Pushing America’s Business Envelope
Saint Alphonsus Liguori—a prolific author of 111 spiritual works—called his writing the “apostolate of the pen,” and he wanted his fellow Redemptorists to engage in this ministry as well. Thus, Liguori Publications is foremost a ministry of the Redemptorists in the spirit of our founder. Our company also is a nonprofit charitable corporation that maintains a professional relationship with its customers, employees, authors, and vendors. In managing this aspect of our publishing house, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for other family-owned small businesses that work diligently to keep their doors open. Perhaps you can relate to a few of my eye-opening experiences:
Employees tend to feel a sense of accomplishment, fulfillment, and motivation when they work for an entity with a clearly defined mission and purpose. Liguori Publications is blessed with many dedicated workers, but employees here and elsewhere are increasingly being asked to do more—often with fewer coworkers and resources. Simultaneously, employers are facing the malady of some overworked employees calling in sick. It seems that America either has a lot of unhealthy workers or job holders who are sick and tired of work—particularly on Mondays, Fridays, bad-weather days, and even good-weather days!
Another problem is the number of skilled workers who apply for job openings has been limited during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some companies seek employees with a college degree, but they may be desperate enough to settle for not-quite-qualified applicants. Speaking of the pandemic, if a company adopts a vaccine policy—for or against—it faces a no-win predicament. We’re liable for providing a safe working environment for our employees, and we are liable if we don’t.
I’ve discovered—painfully—that a single change in the company workforce involves voluminous forms to fill out and send to banking institutions, management services for employee payroll and benefits, and more. In my view, it’s miraculous that America can remain a global leader economically with the time-draining bureaucracy involved in keeping businesses viable.
With a twist on Shakespeare (forgive me, Sir William), “The good that men do is oft interred with their bones, but their credit-card late fees live on after them.” The addiction corporate giants have to outrageous fees and late charges is unruly, even in a pandemic. For example, a major package-delivery company that I’m FedUp with insists on weekly service charges whether a driver makes a delivery or not. Likewise, a major communications company assesses a convenience fee when customers pay with a credit card. Instead, they should offer customers a convenience credit if we pay electronically from a bank account and not through the mail, since the postal service remarkably delivers their bill on time every month, but my payment takes up to three weeks to be received. Quipped the comedian Dennis Miller, “The Postal Service has gone from slow to inert. It’s ironic that the only people in America unwilling to push the envelope are postal employees.”
Coping with challenges in the marketplace these days is a serious business. If we can’t retain a sense of humor, can we at least refrain from losing our religion when they push our envelope too far?
