When will companies learn people first, profits last.

[Atreus21]

A company cannot take a dime out of your pocket without you voluntarily handing it over (unless the government is involved). If you think a company is too profit driven, you need not buy from it.

Buy from a company who treats it customers and employees right, and encourage others to do the same.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Today all companies care about are profits. How to make more money for them self. How to cheat out their employees and the consumers. The bottom line is all they see now. That is why we had this banking crisis. That is why we had Enron, WorldCom, and Madoff. Because people put profits before humanity and society.

Companies need to learn the most import thing in order are:

1. Your employees
2. The consumers
3. Your supplies employees
4. The rest of society
5. The rest of the planet
....
LAST: Profits

Profits are the least important thing.

Why do I know that I will get a good laugh out of one of your threads. This is comedy gold!!!

 

[QuantumPion]

Why do I know that I will get a good laugh out of one of your threads. This is comedy gold!!!

Seriously, someone give this guy the troll of the year award.

 

[nick1985]

No. That your parents actually live in the real world, unlike you. They have bills to pay, including all of yours, since I would wager that you either still live in their house, or you live on campus - my bet would be on campus. You have never had to worry about bills for anything, you do not consider where the money comes from, or what they have to do to earn it. There is a strong likelihood you never had a job during high school, and you almost certainly do not have a job now.

lol!

 

[artikk]

The OP's ideas are fine, in theory. But he NEVER took the real world into account. In retrospect, I guess, the OP's ideas are not fine, then.

 

[CPA]

Google takes care of their employees. Their employees in turn are more productive, more creative, and work longer hours.

Be careful, because next thing you know DCal will be bitching that America doesn't use a workweek similar to the French.

 

[Macamus Prime]

Some of you are pretty fucking out of touch with reality.

1) Profits
2) The people & groups that generate these profits
3) Investments
4) The people and groups that manage these investments
5) Commericial image
6) Psuedo commity/group that deals with fraud
7) Group/team that is out to capture savings or realize losses and prevent them from happening again
8) Potential customers
9) Customers
10) Operational employees (spreadsheet churners, folks who answer the calls, deal with the customer)

Everyone past this is not thought of for a second. Even government regualtion. Because they have the faux Internal Auditors and chest puffing internal Legal Watch Dogs to provide some buffer before they get hammered.

And, Human Resources is somewhere in there. They provide reassurance or an affirmation that "things are going to get better".

Also, on the note about Google - yes, they are wonderful. Because the vision is still there. Once they realize they can save 40% by moving to a formula-like business model, they will.

 

[Cogman]

Now, of course, this depends on what product we are talking about.

If a company values profit over all,
They are going to treat their employees well because that is how you get the best product on the market.
They are going to treat their customers well because that is where the profit comes from.
They are going to care about what the customer cares about, because that is where they get money. If most people love the idea of taking care of the environment, a profit loving company is going to love the idea of being green where possible.
This, of course, has the negative that if the consumer only cares about how cheap something is, than companies are going to focus on making things as cheap as possible, damn the consequences.

You see how that works? A company that is only trying to make a profit is going to be entirely focused on what society really wants. If society doesn't care, the company doesn't.

In other words, a profit seeking company is only as evil as the society it caters to.

 

[BoberFett]

Now, of course, this depends on what product we are talking about.

If a company values profit over all,
They are going to treat their employees well because that is how you get the best product on the market.
They are going to treat their customers well because that is where the profit comes from.
They are going to care about what the customer cares about, because that is where they get money. If most people love the idea of taking care of the environment, a profit loving company is going to love the idea of being green where possible.
This, of course, has the negative that if the consumer only cares about how cheap something is, than companies are going to focus on making things as cheap as possible, damn the consequences.

You see how that works? A company that is only trying to make a profit is going to be entirely focused on what society really wants. If society doesn't care, the company doesn't.

In other words, a profit seeking company is only as evil as the society it caters to.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

In the US, we get not only the government we deserve, but the corporations as well. In short, Americans as a whole are greedy, self-centered assholes with entitlement mentalities and we have the corporations and government to match.

 

[Genx87]

Today all companies care about are profits. How to make more money for them self. How to cheat out their employees and the consumers. The bottom line is all they see now. That is why we had this banking crisis. That is why we had Enron, WorldCom, and Madoff. Because people put profits before humanity and society.

Companies need to learn the most import thing in order are:

1. Your employees
2. The consumers
3. Your supplies employees
4. The rest of society
5. The rest of the planet
....
LAST: Profits

Profits are the least important thing.

Please stop posting.

 

[tw1164]

BTW many companies do put people high up. You can never put them totally first or you go bankrupt. Google intel costo and plenty of other offer generous salary, benefits, perks and profit sharing. Just depends on management style and if you can keep the bean counters out. I read a story about costco CEO constantly fighting with his board about treating employees more like sam club so far they have failed.

I prefer shopping at stores I know treat their employees fairly. It's generally a much better experience.

 

[werepossum]

I hope you go into a coma before you are old enough to vote.

He's pretty much in a coma now.

 

[werepossum]

Now, of course, this depends on what product we are talking about.

If a company values profit over all,
They are going to treat their employees well because that is how you get the best product on the market.
They are going to treat their customers well because that is where the profit comes from.
They are going to care about what the customer cares about, because that is where they get money. If most people love the idea of taking care of the environment, a profit loving company is going to love the idea of being green where possible.
This, of course, has the negative that if the consumer only cares about how cheap something is, than companies are going to focus on making things as cheap as possible, damn the consequences.

You see how that works? A company that is only trying to make a profit is going to be entirely focused on what society really wants. If society doesn't care, the company doesn't.

In other words, a profit seeking company is only as evil as the society it caters to.

Very well said.

 

[dmcowen674]

When will companies learn people first, profits last

Dude

Profits over people, always

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Open a company irl and run it according to the principles above. Then get back to everyone once you have experience in the real world.

Top 10 companies on Glassdoor for employee satisfaction:

1.Facebook 4.6
2.Southwest Airlines 4.4
3.Bain & Company 4.3
4.General Mills 4.0
5.Edelman 4.0
6.Boston Consulting 4.0
7.SAS Institute 4.0
8.Slalom Consulting 4.0
9.Overstock.com 4.0
10.Susquehanna International Group 3.9

They must be doing something right if their employees are rating them that high. Even though Amazon isn't on the list, they are still at a 3.2 rating. I would bet most of their customers would rate Amazon as a 5 in customer service. There are plenty of successful companies out there that follow closely with what the OP is asking.

 

[1prophet]

Now, of course, this depends on what product we are talking about.

If a company values profit over all,
They are going to treat their employees well because that is how you get the best product on the market.
They are going to treat their customers well because that is where the profit comes from.
They are going to care about what the customer cares about, because that is where they get money. If most people love the idea of taking care of the environment, a profit loving company is going to love the idea of being green where possible.
This, of course, has the negative that if the consumer only cares about how cheap something is, than companies are going to focus on making things as cheap as possible, damn the consequences.

You see how that works? A company that is only trying to make a profit is going to be entirely focused on what society really wants. If society doesn't care, the company doesn't.

In other words, a profit seeking company is only as evil as the society it caters to.

But for many companies it doesn't work that way, that's why they spend millions to brainwash the masses through advertising on what they should want not what they actually need and they also spend millions on lobbyists to change or add laws even if they are detrimental to what society really wants.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=21696

It's even worse if you have short term thinking pump and dump senior management that cook the books to boost their stock along with their buddies and then jump ship with their golden parachute and any other benefits before it all comes crashing down.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

That my parents were brainwashed to be capitalist like you?

I suggest you go back and read your history books and see how an economy that was setup and promoted that capitalism was bad, turned out. I'll give you a hint where to look. U.S.S.R.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

But for many companies it doesn't work that way, that's why they spend millions to brainwash the masses through advertising on what they should want not what they actually need and they also spend millions on lobbyists to change or add laws even if they are detrimental to what society really wants.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=21696

It's even worse if you have short term thinking pump and dump senior management that cook the books to boost their stock along with their buddies and then jump ship with their golden parachute and any other benefits before it all comes crashing down.

It's funny you say this. Because it tends to be the Apple zealots that hate profit driven companies the most.

 

[soulcougher73]

Profits are important, but the ends don't always justify the means. You don't screw over your customers, your employees, or your community in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. That used to be the American way. It isn't anymore...and look where that shortsightedness has gotten us.

This.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

I suggest you go back and read your history books and see how an economy that was setup and promoted that capitalism was bad, turned out. I'll give you a hint where to look. U.S.S.R.

Why is it that every time someone mentions incorporating a little ethics into business that suddenly it's compared to the ways of the U.S.S.R?

 

[GTaudiophile]

I think if companies make customers, employees, and communities (in that order) their highest priorities, then profits (and stock holder gains) will come naturally.

 

[Craig234]

I think if companies make customers, employees, and communities (in that order) their highest priorities, then profits (and stock holder gains) will come naturally.

Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't.

It's a bit off the topic, but somewhat relevant: There was a good sized Savings and Loan, Home Savings.

They were in business a long time, and concentrated on traditional loans getting people into homes. When S&L de-regulation in the 80's led to the temptation for S&L's to make big bucks with bad investments - leading to massive corruption, crash, prosecutions, bailouts of hundreds of billions by the federal government - they weathered the storm and bragged in ads how by being a 'conservative' business not taking those chances and sticking to traditional home loans, they came out just fine.

Then in the housing bubble, when Wall Street desperately pursued large number of mortgages, and incented them to be created good or bad, Home Savings suddenly found itself unable to get many customers for mortgages, compared to all the irresponsible mortgages, ridiculous adjustables, liar loans, and so on. They had to either 'play the game' or get in trouble. As a result, one of the more irresponsible lenders, Washington Mutual, was able to acquire Home Savings.

(And when the problems started to come home, Washington Mutual got acquired by one of the handful of 'too big to fail' banks, Chase - others being Wells/BofA/Citi.)

Sometimes, business who 'act nicely' do ok, but others it kills them. Really, false comfort from platitudes that 'acting nicely' keeps them in business are harmful, because they hide the problems that in the 'real world', businesses are often forced to act terribly to stay in business - this is the sort of thing the phrase "race to the bottom" means. For example, if one business can 'act badly' and cut its costs and therefore its prices, others can either copy or go out of business.

Fact is, consumers rarely put 'which company has policies good for the society' ahead of low prices.

Many, many businesses acted a lot 'better' than Wal-Mart that went out of business because of them.

Goldman Sachs has done incredibly harmful and profitable things, and the only real answer I know (while we still have some democracy) is for the government to block it.

Not 'consumer choice', not 'consumer education', not the 'invisible hand', not 'moral leadership', not competition with nicer companies, not 'voluntary regulation'.

Based on Goldman's huge efforts to put its people in positions of power over and within the government, becoming "Government Sachs, I'd say they agree.

Save234

 

[CPA]

Dude

Profits over people, always

Except if you're Exxon, right Dave.

 

[Patranus]

The funny thing is that putting profits first helps the employee, shareholder, the supplier, and the consumer.

Just look at Wallmart. It is win/win/win/win for the employee, shareholder, supplier, and consumer.

 

[senseamp]

Profits first, everything else only for good PR to improve profits.