This sad yet true reality is often shared by people on the r/antiwork subreddit. We at Bored Panda have gathered some of the most bizarre notes and messages from workplaces that show how scary late-stage capitalism has become. From needing a doctor’s note to eat to taking employees' tips, scroll down to find instances where unemployment might sound more enticing than whatever these workplaces are offering.
While you're at it, don't forget to check out a conversation with Darren A. Smith, chief executive officer of Making Business Matter, who kindly agreed to answer a few of our questions.
#1 Ever Since I Have Found Stability In My Career, I Feel More Empowered To Respond To Recruiters Like This:
In 2023, soft-skills training company Making Business Matter (MBM) conducted a study trying to find where businesses put their focus—people or profit.
The aim was to find out if organizations that publicly state caring for their employees are telling the truth. They also tried to reveal if companies are really making the proper investment in the development and well-being of their employees.
In the report, the researchers claim that they chose such a particular focus because it hasn’t been done before. Interestingly enough, they are the first to bring these facts to light by looking at publicly available annual reports.
#6 We All Know About "Shrinkflation". Can I Coin The Term, "Trickflation"?
We were lucky enough to get in contact with Darren A. Smith, chief executive officer of Making Business Matter, who told Bored Panda, "Our People vs. Profit report analyzed the top 100 global companies’ annual reports and showed that 76 companies mentioned profit words more than people words.
Only 16 companies mentioned more people than profit words. Roche Holdings was #1 with a ratio of 1:0.3, which means that for every people they mention, they only mention profit 0.3 times. At the other end of the scale, #100 was Samsung, which had a ratio of 1:7.1, which means that for every person they mention, they mention profit 7.1 times."
#7 85 Degree Bakery Enabled Tips On Their Point Of Sale Devices. Tips Don’t Go To Workers; You’re Just Giving The Company More Money
Their main finding was that “85 out of 100 companies focus more on profit than people in their annual reports, even in today’s climate of emphasizing employee happiness.” Well-being and mental issues are some of the aspects that organizations are simply glossing over in their yearly reviews, with 21 businesses not mentioning these keywords in their documents at all.
#10 17-Year-Old Employee Ends Up In Er Before Scheduled Shift, Her Mother And Grandmother Both Call In On Her Behalf. Still Gets Fired For Not Personally Calling In.
#12 Boss Wrote “Thief” On My Check
They also revealed a common disparity between the values that the companies publicly communicate and those their annual report focuses on. “A key example of this is Toyota, which claims ‘Kaizen’ as one of their core values, meaning ‘continuous improvements’, and yet has a total of zero learning mentions,” the study writes.
#13 My House Burned Down Two Months Ago, And I'm In A Fight With The Insurance Company. My Neighbour Has Concerns
The main takeaway from this study is quite clear: most businesses agree, at least on the surface, that people are an important asset of any company. However, too few are willing to apply this logic to their policies and daily management. Instead of putting employees and their well-being first, they often look for short-term solutions like slashing labor costs, office expenses, etc.
Businesses that solely focus on the numbers forget that it's the people who make those figures happen. "A ‘numbers business’ becomes very transactional, treating their people like just another resource, and eventually the company loses its reason for being. As Simon Sinek would say, ‘the why’. Why do we do this?
Because money is a way of keeping score, not a reason. Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, didn’t start because he wanted to make a profit, though it was a welcome bonus, no doubt. He started McDonald’s because he wanted to give the customer a consistent hamburger," says Smith.
