Emma is a hardworking professional who has a graduate degree from a prestigious institution and works in the Marketing department of a renowned firm.  She is passionate about her work and consistently displays positive attributes that enable her to shine among her peers.  She has a wonderful husband and two lovely kids.  She has a large circle of friends and enjoys socializing with them.

However, she has a secret that nobody knows since she is unwilling to disrupt the façade of tranquility in her life.  Her male supervisor, who is also ‘happily’ married, has been making persistent sexual advances towards her and threatened to derail her career progression if she doesn’t accede to his demands.  She can’t switch to another organization since her supervisor is not willing to give a ‘good’ reference.  Her husband doesn’t earn enough to maintain their current standard of living on his own and there are no guarantees that his job is secure as his organization explores ‘transformation’ initiatives.

The economy is robust and progressing at a furious pace but good well-paying jobs are hard to secure as organizations consistently seek to reduce the workforce in favor of AI-enabled solutions.  She feels the suffocating burden of choosing between the ‘silence’ for sustaining career prospects and vocalizing her pain as a ‘whistleblower’ for appropriate ‘remedial’ actions that can ‘scar’ her professional prospects in future.  Her health is suffering as a consequence, although, she is ‘professionally composed’ in public.

Her husband has noticed subtle changes in her demeanor as she wanders off in deep reflection while having a ‘normal’ conversation but she laughs it off as ‘tiredness’ resulting from a ‘busy’ day at work.  Her children complain sometimes that she doesn’t play with them as frequently, however, her husband comes to her rescue that Mommy is ‘tired’ from work.  She feels ‘trapped’ and ‘victimized’ by her circumstances.  Sound familiar?  Close to reality?  How many ‘Emmas’ are out there?

James is a bachelor with a pleasant personality who has switched jobs from a small local firm to a multinational that is considered an industry leader.  He is excited to make his mark as a software developer and is enamored by the plethora of available resources to facilitate his skills.  He was lured to his present employer by the promise of performance-driven career progression, a healthy salary package, and the chance to be at the cutting-edge of technology.

However, he has started to question his decision recently after the ‘euphoria’ of onboarding subsided and the ‘work’ began in earnest.  He is struggling to become ‘visible’ among his peers as there are just too many of them and ‘everyone’ seems to be ‘just as talented’ as him.  Additionally, his supervisor is also a newcomer and she is in the process of gaining a ‘firm’ footing in the organization herself.  The pressure to perform is intense since his supervisor wants to excel among her peers and executives to ‘justify’ her hiring.  Consequently, she is demanding long hours of work and is rarely tolerant of any mistakes in the assigned work that may jeopardize the associated deadlines.

He misses the ‘calming’ influence of his previous supervisor at his previous employer despite the attractive pay package and the resources provided by his present employer, including, free food, leisure rooms, meditation facilities, team sports, etc.  He sees a disconnect between the trumpeted ‘values-driven culture’ and the manifested ‘on-job reality’ of keeping pace with the demanding work environment.  He knows how ‘lucky’ he is to be working for such a ‘prestigious’ organization since there is no shortage of talent willing to take his place that is evident by the long line of applicants at job fairs.

His company is regularly featured as one of the ‘Great Places to Work’ and he is envied by his friends for having ‘made it’ to the top tier of employers in his industry.  His family is delighted for him and ‘reminds’ him often how ‘proud’ they are of him for being in such a ‘prime’ position for a successful career.  He can’t let them down and the thought of ‘failure’ haunts him during sleepless nights.  His previous job has already been filled and his former supervisor gives his example to incoming talent on how to carve out a fruitful strategy for sustainable career progression.

He has started to ‘age’ noticeably and his mother keeps gushing to his relatives on how ‘mature’ he has become after joining a ‘world class’ organization.  The stress lines have visibly burrowed into his forehead and he has become more measured in his social interactions.  He hasn’t confided to anyone about his ‘inner’ turmoil and has recently applauded his present employer on an employee survey in terms of how ‘happy’ he is to be part of such a ‘caring’ and ‘progressive’ organization.  Sound familiar?  Close to reality?  How many ‘Jameses’ are out there?

The aforementioned examples have been provided to gain an insight into the kind of challenges being faced by professionals in the Digital Age within seemingly progressive organizations that routinely tout the ‘effectiveness’ of their talent management practices, especially, to project and reinforce the ‘Employer Brand’ for attracting the ‘cream of the crop’ talent.  Such pronouncements come at the cost of having a ‘blind spot’ to the sagacity of prudent employees who tend to maintain a ‘dignified silence’ on thorny issues that might put them in the crosshairs of a ‘fidgety’ supervisor/management by adhering to the idiom of ‘fake it till you make it’, which is robust enough to withstand ‘open door policies’, ‘candid employee surveys’, ‘informal chats with peers’ and ‘incentivized forums for pointing out profound challenges’.  The infectious ‘Misery of Silence’ pervades the corporate landscape and it is leading to serious consequences of poor health and depreciated wellbeing for professionals striving to stay relevant while AI-enabled entities transform the workplace dynamics.

Employees look to their leadership for vision, direction, role modeling and inspiration.  However, if their confidence is not redeemed by an invigorating leadership that is suitably sensitized to evolving workplace dynamics then any attempt made to inculcate a profound sense of purpose to overcome difficult challenges becomes an exercise in futility.  The remedy for avoiding brinkmanship with corporate disaster requires an honest self-appraisal and venturing into the ‘dark alleys’ of the organization to realize the sources of ‘real discontent’ and taking transparent, accommodative and prudent steps proactively to alleviate organizational discord before embarking upon any growth/improvement/transformative measures for attaining/sustaining relevancy and competitiveness in the Digital Age.

Good employers show metrics for employee happiness as proof of their intensive engagement initiatives.  Outstanding employers let employees define happiness for themselves by creating/facilitating a conducive work environment bolstered by ingrained core values and effectively implemented employee-friendly policies that are ‘visible’ and ‘judicious’ in application.  Consequently, don’t forget to listen to the ‘Silence’ while you are habitually tuned to hear the ‘Noise’ within your organization.  Let the ‘Silence’ speak to you…