Why do some people seem to like working in companies? I've always wanted to be free...to work as an entrepreneur...yet I always seem to meet people who want to work as employees for corporations. I would say the majority of people in society are like this. |
Working for someone else I don't have to:
* Deal directly with complaints
* Chase after money when people are late in paying
* Be an accountant
* Be a salesman
* Leave my work at work.
* Keep mostly to a 35-45 hour week
* Collect my paycheck every two weeks
* Go on vacation knowing everything will be fine while I'm gone
* Focus on what I'm good at, and what I enjoy
* Work flexible hours
* Lead a generally less stressful life.
Ran my own business for 5 years, and went back to working for a big corporation for the easier hours, reliable/consistent pay, and only having to do what I do well, without all the extra side-tasks distracting/annoying me.
I'd consider running another business one day, but i'm in no rush... I see this as a cruisy period where I can save up money, enjoy a social life, pay off a house, etc.
I personally find the bureaucracy/procedures a bit stifling, though. The paycheck is nice, but meetings and standard software and performance reviews and whatever is a drag, even in relatively freedom-loving academia.
I also think it's reasonable that while some people do like to be their own boss, others may prefer to be soldiers in an army (those on the front lines, doing the base work), as opposed to the ruler. Others want to be generals (management).
Maybe they're not comfortable in the responsibility, or just feel their abilities best align in a different work structures than those you may prefer.
And if you think being self employed/an entrepreneur/owning a business is going to make you free, you're confusing hard work and stress with Fuck You money.
* Benefits
* 401K matching
* Health insurance
* Stock options
* Perks
* Food
* Special discounts with corporate partners
* Training/classes/conferences
* Transportation
* Wide-scale impact
* Salary
* Stability
* Brand recognition1) Some people like following rules, not making them. 2) Financial stability and job security.
My personal observation: I think the set of people who like working in large corporate structures overlaps significantly with the set of people who really enjoyed the structure and orderliness of school.
For point 1 - I definitely don't like rules, and I have found that if you create enough value, you get away with making your own rules and can come very close to having a feeling of running your own business.
For point 2 - in the high tech industry, you can make as much, or more, income without the uncertainty of self employment/own business. Running a business is HARD. I tried it, for many years, and ultimately failed (well, I failed financially, but learned a hell of a lot - so not a complete failure). Perhaps I was in the wrong business, but I simply didn't enjoy the non-technical aspects of it, which consume the majority of your time. The ROI wasn't there - not for me. Not every business is going to make you rich - in fact, most of them will not. I can't say I've given up permanently, but I have gone back to the corporate world for now and do not regret it. I disagree with the job stability portion of this point - you have ZERO job stability when you work for someone else. I firmly believe you have more stability working on your own than for a vast majority of companies. The concept of job security is a false sense of security.
It's late in Chicago, where I'm writing from, and I have to hit the hay, as it were.
I'll rephrase/explain tomorrow.
Read the 6 lesson school teacher by John Taylor Gatto. http://hackvan.com/etext/6-lesson-schoolteacher.html
excerpt:
I teach the lesson of dependency. Good people wait for a teacher to tell them what to do. This is the most important lesson of all, that we must wait for other people, better trained than ourselves, to make the meanings of our lives. It is no exaggeration to say that our entire economy depends upon this lesson being learned. Think of what would fall apart if kids weren't trained in the dependency lesson: The social-service businesses could hardly survive, including the fast-growing counseling industry; commercial entertainment of all sorts, along with television, would wither if people remembered how to make their own fun; the food services, restaurants and prepared-food warehouses would shrink if people returned to making their own meals rather than depending on strangers to cook for them. Much of modern law, medicine, and engineering would go, too - the clothing business as well - unless a guaranteed supply of helpless people poured out of our schools each year. We have built a way of life that depends on people doing what they are told because they don't know any other way. For God's sake, let's not rock that boat!
You may also want to read Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society if you're interested in a more in depth critique of these themes in society at large.