Warning: The article below tends to stir different emotions in different people depending on their personal experience and age. This is simply my point of view from my past experience and as well me being in my mid 40s. If your company is awesome and treats you well then I am truly happy for you and respect your opinion. Please do the same and respect the opinion of others who might not be as fortunate as you with their work careers and personal experiences.
In today’s work environment, we are often led to believe that the corporate world is our source of life. We look at companies we work for as something to almost worship or fear. After all it seems as if they are the only path to take in order to ensure our economic survival. But should we always look at it this way?
Below are five reasons why your company does not deserve you and what you can do to create a better work life for yourself.
- You are worth way more than your salary – The average salary in the United States in 2018 is reported as being $62,175 dollars according to Sentier Research. If you break that down into earnings per second based on a 40-hour work week it puts the average salary at $0.0083 dollars per second.
Here is how the I broke down that calculation based on an 8 hour work day at 40 hours a week:
- There are 28,800 seconds in an 8 hour work day
- 144,000 seconds a week
- 7,488,000 seconds a year
- Average US Salary for 2018 of $62,175 dollars divided by 7,488,000 equals 0.0083
How does that compare you might ask? According to a business profit study done by TitleMax, Apple makes $1,444.76 dollars every second followed by JPMorgan/Chase at $782.14 dollars a second. Employees are getting a very small fraction of what the companies are making in profit which is insulting especially since without employees these types of profits would be unattainable. Below you can see the additional profit per second rating per company from the TitleMax research mentioned in the link above and compare.
- Companies are not loyal to their employees – Most companies look at their employees like a mechanic looks at a box of tools. They see their employees as simply an instrument that they can use for their needs until they no longer need it or they find a better one to replace it.
How many people over the age of 50 do you see working lower-wage jobs? Too many unfortunately usually because some heartless company decided that the person could no longer compete with people of a younger age or the person was being paid too much.
You as a person are NOT some item that should be tossed aside simply because you don’t fit in the company’s future plans or are not at a time in life where you can commit 60 hours a week to your job.
- You are smarter than companies want you to be – Let’s face it, the average company is looking for people that are trainable/educated enough to complete the requirements of the job position they hold and that’s it. The problem is that companies offer very little quality time and training within the company to make you better at something else outside of your current responsibilities.
In an article by Scientific America regarding brain memory capacity it states that
neurons (in our brain) combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain’s memory storage capacity to something closer to around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes). For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage.
We as people have an amazing ability to learn a vast amount of information to make ourselves better. Why then do companies not want to take advantage of this and provide employees with more training and education that they could use to better themselves on the job? Simple, they don’t want you becoming more valuable.
If you become more knowledgeable and valuable then you might want a promotion, possibly look for another job or even more threatening to an employer, start your own business as a competitor.
- You are trading money for your health – Being healthy and feeling good is priceless. All the money in the world cannot guarantee your health and happiness. So why do we let companies rob us of something so valuable?
Sitting in a cubicle or office behind a computer wrecks our bodies both mentally and physically. According to Medline Plus, a sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of heart disease, depression, type 2 diabetes, strokes and high blood pressure, just to name a few.
Since 86% of American workers have a sedentary job then it is easy to see how serious of a problem this really is.
On top of that, companies “love” to show their generosity from time to time by treating their employees to foods like doughnuts and pizza which do nothing but overload us with sugar and carbs which in turn makes us lethargic. Throw in a little stress and anxiety from the typical workday as well and it creates a perfect storm for slowly destroying our mental and physical health over time.
- Psss…You really don’t need them – With the expansion of the Internet over the last 20 years, there are tons of ways to make money online. Anything from selling products on Amazon and eBay to thousands of free affiliate programs where you can promote other people’s products and get a commission from them.
If the Internet is not your thing then opening small non brick and mortar businesses are quite profitable. I have one friend who saved up $8,000 dollars, got his Commercial Driver’s License, purchased an older semi-truck and now makes a six figure income hauling freight.
Another one got a Home Inspector’s License, got to know the local real estate agents in his town and now he is doing well. There are plenty of ways to trade in your current 9-5 job for a life that gives you freedom, happiness and the means to provide for yourself and your family as well.
Will there be hard work involved if you decide to start your own business? Most definitely. Will there be days that are difficult, absolutely. But in the end, you are your own boss and you make the decision as to how much effort you want to put into something or not.
Remember, YOU are an amazing person created with unique talents and valuable knowledge that deserves more in life than what most companies can provide in my opinion. Don’t let your goals and dreams be dictated by a company culture that views you as being indebted to them.
I currently work online for myself in what is often referred to as a “Lifestyle Business”. If you are interested in finding out more then feel free to sign up for the Free Video Workshop at this link or in the form below to receive a video course with no strings attached to learn about what I do.
It may be for you it may not. You may enjoy your 9-5 and that is awesome. A lot of people would love to be where you are at I am sure. Whatever you feel about your current way of earning an income, the most important thing is to make the right plans and stay focused on building a future where you are free to live life to the fullest and look towards a brighter future.
