There’s no such title as “Just a Worker”

I’m often amazed but always gratified by the number of people who comment that they read an article in a recent issue and felt compelled to say how much they either enjoyed it or, didn’t!

To me, any response is a good response and while some of it may sting a little, it’s always good to get feedback, even moreso, for those who go about doing jobs, any jobs, day-in and day-out and never hear or really know if what they’re doing is right.

Sure, if they’re royally messing up, they’ll hear about it, but by and large, I think there are too many people working in doubt; doubt about what they’re doing or even worse, doubting their own worth.

Self-esteem plays a huge part in everyone’s performance, and unless there’s feedback – hopefully constructive, but negative can work too – many people don’t have a clue if what they are doing is valued or worse, even right.

A paycheque is only a monitary indicator of what you’re doing is valued but I think there’s more to working at a job than simply getting paid.

As you can probably imagine, I see all levels of people in mining: from the executives, to the front-line supers at remote sites, to the workers themselves who do the real dirty work. I know them all and for me, it’s the latter group, “The Workers” (especially the underground coal workers), that I admire the most.

I’m not taking anything away from the managers who are ultimately responsible for the success or failures of many mining operations, but it’s the people who physically risk their lives every day to make the profits that I like the most.

To me, they are “the company” and the real assets of the operation. Forget about what’s in the ground because without “The Workers” to dig whatever it is out of the earth, even if it is gold at $1,500 an ounce, it’s as worthless as your appendix.

And these individuals are not “Just a Worker” as one vice-president recently described a photo of a “mine worker” in his company’s annual report.

Anyway, what I’m getting at is that people working in jobs less prestigious than those who carry business cards need to be reassured by their managers that what they are doing is important to the company.

In fact, when you really boil it down, many managers should be truly “thankful” to the people who work with them. As one shop foreman recently told me as he pointed to a senior technician, “That guy is more important to this company than the President.”

Ain’t that sometimes the truth, but putting that aside and getting back to mining specifically, I think it’s vitally important to stimulate workers and keep their morale up, because if a miner simply goes through the motions by putting in the hours without really caring about what he or she is doing, they become nonchalant about their work; they slack off and ultimately, they become a danger to themselves and the entire operation.

I talked about “doubt” earlier and how I think too many people are doubting their own worth simply because they don’t get feedback. Well, like I said at the outset, giving someone a pat on the back, be it physically or verbally over the phone, doesn’t take much time or effort, and I don’t think there’s enough of that happening in mining.

The last words all police superintendents tell their officers before they hit the streets are “Be Safe,” and those two little words, to me, probably express “sincerity” more than any others.

I know miners are told to be safe but most often it’s done by way of a “Work Safely” sign posted near a pit or at a portal and not from someone’s mouth.

As you know, hearing something sticks with you longer than reading it, and that’s why I think more managers should be personally talking with their employees and letting them know how much they’re worth to the company and that they’re not “Just a Worker.”