The Purpose of Business and Today’s Workforce
In this article, I want to explore the true purpose of business beyond the bottom line. I will
discuss the traditional view of business and how those businesses are changing due to the
current workforce. As a business professional, I have always been fascinated by the concept
of purpose. If the purpose of business is ultimately to make money, then how do we build
the most efficacious model?
The Traditional View of the Purpose of Business
For many years, the traditional view of business has been that its purpose is to maximize
profits and shareholder value. This approach is often referred to as the “shareholder
primacy” model. The focus is on financial performance and growth, with little regard for the
impact on other stakeholders, such as employees, customers and their suppliers. The point
of this blog is to demonstrate that there is absolutely nothing wrong with providing profits
to the Stakeholders whom have invested in these companies. However, getting there is the
trick.
Changing Workforce
Today, millenniums or “Generation Zers” are setting the tone of the workforce. As a longtime business owner, even I have to adapt to the new method of workforce if I want to
increase profits or turn one at all. There can be no ego in business. Egos have cost many
really reputable businesses to fail.
If I want the best doctor to perform the necessary procedures on me to fix and ailment, I
have to wait until he or she is available. If I want the best resource in any particular topic,
we have been accustomed to wait for it. So, adapting to the new workforce, no matter what
school of thought you deploy becomes paramount to increasing profits, So, who are these
people?
Who is Gen Z?
Gen Z is one of the main drivers of change in today’s workplace. Defined as the generation of
individuals born between 1997 and 2012 (who in 2023 are between the ages of 10 and 25),
Gen Z grew up with smartphones and social media, along with the associated conveniences
and pitfalls. They are often the trendsetters, the trend-enders, the influenced, and the
influential. These new work warriors embrace technology and are much more productive in
the sense they can produce more usable data that solves problems. Since data is a derivative
of technology, the Gen Zers want to be employed by companies that see technology as a tool
and not a cost of doing business. They also want to be allowed to work anywhere, anytime.
Adapting to Today’s Workforce Culture
Every business, established or startup follows a prepared business plan. This business plan
has one primary goal….To turn a profit as soon as possible. Investors will never back a
company or venture that will lose money, even if they provide the most generous of
intangibles. The Stakeholder becomes the most important cog in the machine under this
model, as they should be. Or should they? I have always placed the employees first in an
organization. I have never seen a company make a person great but I have seen, many,
many times whereas individuals make companies great.
These teams are a collection of traditional workforce individuals, millenniums and Gen Z
staffs. Accommodating each of these is tantamount to motivating each individual child you
have. Each child is motivated differently. Therefore, you must adapt to every child’s
learning method to achieve maximum success. There is nothing different when dealing with
such a diverse workforce. The purpose of business may be to make money, but it is of course not a linear journey.
Encourage Employee Logic when Dealing with Customers
Going the extra mile to right a wrong or prevent one from happening leads to profitability.
Today’s culture has gotten away from making the customer happy, even if it doesn’t cost
anything to do so. For example: Southwest Airlines allows their customers to check two
bags under fifty (50) pounds for free while every other airline charges for each individual
bag, including carry on bags. Southwest figured out that allowing two free checked bags
was a way to set them apart from other airlines without costing them another penny. Other
airlines see the charging of bags to make more money, even when it cost them nothing to
accommodate two bags for free.
Southwest and other companies that have gained customer loyalty have done so by
empowering their employees to make decisions by deploying logic. I can think of many
companies that forego logic for profitability and fail to gain any customer loyalty due to
their short-sided view of profitability.
Making Employees Happy Will Increase Profits
Want to increase profits? Want to harbor an environment where the most qualified
individuals will flock for open positions? Find creative ways to appeal to your employees.
What tools or policies is your company deploying to accommodate the lifestyles of your
employees? If you can add a benefit or two without increasing cost or minimizing cost in
order to maximize employee loyalty, why wouldn’t you? Trusting employees to get the job
done, no matter where they do their work each day is one such benefit. Accommodating the
daily tasks of an employee’s life while making them productive to the company should be
the ultimate goal. An employee that has flexibility to get personal obligations done will
build loyalty from them.
A Technology Solution to be Considered
The first thought of sending employees home to work shouldn’t come with the automatic
thought that they employee is not going to work as hard. In fact, studies have shown those
employees will work harder and longer and be more productive because they love having a
job with flexibility. Therefore, the benefit costs the company nothing and in fact lowers
costs associated with real estate, IT and other real costs.
HomeWerx is a company that provides all the tools necessary for those employees to work
from home. The HomeWerx “Office as a Service” operates as a subscription-based service
that provides all the computing power and tools an employee needs to complete daily tasks,
all the office furniture including height adjustable, dry erase desks from a major
manufacturer, ergonomic chairs and 365, 24/7 technical assistance.
The HomeWerx service will reduce the cost necessary to provide your employees to do their job by over 70% of what it costs organizations today. The HomeWerx “Home Office suite” is the most secure technology on the market today and includes professional enhancements such as noise
cancelling technology that eliminates those home-grown noises, we all wished our clients
and co-workers didn’t hear while on teleconference calls. Dogs barking, door bells ringing,
kids shouting etc. are all eliminated with the HomeWerx service.
For more information, visit HomeWerx LLC and click the 3:29 animated demo or contact HomeWerx to discuss your company’s needs, and check out another one of our blogs on the important advantages and disadvantages to consider in a work-from-home model.