Business Owner Doesn’t Get Why People Don’t Want To Work For Him, Gets A Perfect Answer
Gary Vaynerchuk is the chairman of VaynerX, a modern-day media, and communications company, and the active CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency, working with Fortune 100 clients. So he knows how to run a business.
Recently, a video from one of his speaking events has been going viral. In the clip, a member of the audience tells Vaynerchuk that he’s been struggling with his employee engagement and motivation. Appearing lost and hopeless, the man then proceeds to ask whether or not it’s his fault.
The answer that comes out of Vaynerchuk’s mouth cuts right to the chase and provides a ruthless yet logical and easy-to-understand explanation of why the man (and so many other business owners) fail to lead their staff.
You can watch the exchange in the video below
Chances are, many more business owners are realizing what the man in the video has heard. As we reported in our piece on The Great Resignation, about 4.3 million Americans left their jobs in August.
Plus, the problem is not just a U.S. one, and many countries around the world are experiencing a shortage of workers. It matters because it’s exacerbating supply chain disruptions around the globe, with key industries struggling to regain momentum due to a lack of manpower or raw materials.
This disrupts both local and global production and supply networks, hampering economic growth and causing product and service shortages for consumers.
Research from Robert Half found that nearly 4 in 10 professionals surveyed (38%) feel their career has stalled since the start of the pandemic. That number jumps to 66% for workers ages 18-24.
Among that 38%, about half reported that they’ve seen stagnation in salary growth, career advancement, and skills development. Additionally, the researchers discovered that 1 in 3 workers whose feelings toward their work have changed due to the pandemic want to pursue a more meaningful or fulfilling job.
Bosses will have to offer more than free snacks to keep their employees.
Here’s what people said about it
When you expect your employees to work just as hard as you for less than 5% of what you are taking home, you might find that that's not going to happen. Despite your annual "Eat all the pickles you can"-day to express your appreciation for them.
You're not entitled to own a business at the expense of your employees. If you can't succeed without underpaying and overworking your employees, then your business should fail.
This reminds me of that Quora question that appears every time there's a bad bosses post. You know, the one asking why their two otherwise awesome employees insist on leaving at 6pm every night instead of doing unpaid overtime to prove their loyalty (and the answer is some variation on shove it up your *rse, with or without lubrication). This is the prevailing attitude though. And the answer is simple - your employees are not, and will never be, as invested in your business as you are. You don't pay them enough to care enough. And that even extends to the mid-level employees earning 45-90k. It's still not enough to care so much about the success of the business that you give up your life for it. Only one (maybe two) people in a business should care that much - their title is owner. Everyone else gets to go home and have a work-life balance. (Edited to update the range as exchange rates can alter the impact)
I feel for the guy who asked whether it was him. His reaction tells me he genuinely didn't realize his lack of leadership was the problem. I hope he learned something valuable that day.
If you pay people good money and provide good benefits, they will stick around. The problem is that it’s usually the wrong party that gets to decide what “good” means. I hate ivory tower bosses.
Never trust anyone that wears a suit. That's what I've learned. They're usually idiots that view decent people as peons, even though they can't do the work themselves on their best day.
Load More Replies... I'm grateful to have a job that pays well and has good benefits. I work very hard and am good at my job. However, the lack of growth and promotion opportunities is discouraging. A lot of opportunities are based on who an employee knows rather than what they know. Also, it seems that, if an employee is good at their job, management wants to keep the employee in that job even though the employee might be great at a job that would be a promotion. A lot of times, the only way to move up is to change employers. Then employers whine that employees aren't loyal. (Well, we're not dogs)
The praise for a business’ success always goes to the idiot at the top who thinks they’re some kind of business genius (which they categorically are NOT, especially if they got the job because their parents started the company and have now retired), when the real truth—-that the rest of us have known full well for millennia—-is that praise for the business’ success should go to the people at the bottom, the ones in the public-facing trenches, doing the real work of keeping the business going.
You work to live, not live to work. You should not have to give your all just to go to a home without power and an eviction notice on your door just because the job you work doesn't pay livable wages while your boss or "CEO" is doing just fine, yet feels the need to complain that his workers that made him what he is aren't working hard enough, showing up, or applying to begin with. I literally destroyed my body working for several companies, never saw a penny. Now I'm forced to stay at home and try to run a small business on my own. Let that sink in. I busted my ass day and day again, to the point where I'm now useless to anyone, and have nothing to show for it. Yet I bet the Golub family or whichever asshole runs Good Will are doing just fine. I can't complain about FedEx. Mail and truckers run this country.
Brandon, I know we don’t know each other, but PLEASE don’t think you’re useless. You’re everything to someone.
Load More Replies... In a capitalist society (= means of production and therefore wealth are controlled by a few private individuals), employee engagement is simply about how to get more out of your employees than their contract states without actually paying them more or sharing the business/profits with them.
If you apply for a job, are interviewed & find out the pay/benefits/hours/assignments, etc., then accept the position, why not do what YOU signed up for? Hopefully, if you do a good job then the promotions/raises will come in due time. I see a lot of entitlement in the comments. Yes, wages need to be better, but if you're taking on a minimum wage job, then you shouldn't be expecting anymore than that.
Any time I’ve ever supervised people, I’ve gone by the guideline of “don’t expect your employees to do any task you’re not willing to do yourself.” Example: I used to work at a newspaper and we had an evening work shift (it was an am paper and we were paginators). We’d rotate who stayed late - and I did it as much if not more than my team. If I’m not willing to pitch in, how can I expect them to? Granted, I wasn’t the owner, but I still think it’s a good guide.
"don't expect your employees to work as hard as you..." but I've worked very few jobs where the management even came close to working as hard as any of the front line employees. More frequently they would sit on their butts all day hanging out with their friends or their boss, take 2-3 hour lunches, and endlessly gripe about how "lazy" the employees were.
I went to a job interview for a salaried position working 40 hours a week, no travel. Joining the interview via Zoom was the lady working in the next town over. She was obviously sick. As the interview progressed, I asked her how many hours she worked over the past two weeks. Dead silence for an uncomfortable amount of time. Then she said she had to work more hours because she was sick. Twisted logic. I looked at the boss without saying anything and suddenly it wasn't really a 40 hour work week, it was until the job is done work week. And I wouldn't really be working locally, I'd have to go to two other locations. I told them it sounded interesting and I'd let them know by end of day on Friday. Yeah. The answer is no. Not falling for the bait and switch.
I worked at a convenience store, and was held up 7 times. People always assume I quit because of the robberies, but they never question it taking 7 of them.
That's just awful. I'm sorry you had to endure that.
Load More Replies...
"We're all a family" only works until the money starts coming in, then you're on your own.
Until more employees start telling employers they are leaving because of poor management "you're fired", the poor managers are not going to upgrade their management "skills" [in many cases completely lacking]. If there is any societal good to come out of the pandemic it is the re-balancing of the employer/employee relationship, taking power away from poor "managers" by denying them access to quality employees.
In a meeting with the entire team, my boss once said, "What do you think my job is?" I raised my hand. "Yes, Matt?" "To make us all happy." He laughed, and everybody laughed. I let it go for the moment, but later, at the right time, I said, "I was serious when I said that earlier." I then talked about the fact that all superiors are in service of those below them. Now this boss was ex- military, and I had to explain that the military is a PARTIAL exception to the rule, because of chain of command, however, even there, leaders MUST take care of there teams, companies, groups, and "subordinates", because they are the ONLY ones with the authority to make it happen within the bounds of the organization. Not understanding that, and failing to show respect, failing to listen, and failing to actively pursue gains and comforts for one's employees is to be a S**T boss. I'm glad to see that s**t bosses are finally getting treated as what they are and abandoned en masse.
Being a boss isn't just first dips on profit. It's also the livelihood of your staff and their family. It isn't just paying some money and be done with it. They need to be healthy in mind and body to work. They need to feel secure and confident this will provide for their family. If you cannot or will not take that on, stick to your day job.
This guy needs to study servant leadership. You lead your employees AND serve them, everybody succeeds.
I tink ppl should stop complaining. If you do minimum work you deserve minimum wage. If you're going to work hard & prove your worth you deserve better pay.
I agree. Minimum wage is paid when you don't have previous job experience. If you show you can work hard, you can move on to a better, higher paying job with your new job experience. If you give minimum effort, you'll be paid minimum wage forever.
Load More Replies...
It’s not as black and white as people will only work hard if their boss is amazing. Most managers and bosses are learning too. You also have to be self-motivated and ambitious. I saw a tweet up there saying “minimum wage gets minimum effort”, well then why would you ever be given opportunities? If that’s the attitude, expect to stay on minimum wage. I have no sympathy for entitled people who aren’t willing to pay their dues and work hard to achieve. It’s too easy to alway blame others.
Bad work is a learned behavior for many. People stop trying because they bust their ass and the only feedback they get is when they make a mistake. All the things they do right are ignored, and they put in the time and the effort but never get a pay increase. After awhile people learn that their work is not valued and they will get the same treatment with half the effort. Make no mistake, my employees work as hard as they do for me. Work for the state so it isn't the paycheck. I found out one of my employees was getting paid day loans, our best employee by the way, and took her to my bank and helped her sign up for a line of credit and paid off her pay-day loan. I fight every year to get them all raises, I promote them every chance I get. The hard work they put in is because they feel it will be at least acknowledged. My employees didn't start off super dedicated and motivated, I made them feel valued & they do their best all because I acknowledge them.
Load More Replies...
This article and many of the comments are somewhat missing the point. The problem is that the modern world has changed the perception of what life should be. While basic unfairness is clearly wrong, this idea that we should be able to do the bare minimum and be paid a fat salary, living in a nice big house and travel the world on expensive holidays is a myth. Not so long ago, life was always on a knife edge and most ordinary people worked crushingly long hours just so they didn't starve or freeze to death. Indeed, many in the world still have this. Our modern world has given us the luxury of leisure, but we should not lose a sense of reality about our existence.
Maybe where you live. Where I live I have a college degree and two jobs and I don’t make enough to afford a home . I will be homeless soon… With a freaking college degree and TWO jobs
Load More Replies... When you expect your employees to work just as hard as you for less than 5% of what you are taking home, you might find that that's not going to happen. Despite your annual "Eat all the pickles you can"-day to express your appreciation for them.
You're not entitled to own a business at the expense of your employees. If you can't succeed without underpaying and overworking your employees, then your business should fail.
This reminds me of that Quora question that appears every time there's a bad bosses post. You know, the one asking why their two otherwise awesome employees insist on leaving at 6pm every night instead of doing unpaid overtime to prove their loyalty (and the answer is some variation on shove it up your *rse, with or without lubrication). This is the prevailing attitude though. And the answer is simple - your employees are not, and will never be, as invested in your business as you are. You don't pay them enough to care enough. And that even extends to the mid-level employees earning 45-90k. It's still not enough to care so much about the success of the business that you give up your life for it. Only one (maybe two) people in a business should care that much - their title is owner. Everyone else gets to go home and have a work-life balance. (Edited to update the range as exchange rates can alter the impact)
I feel for the guy who asked whether it was him. His reaction tells me he genuinely didn't realize his lack of leadership was the problem. I hope he learned something valuable that day.
If you pay people good money and provide good benefits, they will stick around. The problem is that it’s usually the wrong party that gets to decide what “good” means. I hate ivory tower bosses.
Never trust anyone that wears a suit. That's what I've learned. They're usually idiots that view decent people as peons, even though they can't do the work themselves on their best day.
Load More Replies... I'm grateful to have a job that pays well and has good benefits. I work very hard and am good at my job. However, the lack of growth and promotion opportunities is discouraging. A lot of opportunities are based on who an employee knows rather than what they know. Also, it seems that, if an employee is good at their job, management wants to keep the employee in that job even though the employee might be great at a job that would be a promotion. A lot of times, the only way to move up is to change employers. Then employers whine that employees aren't loyal. (Well, we're not dogs)
The praise for a business’ success always goes to the idiot at the top who thinks they’re some kind of business genius (which they categorically are NOT, especially if they got the job because their parents started the company and have now retired), when the real truth—-that the rest of us have known full well for millennia—-is that praise for the business’ success should go to the people at the bottom, the ones in the public-facing trenches, doing the real work of keeping the business going.
You work to live, not live to work. You should not have to give your all just to go to a home without power and an eviction notice on your door just because the job you work doesn't pay livable wages while your boss or "CEO" is doing just fine, yet feels the need to complain that his workers that made him what he is aren't working hard enough, showing up, or applying to begin with. I literally destroyed my body working for several companies, never saw a penny. Now I'm forced to stay at home and try to run a small business on my own. Let that sink in. I busted my ass day and day again, to the point where I'm now useless to anyone, and have nothing to show for it. Yet I bet the Golub family or whichever asshole runs Good Will are doing just fine. I can't complain about FedEx. Mail and truckers run this country.
Brandon, I know we don’t know each other, but PLEASE don’t think you’re useless. You’re everything to someone.
Load More Replies... In a capitalist society (= means of production and therefore wealth are controlled by a few private individuals), employee engagement is simply about how to get more out of your employees than their contract states without actually paying them more or sharing the business/profits with them.
If you apply for a job, are interviewed & find out the pay/benefits/hours/assignments, etc., then accept the position, why not do what YOU signed up for? Hopefully, if you do a good job then the promotions/raises will come in due time. I see a lot of entitlement in the comments. Yes, wages need to be better, but if you're taking on a minimum wage job, then you shouldn't be expecting anymore than that.
Any time I’ve ever supervised people, I’ve gone by the guideline of “don’t expect your employees to do any task you’re not willing to do yourself.” Example: I used to work at a newspaper and we had an evening work shift (it was an am paper and we were paginators). We’d rotate who stayed late - and I did it as much if not more than my team. If I’m not willing to pitch in, how can I expect them to? Granted, I wasn’t the owner, but I still think it’s a good guide.
"don't expect your employees to work as hard as you..." but I've worked very few jobs where the management even came close to working as hard as any of the front line employees. More frequently they would sit on their butts all day hanging out with their friends or their boss, take 2-3 hour lunches, and endlessly gripe about how "lazy" the employees were.
I went to a job interview for a salaried position working 40 hours a week, no travel. Joining the interview via Zoom was the lady working in the next town over. She was obviously sick. As the interview progressed, I asked her how many hours she worked over the past two weeks. Dead silence for an uncomfortable amount of time. Then she said she had to work more hours because she was sick. Twisted logic. I looked at the boss without saying anything and suddenly it wasn't really a 40 hour work week, it was until the job is done work week. And I wouldn't really be working locally, I'd have to go to two other locations. I told them it sounded interesting and I'd let them know by end of day on Friday. Yeah. The answer is no. Not falling for the bait and switch.
I worked at a convenience store, and was held up 7 times. People always assume I quit because of the robberies, but they never question it taking 7 of them.
That's just awful. I'm sorry you had to endure that.
Load More Replies... "We're all a family" only works until the money starts coming in, then you're on your own.
Until more employees start telling employers they are leaving because of poor management "you're fired", the poor managers are not going to upgrade their management "skills" [in many cases completely lacking]. If there is any societal good to come out of the pandemic it is the re-balancing of the employer/employee relationship, taking power away from poor "managers" by denying them access to quality employees.
In a meeting with the entire team, my boss once said, "What do you think my job is?" I raised my hand. "Yes, Matt?" "To make us all happy." He laughed, and everybody laughed. I let it go for the moment, but later, at the right time, I said, "I was serious when I said that earlier." I then talked about the fact that all superiors are in service of those below them. Now this boss was ex- military, and I had to explain that the military is a PARTIAL exception to the rule, because of chain of command, however, even there, leaders MUST take care of there teams, companies, groups, and "subordinates", because they are the ONLY ones with the authority to make it happen within the bounds of the organization. Not understanding that, and failing to show respect, failing to listen, and failing to actively pursue gains and comforts for one's employees is to be a S**T boss. I'm glad to see that s**t bosses are finally getting treated as what they are and abandoned en masse.
Being a boss isn't just first dips on profit. It's also the livelihood of your staff and their family. It isn't just paying some money and be done with it. They need to be healthy in mind and body to work. They need to feel secure and confident this will provide for their family. If you cannot or will not take that on, stick to your day job.
This guy needs to study servant leadership. You lead your employees AND serve them, everybody succeeds.
I tink ppl should stop complaining. If you do minimum work you deserve minimum wage. If you're going to work hard & prove your worth you deserve better pay.
I agree. Minimum wage is paid when you don't have previous job experience. If you show you can work hard, you can move on to a better, higher paying job with your new job experience. If you give minimum effort, you'll be paid minimum wage forever.
Load More Replies... It’s not as black and white as people will only work hard if their boss is amazing. Most managers and bosses are learning too. You also have to be self-motivated and ambitious. I saw a tweet up there saying “minimum wage gets minimum effort”, well then why would you ever be given opportunities? If that’s the attitude, expect to stay on minimum wage. I have no sympathy for entitled people who aren’t willing to pay their dues and work hard to achieve. It’s too easy to alway blame others.
Bad work is a learned behavior for many. People stop trying because they bust their ass and the only feedback they get is when they make a mistake. All the things they do right are ignored, and they put in the time and the effort but never get a pay increase. After awhile people learn that their work is not valued and they will get the same treatment with half the effort. Make no mistake, my employees work as hard as they do for me. Work for the state so it isn't the paycheck. I found out one of my employees was getting paid day loans, our best employee by the way, and took her to my bank and helped her sign up for a line of credit and paid off her pay-day loan. I fight every year to get them all raises, I promote them every chance I get. The hard work they put in is because they feel it will be at least acknowledged. My employees didn't start off super dedicated and motivated, I made them feel valued & they do their best all because I acknowledge them.
Load More Replies... This article and many of the comments are somewhat missing the point. The problem is that the modern world has changed the perception of what life should be. While basic unfairness is clearly wrong, this idea that we should be able to do the bare minimum and be paid a fat salary, living in a nice big house and travel the world on expensive holidays is a myth. Not so long ago, life was always on a knife edge and most ordinary people worked crushingly long hours just so they didn't starve or freeze to death. Indeed, many in the world still have this. Our modern world has given us the luxury of leisure, but we should not lose a sense of reality about our existence.
Maybe where you live. Where I live I have a college degree and two jobs and I don’t make enough to afford a home . I will be homeless soon… With a freaking college degree and TWO jobs
Load More Replies...
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