Tuesday 13 September 2016

In Defence of Business

Very much a self interested post this one

it seems that business owners or company directors have become the hate figures of society - no drama is complete without a nasty (probably abusive or a crook) boss and news and comment stories are accompanied by photos of Philip Green on his yacht or Mike Ashley and his wad of £50 notes.

This is not the reality I encounter.

Most business owners who I know probably have a very similar story to my own and OME

we set up 10 years ago

Sean and I risked it all - we had mortgages and responsibilities and took zero remuneration in Year 1 and very little in Years 2 and 3 (compared to our previous earnings)

So as the business grows and our personal returns improve - I try not to feel too guilty about enjoying the fruits of our labour

We employ an increasingly large workforce (many have been with us 5 years+) and I believe we pay them well, offer them a great working environment and lots of training and development

We do this to a) employ a happy motivated team b) to retain them in the business c) because its the right thing to do - we want them to share the success of this business and be evangelists for OME

In my view its a combination of self interest (retain them - employ them to produce a return for OME) economic reality (best staff will leave if you underpay) and benevolence (its lovely to be seen to be a good employer)


and the fact is - most businesses and their owners think like this too (probably not Phil and Mike above!)

right, will go back to talking about digital recruitment....