The Role of the "Overseer" in the 21st Century
While the history of the term “Overseer” is very closely aligned with the history of slavery in the United States there have been serious attempts to paint it over. Indeed, even Merriam Webster has given the term a far less odious definition as follows - “a person who oversees others : a person with supervisory responsibilities.” While technically accurate, this definition tells very little of the story. In reality the term was initially used to describe the individuals who ensured slaves worked in the fields OR ELSE.
Webster’s vanilla sounding definition makes no reference whatsoever to the heavy American use of the term prior to the 1900s. In truth, the term set forth the essence of slavery - involuntary servitude that MUST be done else the “worker” would feel the bite of a whip. Slaves didn’t do the heavy work they were assigned by choice but because they were deemed property of an owner who employed an overseer to ensure slaves understood the real consequences of “or else.” Hoe a ditch, pick crops, mend fences, etc… ELSE deal with physical, excruciating and potentially disfiguring, punishment.
In the 21st Century NOTHING has brought back the All American notion of an overseer like the impact of COVID-19 on the workforce (and workplace). Just yesterday it was reported that Brookfield Properties Inc. defaulted on almost a billion dollars worth of loans. Two of those loans are secured by an interest in 2 landmark Los Angeles high rise buildings. Not only did Brookfield have problems collecting rents for the buildings, it had great difficulty renting the properties out in the first place. Without rents of course Brookfield had no ability to service its loans and certainly no ability to generate profits. Over the last 3 years the same problem has plagued many businesses. Enter the idea of working remotely.
With the rise of the latest dangerous Novel Coronavirus and the ease with which it spread, allowing employees to work remotely became the only meaningful way to protect employees and keep them working. Today, that approach is now viewed negatively as humanitarian luminaries like Elon Musk and Joe Biden have continuously called for a return to the “values” of the antebellum South (and a return to the office). That’s because they continue to subscribe to the idea that a workers only real value can be determined by working under the watchful gaze of the modern Overseer. In reality, those who work from home are vastly more productive than their “ass in a seat” co-workers. Humans are social beings and when gathered in a workplace it is certain they will develop personal relationships in that setting. Indeed, the longstanding jokes about employees NOT working while at a communal workplace was always rooted in truth. Unfortunately, Truth was a very early casualty of the pandemic and it continues to be viewed with disdain.
I first started working from home in the late 1980s. I enjoyed it for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I could do my work at virtually any time of day. If one of my young children needed my attention I was literally just a few feet away. My rough estimate was that I worked far in excess of 40 hours a week by working at home. The biggest difference was that I didn’t mind because all of the uncounted commuter hours didn’t suck up between 2 - 4 hours of my day. I was happier, healthier and was fortunate to have a job I truly enjoyed. Since that time I’ve learned that the Overseer mentality has not only persisted since the Civil War it seems to have grown.
Today, far too many “Managers” are clueless about actually managing human beings. I learned early in my career that, as a Manager, my “job” was to HELP my direct reporting staff do their jobs and make their time at work as rewarding as I possibly could. That approach has served me well in every management position I’ve held since. Unsurprisingly, I spent hundreds of hours over the years actually learning to manage others while the average “Manager” today believes their job is to “make sure my employees do their jobs” while obtaining NO formal training in management. While I learned that my job was best done by enabling others most managers still adhere to the old “or else” approach of the Overseer. Do your job this way OR ELSE. Get those reports to me by morning OR ELSE. Show up at the office and plant yourself in a chair OR ELSE.
While there are many remnants of slavery still present in the Nation few are as universal as the idea of the Overseer. Regardless of one’s ethnicity, national origin, religion or any other broad category, managers generally continue to operate as if they exist to mete out consequences for too little work or work that is poorly done. There are many reasons why morale isn’t what it once was or why employee satisfaction tends to be an illusion however no characteristic of managing others is more to blame than the de facto treatment of employees as property rather than people. The role of the Overseer should have died in 1865 but its persistence as a zombified, vile, walking corpse has actually increased since then. Perhaps it’s time to find out if a few well placed blows can put it in the ground for good.