Slavery has existed since antiquity and time immemorial. Recalling the beginning of human history, Rousseau said, “Laws gave the weak new burdens, and the strong new powers; they irretrievably destroyed natural freedom…”. The usurpation of rights has always been imposed upon the masses through laws and litigation—what are today’s ordinances, SROs, etc., strengthening elite capture and further weakening the oppressed and downtrodden.
Slaves were objects of law and not their subjects. Deprived of basic human rights, a person was treated as chattel, a piece of property, and a servant.
The immoral and impudent policy of forcing any person into submission and servitude, mostly without remuneration, is abject slavery. At best, the owner would provide meagre food and even less clothing; only shelter was “free,” more for the owner’s convenience than as a facility for the slaves.
Intimidation and the threat of brute force are instruments deployed by one person to dominate another. It is not merely law, regulations, rules, procedures, and regulatory dictates that subjugate, but also the ‘innocuous desuetude of our minds’. Standards and codes, other than those that monitor conduct, essentially rob an individual of their innate qualities and several inherent characteristics. When this is done at the corporate level, individuality ceases to exist. All are made to look alike, fashioned according to the desires of the owner or entrepreneur.
Aristotle wrote, “He who is by nature not his own man, is by nature a slave”. Corporate slavery is a weed that keeps growing in every organisation and institution. It sees a rapid rise when the economy is weak or on a downward slide, creating scarce alternative employment opportunities. This is when the employer thrives; economic weakness is exploited to the fullest.
Rousseau’s social contract states, “Coercion created slavery, the cowardice of the slaves perpetuated it”. Employees succumb to economic exploitation and coercion; this is further exacerbated by the inability to survive without the crutch of a fixed income, which preserves the status of slavery until the hair begins to grey, and that’s exactly when the die-hard, arrogant, and deceitful employer shows them the door. Over time, therefore, corporate slaves begin to enjoy being enslaved.
Frederick Douglass, in 1845, wrote, “I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do things I wanted”. The capitalist entrepreneur’s worst nightmare is the transfer of economic power from the arrogant and dominant elite to the possibility of a growing middle class. It seems audacious to the owner or entrepreneur when a worker demands participation in strategic management or ownership. I once upset a business tycoon by suggesting that entrepreneurs like him specialise in hiring those who have lost or imprisoned their ability to “think”, as they only hire individuals of mediocrity; the fear of hiring those better than themselves is obvious. Service with a free mind is different from service done in fetters. “This is servitude, To serve the unwise” (Milton, Paradise Lost).
Some entrepreneurs offer lavish handouts to employees, not out of goodwill or the nobility of giving, but with the intention to enslave ‘individual performers’ who are made economically weak and therefore accept slavery. The option of losing a quality of life that depends on a credit of a certain sum at the end of a given period is an exploitative tool.
The trappings of office held are the greatest tools for creating a sense of subservience; these offerings imprison the ability to think freely. All senior management in the private sector and all bureaucrats in the government have a “bell” affixed to either their worktops or the side table, typically obscured from visitors’ view, which their ladyship or lordship presses, usually incessantly, to summon the “office boy” – any delay in response can potentially provoke their wrath. The office boy is human (a reminder to the reader); domesticated animals also respond to a whistle… what’s the difference? None. Entrepreneurs and managers treat them alike, and in many cases, animals receive preferential treatment. This does not happen only in Africa but here too, as well as in other “enlightened” societies.
Human Resources policies related to succession planning, promotions, increments, perks, privileges, allowances, and learning and development opportunities are designed to secure submission and subservience to the dictates of the owner or manager, who, by merely listing their institutions on exchanges, come to be recognised as “corporate persons”, which is far from the truth. One can only imagine with disgust the situation prevailing in organisations with no recognition of the separation between ownership and management.
I was told of a Chairman of the Board who kept the HR policy in the last section of his drawers… no employee should take perks and privileges as a “right”, in his view; no, these are meant to be given to a chosen few, as “handouts”, “favours”, and to appease. Slavery is often confused with loyalty… absolute nonsense! Suffering in silence is not loyalty but a compulsion, shaped by constituents and characteristics specific to the employee’s age and career stage.
Large listed companies at the Pakistan Exchange are dominated by concentrated ownership, and consequently, control of the boards. With this dominance, high ideals of good governance and adoption of internationally accepted best practices are discarded. According to rumours, a CEO was shown the door for presenting an HR benefits paper without prior approval. Independence of thought must remain perpetually for sale or be permanently mortgaged; otherwise, the consequences are severe, especially for senior management. Diversifying ownership is the solution to change attitudes towards employees.
CEOs must not bend their spines out of a misplaced sense of responsibility by not wanting to rock the boat too hard; learn to keep sailing and navigating without bending backwards… stand tall on the spine… exhibit that the “vertebra of office” has no gaps… fissures in the spine are very painful.
The way each of us treats our helpers at home reflects our upbringing; and it is this upbringing that we bring to the institution.
Sirajuddin Aziz
The writer is a Senior Banker & Freelance Columnist.