Lifetime Pass.

In your business and your life you have assets of all kinds but the most important are the people that get you through the day successfully. In your business you may not have hired them all but you did hire the hirers hiring the ones, you know what I mean. So how important are they really or is this all just talk, to keep the masses quiet? In a world obsessed with technology it’s good to hear about companies willing to put all their trust in one asset, their people.

Siemans, a ginormous German electronics company has just signed a deal with its employees guaranteeing them all a job for life. That’s nearly 130,000 people who are now entrusted with good stewardship to make sure their company continues to prosper. From a management viewpoint the guarantee has just wiped out the company’s negotiating leverage with the unions and individual employees when you look at the Australian example of at will employment and layoffs.

So how does something so backward looking, remember Gramps only ever had one job in his life, and forward looking at the same time, become a reality? In an unusual twist on today’s chaotic and only focussed on bottom line landscape, both sides were willing to be reasonable, trust each other and show humility.

What a concept you say, what am I missing you say, why hasn’t my company thought of that you say.

Siemans believe that they would not be in the position they are today, 50% up since 2000, if it were not for their employees. Think about that for a moment. A lot of companies give similar platitudes but how many act on their good business results with such a startling offer for staff loyalty. After all with 130,000 employees, not everyone would fit into the perfect employee mould but Siemans have given a blanket guarantee because the whole is greater than the individual parts.

They have given their employees a chance to become totally involved and the capacity to create Siemans World with only family members involved. Where Henry Ford once asked “Bring us your hands and you can leave everything else at home”, Siemans are asking their employees to bring their whole selves to work, to justify the long term relationship.

In your strongest relationships with family and friends, where things go awry occasionally, you are always willing to be reasonable and work through the issues. For many that equates to giving a lifetime pass because without your family and friends you would not be who you are and where you are today. Siemans looks on their employees the same way and they have given them a lifetime pass for the future.

So what better way to keep 130,000 people aligned, connected, motivated under an umbrella of common sense and reason.

Am I missing something?