saw the same things that you had written about! I dug out your articles – You were so right! And then a couple of my former students who worked at this firm said, ‘Prof, let’s have dinner and talk.’”

‘We are so miserable – Don’t stay here!’

They went to a restaurant out of town, “And these two young ladies were close to tears describing what was expected of them,” Darren said.

“We are required to bill clients over 2,000 hours a year – meaning you worked on client cases, which is impossible. If I spent one hour on a client’s case, I was told to write down three – and it went on like that!” said one, adding, “This is playing havoc with my conscience and marriage! But I have over $150,000 in student loans to repay! I’m trapped working over 80 hours a week here!”

And the other?

She showed me billing sheets of her court appearances for multiple clients on the same calendar call.

“I was told to bill each client for the entire time I spent in court – two hours –

instead of a fraction as is legally required, and that is theft,” she admitted.

‘We Can Wear Them Down and Settle for Pennies on the Dollar’

“I saw a file where we represented a commodity buyer who repeatedly stiffed several farmers over many years. Our client owed the money – there was no justification for refusing to pay. So, I asked a senior partner about it and his reply was, ‘We do what our clients tell us to do. So we delay, delay, and run up the bill for the farmers and eventually they settle for cents on the dollar.’”

“With a big smile, making this sound like a joke, I said, ‘So, just like Nuremberg, you are merely following orders.’ He laughed and said, ‘How else can we keep the lights on?

Listen, Darren, right and wrong, basic morality and the truth doesn’t matter in this business.’”

Can Someone with High ethical values Survive in Law?

Darren remained six months in the firm, “To observe as much as possible that I could bring into the classroom – to give my students an honest dose of the downside to law.

“During that time I was in the company of more depressed and unhappy people than I’ve ever met – all of them lawyers.”

We concluded our interview with his recommendation for Robin’s sons:

“This occupation easily corrupts your moral compass. If honesty, integrity and keeping your hands and spirit clean matter, I would tell his boys to do their own research into these critical issues, and a good place to begin is Above the Law.com.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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“There is a huge market – millions of people – that could be a missed opportunity for American business,” says author Susan Golden, who teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is considered one of the nation’s leading experts on the impact of age on our economy.

So, who are these people?

“The U.S. Census tells us they are the 10,000 people turning 65 every day. In the time it takes to read this sentence, another 20 will join that group. More importantly, in 15 years, Americans aged 65 and older will outnumber those under age 18,” she points out.

In her book, “Stage (Not Age) How to Understand and Serve People Over 60 – The Fastest Growing, most dynamic market in the World”, she urges American business to understand the importance of paying attention to groups of adults pursuant to their stage in life – not their age – and to discover where they are, what they are doing, their needs and desires.

“The objective of business must be to provide the products and services they need and want,” she underscores.

Stage (Not Age) is a fascinating read and makes clear that missteps can be costly. I sat down with her and she gave a by-the-numbers list of the mistakes–the flawed thinking, what not to do – that the American business community needs to be aware of and avoid.

1 – Think of older adults as one market and aging as a problem.

Why is this flawed thinking? Our aging population is anything but a problem to business leaders who see the market potential in people over 60 who are in fact a deeply diverse population. They are traveling through different life stages, want and need different products and services.

2 – Continue to look at all people as only going through three stages in life: Education, Work and Retirement.

Why is this flawed reasoning? Even today, we are living century-long lives. We will have much longer employment spans which will integrate career breaks for continuous learning opportunities and for caregiving.

Notions of working just so you can retire will be replaced with the goal of having a purpose in your community, not merely sitting back and watching television. As we live long, and retain the ability of being productive and contributing to society, fewer of us will consider leisure as a goal in itself.

Therefore, business must consider the population as having multi-stage lives that will not be defined by age and will produce a wealth of new business opportunities.

3 – Fail to develop user-friendly, age-focused products and services which will extend health span as opposed to life span.

Consequences? It is essential, faced with this ever-increasing population of older people, to design products with a multi-generation perspective. Those who only have a ‘one size fits all’ approach will lose business. One good example is Oxo kitchen utensils that are great for all ages, but were designed with ease of use for older people. BMW modified their dashboards to fit the needs of older drivers, which also benefit those younger.

4 – Fail to develop a longevity strategy for your employees.

Consequences: You will lose good people. Employees will have a 60-year career span. Employers need to integrate upscaling opportunities, continuous learning, career breaks, and financial planning assistance. Companies will potentially have five generations working for them. It will be a family who has been with the company for decades, enriching the bottom line.

5 – Think of your customers and employees as elderly, as seniors.

This is flawed thinking that minimizes their value! Embrace the new narratives around aging versus the simple concept of old. As our population ages, retaining physical and mental health, it is best to think of them as living a vibrant life. Call it, “furtherhood,” going further into new and productive stages of their lives.

6 – When hiring, be an ageist and show bias against the older applicant. Do not consider dignity or feelings of your older employees or job applicants. Refuse to support programs which promote health and longevity for older workers.

Consequences: Not only is ageism the last acceptable “ism” out there, bias against older applicants or employees is an engraved invitation to finding yourself as a defendant in an age discrimination lawsuit.

7 – Fail to support caregiving needs and refuse to offer paid family leave for all your employees.

Results? Expect enormous turnover. Unhappy employees. Lose the institutional knowledge and creativity that comes with people who are familiar with your business strategy, its needs and abilities.

8 – Establish a rigid obligatory retirement age for all employees.

Consequences: You will lose the opportunity to harness their wisdom and creativity that comes with it. This is the perfect recipe for hostility. Instead, realize that some employees might like the idea of greater flexibility on time commitments and want to remain employed.

The better approach is to help employees reset life priorities, re-purpose the direction of their lives, and transition into new opportunities within the company and externally.

An insightful employer should consider the older employees as moving into renaissance years where they have the ability to bring creative ideas to the floor with wisdom and experience.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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“The news is filled with stories of employees refusing to come back to work, jumping ship to another employer, or trying their luck at becoming entrepreneurs,” observes Gorick Ng, the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right.

As a career adviser at Harvard and a talent development consultant to employers large and small, he’s in a unique position to see the “why” behind the unprecedented turnover in today’s labor market.

“The knee-jerk answer is always money. And it makes sense,” Ng notes. “When so many employers are giving pay bumps to new hires but not to existing ones, why not hop to the competitor across the street if it means doing the same job for more money?”

“Turnover is a problem, yes, but turnover is but a symptom — a symptom with a deeper root cause,” he notes. “To want to stay and excel, employees need to feel excited, supported, and valued. Fail to deliver on one or more of these key ingredients and it’s only a matter of time before someone on your team starts tuning out.”

How are employers failing to keep their employees excited, supported, and valued?

“A root cause of this labor unrest can be traced to a breakdown of the implicit agreement between employer and employee — which says:

“I commit myself to growing into the organization,” says the employee, and the employer promises, “Together we will invest in our growth and I will take care of you.”

Ng outlines five key mistakes and has a request for America’s employers: “Look into a mirror and ask yourself, “Would I want to work here?”

1 – Failing to make newcomers feel welcome.

There is no more important time to leave an employee feeling excited, supported, and valued than their early days in a new role.

And yet, many employers take a “Here’s your login; good luck!” approach to onboarding, leaving employees confused at best and unsupported and undervalued at worst.

So, take the time to introduce new hires to everyone on the team. Learn about their goals. Doing so can mean the difference between having an employee who shows up with an ownership mindset or who feels like a replaceable widget.

2 – Thinking that high performers and managers are born, not developed.

No one is born knowing how to manage people, projects, take initiative, and speak up. Having a skilled mentor helps. To ensure that even those without that privilege can succeed, take the time to educate outsiders to your environment on the “unspoken rules” of what “great” looks like in your organization.

It is crucial to always be aware that just because someone has excelled at their job doesn’t mean they have the ability and desire to manage others. Managers require training and many research studies prove the saying, “People leave managers, not companies.”

The legal consequences of failing to educate managers leads to the kinds of lawsuits we see on the nightly news.

3 – Failing to explain the broader significance of the work.

Why is a certain piece of work (and the person doing it) important to the team and organization? Few leaders take the time to explain the “big picture” and instead toss commands over the fence expecting others to “run with it.”

Taking a moment to explain not only what needs to be done but why it needs to be done can go a long way towards keeping people excited and valued, not to mention focusing on the right priorities.

4 – Not helping everyone feel seen and heard.

Many managers complain about employees not speaking up, only to turn around and ask for input “from the same ol” people or ask leading questions like “Let’s do this; what do you think?”

If you truly want others’ input, be prepared to listen to and reward those who tell you what you need to hear rather than what you want to hear. And if you still aren’t getting feedback, consider whether you are leaving space for the shy or introverted to contribute — or if you are only hearing from the loudest and most confident.

5 – Failing to treat employees consistently.

The more your employees think, “No matter how hard I try, I am stuck,” the more likely they are to move on to environments where they don’t feel suppressed or the victim of bias or discrimination.

Take a long, hard look at who gets promoted and why. Though not everyone wants to be promoted, every employee wants to be treated fairly and properly rewarded for their contributions.

Concluding our interview, Ng wants all employers to realize that they are being evaluated by their employees who silently ask, “Do you care about me enough for me to care about you?”

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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No one can ignore the toll COVID and issues flowing from it have taken on the American workforce — stories of first responders, physicians, parents at their wits end facing something they had never experienced before, burnout.

We’ve all heard the term, but do you know what it is, how to spot it in family, friends and co-workers? Most importantly, what can be done about this life-endangering condition? What can we do if burnout haunts family or friends at work?

In a well-researched, just released book, The Burnout Epidemic, author Jennifer Moss describes and suggests life-saving ways of “recognizing and responding to burnout.”

In my legal opinion, it should be considered as required reading for CEO and upper management level employees; it is that valuable.

Jennifer began our interview by noting that “A great deal of misinformation about this phenomenon tends to minimize just how serious a problem it is.” She describes how management — and employees — are failing to deal with it.

1 – Fail to Understand What Burnout is:

Consequences: Not prioritizing it in your organization leads to mis-diagnosing the problem. One example is labeling employees as underperforming when they are actually chronically stressed. This is causing a huge exodus from employment in numbers not seen before.

2 – Employees Not Recognizing or Admitting to themselves that something is Terribly Wrong:

Consequences: People are falling off the cliff from burnout, leading to long term unemployment, resulting in a nationwide economic impact. The evening news — where tearful health care professionals admit to being resentful of COVID patients who refuse to be vaccinated — is the perfect example of what burnout does to people. They lose empathy and quit caring.

It is a true psychological disorder, the result of chronic stress that has a profound impact on brain function. For the employee, these feelings are indicators of burnout:

–A sense of failure and self-doubt.

-Feeling helpless, trapped, defeated.

-Detachment, feeling alone in the world.

-Loss of motivation. “Just going through the motions.”

–An increasingly cynical and negative outlook. Anger.

–Greatly decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.

–Gastrointestinal issues, headaches, anxiety. Extreme fatigue. Insomnia.

3 – A false belief that it suddenly appears and can just as suddenly vanish. Management unaware of what to look for.

Consequences: A failure to discover the level of mental health among employees with high stress jobs, believing that the only time someone is in trouble is when they hit a wall, don’t show up for a shift or go home in tears.

It isn’t something that just happens one day. There is a point where it can be dealt with, but if not, a remedy becomes far more difficult. Management needs to prioritize mental health. Co-workers should be aware of and look for these typical signs of burnout and encourage seeking professional help:

1 – Increased absenteeism;

2 – Impaired focus. “She often seems to be physically exhausted.”

3 – Disengagement – “I used to, but now, just don’t care anymore.”

4 – Overly sensitive to feedback, greatly different from their usual positive attitude;

5 – Keeping away from others – Isolation.

6 – Headaches, nausea, loss of appetite or weight gain as food becomes a coping mechanism.

7 – Decreased productivity. Unable to catch up. More errors.

“Overwork and burnout contributed to more than 745,000 deaths worldwide in just one year,” concluded a World Health Organization study. “People working 55 or more hours per week have an estimated 35 percent higher risk of a stroke and a 17 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who work 35-40 hours a week.”

4 – Failing to recognize the risk in your own industry.

For example, lawyers, physicians, financial, insurance and tax advisors, health care —people in caregiver/lifesaving roles are more vulnerable. Certain occupations, such as police, nursing, EMT, fire – often due to low staffing – essentially obligate employees to overtime or take on additional shift work.

Consequences: People who are attracted to these occupations generally have Type-A personalities, high levels of compassion, and tend to be perfectionists. If you are looking for a strong predictor of hitting the wall, it’s members of these groups.

Many lawyers – who have extremely high levels of burnout – work in law firms that require 2,000 billable hours or more a year. As these firms define job success by billable hours, employees are pushed to overwork, sacrifice their own health for that of a client’s satisfaction, and pleasing senior partners.

The invisible goal is to advance – the billable hours tell their boss that they are performing, while the amount of overwork contributes to burnout.

I asked Jennifer, “How can family and friends help?”

“When you hear, ‘I’m fine,’ read between the lines. If they say things like, ‘I am so tired, it will never change. It will always be like this,” these are warning signs you must not ignore. Get them to a mental health counselor regardless of their protest. You may very well be saving their life.”

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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“Bruce” is CEO of a Chicago IT company with over 60 employees, where “over the summer of 2021, a very bad feeling began to take hold,” he told me in a lengthy phone call.

“Suddenly a great lack of trust became apparent. Some of our most gifted people complained of feeling ignored, not valued, not listened to, their ideas stolen by management, and being treated unequally – and it wasn’t racial.

“The trial of Officer Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd seems to have let the steam out of a pressure cooker, and people are openly telling me they feel victims of bias on the job. Our HR department has no idea what to do.

“Do you know of a book on this subject that I can have our managers read, something that will help them identify their own, unfair, biased treatment of staff, because I believe we’ve got a real problem.”

Bias – Invisible until It Isn’t

That phone call could not have come at a better time as I had just finished reading the answer to my reader’s request, Bias Interrupted – Creating Inclusion for Real and for Good, by Joan C Williams, distinguished professor of law at the University of California, Hastings Law.

Her book made me aware of how we can all be incredibly biased against or for someone or something. When it happens on the job, there are no good outcomes.

I asked her to outline some of the most commonly found types of bias that are easily identifiable:

1 – Prove it Again Bias – Where women and minorities have to prove their skills and competence more than White men.

Consequences: For women and people of color to be promoted takes longer because they have to provide more evidence of being equally competent – proving themselves repeatedly just to get the same recognition that others receive.

White, male employees are more likely than any other group to be judged on their potential — as opposed to real accomplishments.

Performance evaluations should be based on specific competencies, according to a published standard, with evaluators giving at least three pieces of evidence to back up their rating.

Also, records should be kept of who is seen as having potential and then matched with their actual accomplishments.

2 – Failure to understand how “Walking the Tightrope” makes office politics more complicated for women and people of color.

Consequences: Without finding ways of being authoritative and ambitious that are seen as “appropriate,” while minimizing the risk of being perceived as “difficult, aggressive or intimidating,” women walk a tightrope between being “too masculine” and “too feminine.” So the need to “self-edit” is very high.

When we think of accomplished scientists, physicians, lawyers, CEOs, etc. their excellent — authoritative and ambitious — performance is often associated with masculine qualities. That’s often an issue for women, who are expected to be feminine.

If women are “too masculine,” they are respected but not liked; if women are “too feminine,” they are liked but not respected.

Add to this the reality that White men are seen as a good match for glamorous career enhancing assignments, while women and people of color are seen as a good match for support roles.

3 – Maternal Wall Bias – when colleagues view mothers — or pregnant women — as less competent and less committed to their jobs.

Consequences: Women’s career opportunities wither after they have children and they leave in frustration which costs businesses enormously.

This is a major problem for women’s career advancement. The solution is for supervisors to not to make assumptions about motherhood and career aspirations.

Organizations should make family leave available equally for mothers and fathers. Additionally, do not favor employees who work on-site while penalizing those who work from home, especially if they have children!

4 – Racial Stereotyping – Different groups of people of color encounter specific racial stereotypes.

Consequences: Asian Americans will often be hired but not advance to leadership. Latinos and Black processionals will often be treated so disrespectfully that they leave. The solution is to not stereotype but to treat everyone with respect.

Asian Americans are seen as good at technical work but lacking leadership skills. Latinos may be seen as “too emotional” for showing behavior that, in a White man, would likely be seen as a career enhancing passion for the business. Black Americans report high levels of isolation and disrespect.

How do I Identify and address the Problem?

“Bias Interrupted” is a great first step, as it shines a brilliant light into the somber room of bias and prejudice at work.

But there is something else, something so needed, that Professor Williams stands for and that you just can’t miss in her book, and that’s her message of basic, fundamental fairness.

When we can see in ourselves unfair, biased behavior towards others, we will have the power to interrupt it. That powerful message may influence her law students at Hastings to think less about winning at all costs and more about building a more just, less biased society where being fair to each other is a goal.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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Recently, for one of my articles, I interviewed Gorick Ng, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right. His book is a wonderfully useful guide for recent graduates setting foot in the world of work, showing readers how not to mess up.

I sent copies to a couple, long-time clients, who have been helicopter parents for their two adult sons.

One is a recent law graduate waiting to take the bar exam, the other having washed out of two law schools–at his parents’ expense–and is now working on an MBA, living at home. No one is holding their breath as to the chances for his success in the world outside of mommy and daddy who have literally bailed him out of trouble his entire life.

Almost 30, he was never given the chance to stand on his own two feet, mommy always there.

While mom texted, “The boys love the book. Thanks,” neither of them took the time to call and say, “Thank you.” I should add that the law student stood my wife and me up for a lunch date without a phone call, later explaining, “The judge I was clerking for invited me to lunch and I could not refuse.”

Whenever I think of these brothers, I picture a single word hovering over their heads: entitled. Having heard this very word uttered by one too many HR managers behind closed doors, I caught up with The Unspoken Rules author Gorick Ng to get his take on this often-thought-about-but-underdiscussed topic.

Entitlement: The Silent Career and Relationship Torpedo 

There is a difference between having confidence and feeling entitled, according to Ng:

“Having confidence means believing that you are ready for an opportunity, such as a more challenging and important work assignment or promotion. Showing entitlement means behaving as if you are deserving of an opportunity or promotion merely because you came to work.

“Confidence is necessary for getting ahead. Entitlement is what can prevent you from getting ahead. Not being confident enough can hold you back; coming across as entitled can also hold you back.”

Ng observes the two scenarios where entitlement is often seen on the job:

(1) When asking for something—showing a bad attitude when you don’t get it, and;

(2) When being offered something (such as a gift or opportunity) — and not showing gratitude after receiving it.

“There’s a difference between saying, ‘No problem, I appreciate the consideration’ and saying, ‘What do you mean No?!’ The former signals that the request was precisely that: a request; the latter signals that the request wasn’t a request at all, but a demand.

“If you show appreciation, the worst thing that can happen when your request is declined is you are back to where you were. You have not suffered a tarnished reputation. If you show entitlement—that you are owed this — not only do you still not get what you wanted, but others may think twice before offering you the next thing. It is a double whammy!” Ng points out.

So, where does entitlement come from in the first place? 

Across the many years of my law practice, I have had a front-row seat to a variety of parenting styles, and to the grown children entitling parents end up raising. In my experience, entitlement in adulthood is the direct result of parents who give their children their every perceived need and want—regardless of actual necessity–and who condition them into believing that whatever they have, whatever they want, is deserved.

Ng agrees and describes the corrosive result of raising enabled children:

“Inflated expectations follow them into adulthood where mom and dad are no longer there to grant their every wish. Making matters worse, when this ‘child’—who has now become an adult—isn’t used to hearing ‘no’ for an answer, it is easy and predictable to become desensitized.

“Some people hear ‘yes’ so frequently that ‘no’ is no longer even within the realm of possibility.”

Ng cautions that entitlement doesn’t only lead to a failure in building allies, but also the loss of the few that they have. “Who you know matters,” he says, “But who knows you and what they know you for can be just as important. Social capital can get you in the door, but reputational capital is what you need to keep advancing.”

“They may have gotten this one opportunity, but people will think twice before giving them the next one,” he warns, concluding our interview with this cautionary advice for entitled employees:

“Please, go on thinking only of yourself, what you are owed, and how important you are. And, while you are at it, realize that your reputation is forever.”

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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