Elizabeth Seaver The Company

The relationship between an employer and employee has certain expectations involved that have been laid out since the beginning of that contractual bond. Employers have the duty to provide an adequate work environment while giving livable wages and employees have the responsibility to perform tasks that have been outlined for them since the beginning of the relationship. Throughout this paper I will analyze the responsibilities an employee and employer have to each other by using personal experiences and examples from Edwin Seaver’s “The Company” and Elizabeth Gaskell’s “North and South” pieces. Each piece of writing provides an insight on being a part of the working class and being the boss. Each view point is important to analyze in order

When employees are hired on they enter into a sort of contract where they provide services and in return they get an agreed amount of money. Certain standards are set for the work that is required of employees and they must fulfill those standards each week. Employees must take their job and their role in the company seriously in order to fulfill their part of the contract. Edwin Seaver’s short story “The Company” is following the work of a Universal Illuminating company before and after a man named Aarons leaves his position at the company. Aarons was a big distraction to the other workers by always joking around. Before he was hired on the other employees respected their job and fulfilled the expectations their employer had of them. Once Aarons started every employee began to blow off work and make a big joke out of it. The moment they stopped taking their job seriously, they could no longer fulfill the expectations of their job (Seaver 222-224). This is important to analyze because it is the employee that isn't meeting the requirements of the contract and not the employer. Employees need to respect what they are doing and put time into performing work they are proud of for the sake of the business. It is important for employees to unwind after a long days work, but only after that work is completed. Not only is there a

The employer and employee need to treat each other with respect, have open communication, and set professional boundaries. In “North and South”, Mr Thornton talked about how he had to rule as an autocrat. No person should ever rule with absolute power regardless of their level of status. He came to realize this later on and decided to open a kitchen for his employees where they would come to bond over hot meals. When invited he was able to sit down with people he once viewed as “hands” and talk amongst them as peers. He realized that as an employer he couldn't just join into their conversation without being invited, so he only ate with them when invited keeping an appropriate separation between them. All too often employers either shut themselves out of their workers lives completely or become too close to where they’re not able to lead. Healthy boundaries is the key to the success of a business relationship between workers and their bosses and Thornton did just