Posted on November 14, 2016

Below is a letter to a CEO.  It was shared recently with The Monday Minute (or two) by its author.  The letter has been edited to protect the identity of the individual and is used with his permission.  We at TMM found it remarkably timely.

To Our CEO:

You don’t know me.  I’m one of the thousands of people who work here.  I’ve worked in this company for nearly 12 years.  I got my first job right out of school and have been doing it for about 25 years.  I like it.  I like the people I work with.  I like helping our customers.  What I don’t like is this feeling I’ve had for a long time, almost since the time I started here.  I feel ignored.  That’s why I’m writing.

In your letters to us and in your speeches you’ve asked us to help make this company better than it is.  I want to help!  I’m not alone.  We talk about it all of the time.  We want the company to be better, too.

We have ideas that might work.  Some of the ideas are simple and could be tried easily.  Some of the ideas are bigger and would probably take more time.  They might not work, but the point is we have ideas.  The other point is that no one is listening.  It’s actually worse than that. I think no one wants to hear the ideas we have.

That’s not the only problem.  A lot of people here are retiring.  Many of these people are great at what they do.  They’ve been doing their job their whole life.  They know everything there is to know about it.  So what’s happening?  The company’s hiring young people, rookies we call them, to do the jobs of the people who are leaving.  And get this!  They’re being treated like royalty!  Their pay is about the same as ours, even though they can’t do the job yet.  (We know it’s supposed to be secret what someone makes, but we don’t think anything is secret here, like how much you make.)  They’re getting training we never got.  They’re getting attention we never got.  And for some reason they’re being asked for ideas about how we can improve.  Like they would know!  So not only do I feel ignored.  Now I feel invisible, too.  I can tell you it doesn’t feel good.

I’m writing to you because there’s no one else to tell.  We’ve tried going to HR, but that hasn’t worked.  At least nothing’s changed.  (I also got a little in trouble for going there, because some people here are suspicious of anyone going to HR.)  I can’t tell my boss or her boss because they’re part of the problem.  I want you to know what’s going on at my level, way below you, because I think you mean what you say about wanting to improve the company.  I don’t think you know how ignored or invisible we feel.  It makes me wonder what’s the point of having ideas or wanting to help when no one seems to care what we think.  It’s sad, really.

Am I asking too much for someone to listen to my ideas?  Am I asking too much for someone to care?  It feels that way.  There aren’t too many feelings worse than feeling ignored and feeling invisible.

Well, thanks for listening.  If you’re ever in our area, drop by.  We have some ideas that might help.

With respect,