Consolidators are rapidly buying small, independent, and family owned businesses such as funeral homes, plumbing contractors, and real estate offices, organizing them under one administrative umbrella and changing the very face of small business. Workers live in constant fear that their job might be the next one eliminated. The relentless uncertainty of potential job loss increases disconnection from the company. Another force that disconnects employees from their companies is management's ever changing corporate focus. In their misguided efforts to gain competitive advantage, managers search for the latest Holy Grail, following the hottest business guru's advice by introducing yet another corporate initiative.
Employees come to question the credibility of management and the focus of the company.
They wonder what the company stands for, where it's going, and if the latest initiative is yet another here today, gone tomorrow program. Without a constant, long term core focus, organizations confuse, bewilder, depress, and disconnect both potential and actual employees. The primary reason employees disconnect from their jobs, though, is that today the jobs themselves are changing ceaselessly. Competition has forced companies to quickly change markets and products, and thus the jobs that produce them. Position titles, descriptions, and responsibilities change overnight.