Brexit would be dire for social care. Social care is experiencing an unprecedented recruitment crisis as well as many other challenges. (1) Expelling EU nationals currently working in social care and making it even more difficult to fill post going forward could turn a crisis situation into complete turmoil. Voters should recognise that even if Britain had no material funding issues in health and social care, these services cannot be provided without people willing to serve.

The challenges we face from ageing societies are pan-European and therefore we need more Europe-wide coordination in health and social care, not less. (2)

My professional aspiration for the EU would be to see a Europe-wide criminal check system to improve safety, standardised training across adult social care and health care assistants so we can more readily recruit from other EU countries and improve competence, and clearer guidance with respect to paperwork so we can better balance front-line care with compliance.

Further, we in the UK should use the EU to adopt best practice from other EU member countries. What can the UK learn from Estonia’s incredible e-health and data sharing innovations? What can the UK learn from innovative home care training schemes in the south of France? What can the UK learn from Germany successfully turning around failing state hospitals?

A great personal benefit of being a social care professional is you learn to listen to people, identify their needs and sources of suffering or discomfort, and try your best to address them. You are forced to reach out to people with a “I am here to help” rather than close them off and say, “not my problem”. For those who feel we may have some “unwanted migration” into the UK, open migration within the EU gives us the impetus to find out why people in our near abroad are leaving their native country. What can we do to help? Their challenges and suffering become ours. We begin to share hopes and aspirations – the building blocks to a better and more peaceful world.

Conversely, if my neighbour’s house across the street is on fire and I do nothing to help put it out (by calling the fire brigade) because they live across the street, should I be surprised if tomorrow my neighbour and their family come knocking on my door the next day asking for help?

Basic human decency and responsibility needs to also inform our interactions with other countries and our membership in the EU provides a call to do this. We knew this call not too long ago – we need to relearn it.

In 1946, in the aftermath of WWII, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called for the building of a “kind of United States of Europe” to “re-create the European family” as the only way to guarantee peace. (3) French statesmen Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet made Prime Minister Churchill’s aspiration a reality on May 9, 1950 with the Schuman Plan, today known as the birth of the European Union ahead of its formal founding in 1957. (4) Since 1950, Europe has gradually integrated, experiencing an unprecedented period of peace and economic prosperity. (5)

As Prime Minister Churchill predicted, wars between EU member states have been averted, and indeed, as time has passed, thanks to the European Union, Europe has become more whole, (6) which has greatly benefited the social care sector workforce in the UK. (7) This wholeness makes us the UK and we the EU as a whole better able to tackle any challenge, whether it be our ageing crisis or the migrant crisis.

We need to stand in solidarity with our European brothers and sisters with all our problems and challenges. We need to work together to address them. The UK should remain part of and engaged in the European Union.

Robert Stephenson-Padron is the managing director of London-based home care provider Penrose Care that supports the elderly and disabled with social care needs in their own homes. Mr. Stephenson-Padron was named “The Most Outstanding Leader in the Care Sector in the UK” in the 2014 UK Housing Over 50s Housing Awards.

(1) Qwen, Jonathan. “Migrant workers needed to solve UK’s ‘crippling’ shortage of care workers, report says.” (Independent, 17 Nov 2015), available here.

(2)  Kassam, Ashifa et al. “Europe needs many more babies to avert a population disaster.” (Guardian, 23 Aug 2015), available here.

(3) Winston Churchill: calling for a United
States of Europe (European Commission, Oct 2015), available here.

(4) Robert Schuman: the architect of the European integration project (European Commission, Oct 2015), available here.

(5) Dinan, Desmond. Fifty Years of European Integration: A Remarkable Achievement (Fordham International Law Journal, 2007) v31(50: pgs 1118-1142, available here.

(6) Enlargement: Extending European values and standards to more countries (European Commission, June 2015) available here.

(7) Franklin Ben and Cesira Urzi Brancati. Moved to care: The impact of migration on the adult social care workforce. (Independent Age & International Longevity Centre UK, Nov 2015), pg 4, available here.

By Robert Stephenson-Padron

Last week, the Daily Express shed light on the recruitment issues facing the care sector in the article “Workers shun ‘menial’ home care”. As the head of ethical home care provider Penrose Care in London, I want to express my concern over social care work’s current apparent negative image but also offer a message of hope.

That nearly 70% of respondents in the survey the Daily Express covered said they would “shun a job caring for people in their own home” is not surprising. Care work is physically and emotionally demanding and characterised by very low pay. Indeed, cases of minimum wage violations are known to be systemic rather than the exception. So why not do a less demanding job that pays the same or better?

High profile “care scandals” especially since 2009 have further exacerbated a hiring landscape which was already difficult at best.

At Penrose Care, we have a two-pronged approach to recruitment which has allowed us to attract what we call people who have a vocation to care, and retain them. First, Penrose Care put in place concrete ethical workplace standards such as the Living Wage and second, we emphasise that although care work can be demanding, it can also be incredibly rewarding.

In 2012, Penrose Care became one of the first four home care providers in the UK to become an Accredited Living Wage Employer. We also pay for travel time and run an occupational sick pay scheme. These concrete measures, which are expensive and so require courage, send a credible message to people with a genuine vocation to care that we share their values. It should be no surprise then that a good portion of our home care workers are degree-educated but have come to Penrose Care to do work they believe is meaningful.

Care work is meaningful and this needs to be conveyed. Positive psychology teaches us that “meaning” provides us far lasting happiness than “pleasures”. And what price can we put on happiness? I have had the good fortune of not only being the manager, but also on occasions having to work on the front line.

The impact I had on a lonely elderly person’s well being by spending some time with them during a home care visit was strikingly apparent. The laughing and smiling on a person I know had tendencies towards despondency was incredibly powerful to me. The experience conveyed to me strongly that the meaning in our work comes from us giving our time and our humanity.

Physical tasks can be essential but they are part of a greater holistic whole, the whole being that the person you are supporting is continuing their life as normal as they can because of you. And because of you, you the home care worker are their hero, right then, right there. The heroic acts in home care and healthcare are the willingness and openness to listen, the kindness of giving time and space and an attitude of paying attention to detail when we honour the wishes of those who are in our care.

Behind closed doors, in early mornings and during the night, home care workers are our country’s silent workforce doing heroic things every day. They need care providers who are themselves caring, are themselves heroic. We need to get this message out. After all, who doesn’t want to be a hero?

Robert Stephenson-Padron is the managing director of Penrose Care, an ethical home care provider based in Belsize Village, Hampstead, north London.

“We don’t put our heroes on pedestals just to remember them. We raise them up because we want to emulate their virtues.” – Megan McCain

By Robert Stephenson-Padron

I am writing to you from London in the United Kingdom, over 5,000 miles from my home town in California in the United States.

The recent passing of American statesman John McCain and retirement of British social justice champion Neil Jameson reminded me that the values we share when we are at our best transcend this vast distance.

Neil Jameson and John McCain are two heroes of the modern era from two different lands very far from each other, who I expect may have never met each other, but where I find so many commonalities in their values.

These are my reflections on these values and what I believe we can learn from them.

Who is Neil Jameson and who was John McCain?

Neil Jameson has dedicated his life to others through civil society organising. After first working as a social worker, Mr. Jameson traveled to America to learn the skills of community organising from the Industrial Areas Foundation. Returning to Britain, Mr. Jameson founded Citizens UK and has been promoting community organising in the UK since 1989. Citizens UK empowers foundational groups in British society such as synagogues, churches, mosque and schools by convincing them to work together to advance positive change in their communities.

Neil Jameson is the best form of warrior you find in a democracy. A patient builder of fruitful endeavours – Neil Jameson is the unheralded father of the UK’s modern Living Wage movement which since its inception in the early 2000s has positively impacted over 100,000 low-wage workers in Britain. (1) A collaborative fighter against injustice – Neil Jameson united British civil society against usurious loan sharks and on his last day at the helm of Citizens UK, was able to bid good riddance to Britain’s largest payday lender. (2)

John McCain dedicated his life to the United States of America and its revolutionary ideals. He served as a US Navy pilot during the Vietnam War, survived being a tortured captive of Communist forces in Vietnam, dedicated his life to legislative service first in the US House of Representatives (1983-1987) and then the US Senate (from 1987); was a nominee for US president in 2008; and while a legislator helped freedom aspiring democrats around the world as chair of the International Republican Institute from 1993 to 2018.

John McCain was the best form of warrior you find in a democracy. A volunteer who risk physical harm or death to defend the innocent – John McCain risked his life to fight for strangers in a far off land against autocracy. A peacemaker and uniter – John McCain helped with reconciliation between the United States and Vietnam and he led a legislative career that recognised that his fellow democrats in the opposing political party were fellow countrymen, not foes.

Both are and were dedicated family men.

Both men, empowered by selfless love, dedicated their lives to humble service and democracy. Both remind us of the values and ideals of the Trans-Atlantic bond that unite us across a vast ocean.

These heroes remind us of the values we share across the Atlantic

Journalist Madeline Schwartz this week, writing in the Guardian, asked, “if shared values and norms are the foundation of the liberal world order, what are they?” (3) Sen. McCain had the answer, summarising our Trans-Atlantic values by asserting that,

“We Stand For:

Truth against falsehood, 

Freedom against tyranny, 

Right against injustice,

Hope against despair.”  (4)

As Sir Winston Churchill asserted 72 years ago when he articulated Trans-Atlantic values to an American audience as British Prime Minister: “Here is the message of the British and American peoples to mankind. Let us preach what we practise – let us practise what we preach.” (5)

Sen. McCain lived these values. Neil Jameson continues to live them. Like the true heroes they are, their examples inspire the rest of us to want to live these values.

The heroism of Neil Jameson and John McCain reminded us of the beauty of our values

When I saw the universality of Mr. Jameson’s retirement celebration – people across the faiths, young and old – I was convinced that these values are universal. Our values are universal because they reflect the best virtues of humanity and there is infinite beauty in virtue, “as virtue is the beauty of the soul.” (6)

“We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world,” said John McCain in his final word to the American people, and in living these values, “helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history.” (7)

My work in caring for the elderly keeps me close to the memories of past tyrannies. An elderly woman I know fled the Nazi terrors almost 80 years ago. Earlier this year, she told me: “There is nothing beautiful in the news today. There is no hope for humanity [in the portrayal of the world in the news]”. Her experiences of some of the worst horrors of history give credibility to her appraisal of our current age and I found it haunting.

The uplifting grace of Mr. Jameson’s retirement celebration, which I attended in person, and the memorial of Sen. McCain, which I observed from afar provided a reprieve from the dark world depicted by this refugee of the Nazi terrors. I saw that in the midst of so much darkness, heroism illuminates that which is beautiful.

How does one describe this beauty in words? Dr. Kaneeez Shaid, Chair of Citizens UK, said (audio link) at Mr. Jameson’s retirement celebration, “how do you sum up a man like this?” I feel she did not fail when she quoted the 13th century Sufi mystic, Rumi:

“You are not just a drop in the ocean but you are the world’s ocean in just one drop.” (8)

Wow.

Reflecting on this beauty I believe there are two core lessons I learned from attending Neil Jameson’s retirement celebration and watching from afar memorial remembrances of John McCain: 1) The centrality of love in their humble service, and 2) That true love led them to leave no one behind.

Lesson 1: The centrality of love in humble service

What is it that drives a true hero – a hero that endures countless hardship in the service to others? I believe John McCain’s daughter, Megan McCain, gave us the answer when she eulogised her father saying that “John McCain was defined by love.” (9) Love was the source of John McCain’s selfless and enduring service, which can best be described as humble service – service purified by “a value set that was neither selfish nor self-serving.” (10) In his retirement speech, Neil Jameson said that humility is a blessing. I would add then that humble service is a blessing to others. Humble service is an expression of selfless love that provides the courage for a person to provide extraordinary levels of heroism, including that of laying down their life for another. (11)

The idea that love is purifying is a foundational and enduring notion within our cultural heritage. Indeed, Paul of Tarsus wrote that,

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (12)

Thousands of years later, John McCain and Neil Jameson exemplify the truth in Paul’s ancient wisdom. It is this form of selfless love which helps explain why John McCain refused an early release from captivity during the Vietnam War until his fellow prisoners of war were also released – a decision that put him through cruel torture that left him with lifelong physical impairments. (13) It is this form of selfless love which explains why such a giant of brilliance like Neil Jameson dedicated his life to a cause of the poor in East London and around the UK – a cause requiring enormous sweat but modest material gain.

I have also observed the truth of this link in my own work in care for the elderly. Although we rarely mention it by name, love is the true power of my organisation and my colleagues. This truth was brought to my attention when a clinician and family member of an elderly person we support told me, “I am genuinely impressed by how careful and comprehensive [your organisation] is… in trying to care for her and love her (yes, that’s the word).” We do not talk speak often in our society about how love can empower our work but we should.

There is an especially important human emotion that love purifies: anger. Anger that boils in us from being wronged or seeing others wronged can destroy, do nothing or create. In his retirement speech, Neil Jameson referred to two forms of anger and also warned against timidity:

• “Angry hostility” (known as “hot anger” in the parlance of community organising) which Mr. Jameson said is a “mistake, it’s unhealthy, it doesn’t lead to relationships.” This is an anger that destroys. I would put anger that does nothing also in the destructive side because if a person does nothing in the face of evil, then that evil is likely to remain unabated and may increase. “Timidity is a problem, we have to be more courageous but humble with our wits,” Neil Jameson said in his retirement speech. And,
• “Cold anger”, a concept of American community organising pioneer Saul Alinksy. Cold anger is reflective anger purified by building character within oneself which leads people to work together, to build relationships and to muster the courage and persistence to fight against injustice and create a better world. (14)

It was cold anger which led to the Magna Carta, cold anger which led to the American Declaration of Independence, cold anger which led to VE Day and V-J Day, cold anger that led to the Washington Treaty, cold anger which has driven the expansion of democracy – “the best system of government” (15)  – across the world. It is cold anger which drives people of goodwill to continue fighting against injustice wherever they find it.

Anger purified by love – as it is love that directs pain and suffering to the build-up of character – drives the courage of our heroes. This must be why Megan McCain said that her father John McCain had a “famous temper” but was also “defined by love”. (9) I believe it is love that likely illuminated to John McCain that “evil is a real and active force in human affairs and that it is our duty to oppose it as best we can.” (16)

It is selfless love that has led my organisation to herald decent work for social care workers within and cold anger which has compelled us to combat widespread labour exploitation of social care workers outside our organisation.

Lesson 2: True love leaves no one behind

In 1893, the Cuban writer José Martí reflected that: “Mankind is composed of two sorts of men – those who love and create and those who hate and destroy.” (17) I believe that this is probably roughly true but caution an overly simplistic interpretation. I would say that a person can, in an unbalanced pursuit to create, start at the first and end in the later. For instance, I would consider it a failure if a person created a vast business empire but forgets their spouse and has children that are effectively unknown to them. They are then in the later camp because they are destroying one good thing while building another thing.

I expect this reality is why for instance, the Franciscan Friars who honoured Mr. Jameson at his retirement celebration have foregone families born of intimacy for families born of spirituality, so they can sacrifice themselves almost completely to the service of strangers. However, those of us who are not friars cannot do this. And I do see in the world today, mired by unfulfilling pursuits for material comforts, a tendency to sacrifice those closer to us in a pursuit for the other. This is not however, genuine sacrifice but more likely a manifestation of selfishness.

In society today, service to strangers gives you a brownie button – societal recognition – whereas service behind closed doors, say to one’s family, gives you almost no outside recognition. The later however is what we must learn as this is where we learn “humble service”. That is, we must serve others irrespective of praise or monetary reward. We should serve others because it is morally right and a manifestation of sacred ideals and values for which we are custodians. I believe this is in part what John McCain meant when he said we stand for “right against injustice,” and why former US Vice President Joe Biden said John McCain “could not stand the abuse of power – wherever he saw it, in whatever form, in whatever ways” (10) –  as selfishness disguised as service is a perversion of humble service.

Therefore, unbalanced service to one party at the undue expense of another party is likely to turn your service into service to yourself. Your original good intentions could thus transform into one of the seven deadly sins of vain glory. This must be avoided. And it can be avoided by remembering your family, your roots. In fairly allocating our time we build humility as we learn that we cannot do everything ourselves and this pushes us to rely on others, to build relationships with others.

Positively, service to strangers in its balanced form prepares us to serve our families better. A willingness to forego the constant pursuit of more in the service of others teaches us the meaning of love and indeed, of life – to put another’s wellbeing ahead of our own. And we learn a peace in this form of service which helps us bring peace to our families. As John McCain said in his final words to the American people he loved so much, “To be connected to America’s causes — liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people — brings happiness more sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures.” (7) Neil Jameson at his retirement speech (audio link) reiterated this peace in service when he said,

“So many of us spend [our] time, and I did when I was much younger, going round and round… looking for the meaning of life and then frankly was blessed to be in a position to find a smidgen of it… it’s all about people and institutions, it’s all about head teachers, priests, rabbis and others who give their life to civil society and institutions which are so important for us to learn how to work together and be together in faith and for justice, and for a strong common good.”

Complimentarily, service to our families forges our ability to love, which further empowers our ability to serve strangers – because as noted earlier, love is purifying. The truth of this assertion is demonstrated in the family lives of Neil Jameson and John McCain. In an era where intimate relationships have become throw-away recreational activities, Mr. Jameson and Sen. McCain maintain/ed lifelong commitments to their families while at the same time dedicating their lives to the service of strangers. At Mr. Jameson’s retirement party, Mrs. Jean Jameson, Neil Jameson’s wife, highlighted (audio link) to the attendees, to my surprise indeed (!) when she said: “I’m so sorry that the staff in talking about the last thirty years missed out completely that Neil had managed to have four children, seven grandchildren, ate meals at home… played tennis and generally had a very good life-work balance.”

It should be no surprise however that the staff of Citizens UK “missed out completely” this part of Neil’s life possibly because they felt that he gave so much of himself to them that they failed to comprehend how much he was also giving to his family at home. With both parties feeling so embraced by Mr. Jameson’s service and love, we must conclude that he struck the right balance between serving one’s family and serving those outside of our families – our communities.

What is the source of this balance between serving strangers and serving our families – a balance that leaves neither behind? I believe Neil Jameson in his retirement speech possibly honed into a key source when he echoed the ancient wisdom of Memento Mori: “Focus on time because we know time is precious and that we all will die… which is why we shouldn’t waste time.” Being mindful of our mortality, that time is limited, we are likely to serve others at the most optimal allocated times so that indeed, we leave no one behind.

At Sen. McCain’s funeral, his daughter Megan McCain in her powerful eulogy said, “This love of my father for my mother was the most fierce and lasting of them all, mom. Let me tell you what love meant to John McCain and me. His love was the love of a father who mentors as much as he comforts. He was endlessly present for us.” (9)

Presence – that is how we learn to leave no one behind. Indeed, showing up is an act of love.

Therefore, if we are to learn to not leave behind strangers, shouldn’t we first learn not to leave behind those closest to us – our friends and our family? We begin by going to that baby shower. That baptism. That school play. That graduation. Remembering that anniversary. Attending that wedding. Mourning at that funeral. Remembering and being with that family at home – being with that friend in need across town. I work with the elderly and the dying. I can tell you with near certainty that these small acts of love are what will matter to you before you make that final flight.

When we receive and give love, we are better able to understand our fellow human beings. In my work in elderly care, love inspires us to do our best and to be our best.

Closing

“Those who say that we’re in a time when there are not heroes, they just don’t know where to look,” said Ronald Reagan in 1981. (18) His statement remains true today. There are heroes among us. One, John McCain, has just passed into the next world but his memory will provide inspiration to people of goodwill for generations. Another, Neil Jameson, is still with us and we are all blessed by his continued wisdom, warmth and good works.

The unity of the values of these two great men is such that there is a powerful complementarity in some of their parting wisdom.  In his final words to the American people, John McCain said, “Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.” (7) And in speaking of good causes in his retirement speech, Neil Jameson said, “Never give up… this is a holy and a religious pursuit that we have… to persuade people to work together.” These messages coalesce into a powerful message: never give up in the good causes you serve.

Thank you John McCain, my fellow American. Please continue fighting for the lowly up from Heaven. Thank you Neil Jameson, my fellow British democrat. Thank you for being a hero. And thank you both for reminding us of how strongly united the people of America and the United Kingdom are in the values we share when we are at our best.

Robert Stephenson-Padron, aged 33, is the managing director of Penrose Care. Since age 15, he has been active in a variety of civic causes including affordable housing, the Living Wage and improved working conditions for social care workers.

References

(1) Edmund Heery, Deborah Hann, David Nash, “The Living Wage campaign in the UK” (Employee Relations, 2017, Vol. 39 Issue: 6), pgs. 800-814, available online here.

(2) “Payday lender Wonga goes into administration: Citizens UK reaction” (Citizens UK: 31 August 2018), available online here.

(3) Madeleine Schwartz, “The end of Atlanticism: has Trump killed the ideology that won the cold war?” (The Guardian: 04 September 2018), available online here.

(4) John McCain, “Remarks by SASC Chairman John McCain At the 2017 Munich Security Conference” (Office of US Senator John McCain, 17 February 2017), available online here.

(5) Churchill, Winston “The Sinews of Peace” (International Churchill Society: 5 March 1946), available online here.

(6) Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, in 12 vols. Fireside Edition (Boston and New York, 1909), available online here.

(7) “Read full text of Sen. John McCain’s final words to nation” (NBC News: 27 August 2018), available online here.

(8) Matt Auron, “Evolution is Everywhere” (Medium: 14 December 2017), available online here.

(9) “Read the full text of Meghan McCain’s speech at John McCain’s memorial service” (NBC News: 01 September 2018), available online here.

(10) Megan Freidman, “Joe Biden Gave an Incredibly Powerful Speech at John McCain’s Memorial” (Town and Country Magazine:  30 August 2018), available online here.

(11) John 15:13, NLT, available online here.

(12) 1 Cor. 13:4-7, NIV, available online here.

(13) Eliza Relman, “As a POW in Vietnam, John McCain refused release until his fellow prisoners were freed, making him a hero in the eyes of many” (Business Insider, 26 August 2018), available online here.

(14) Vijay Phulwani, “The Poor Man’s Machiavelli: Saul Alinsky and the Morality of Power” (American Political Science Review, 2016, Vol 110 No. 4.), pg 873, available online here.

(15) Carnes Lord and Fank Barnett (ed), Political warfare and psychological operations (National Defense University Press, 1989), pg. 8, available online here.

(16) As was said in a eulogy of one of his colleagues in the international movement for democracy, Jean Bethke Elshtain who passed before him five years earlier. | William Glaston, “Remembering Jean Bethke Elshtain” (The New Republic, 26 August 2013), available online here.

(17) Bruce Ladd Gary, Quotes for Misanthropes (Reductionist Publications, 2009), pg. 30, available online here.

(18) Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address” (UC Santa Barbara: 20 January 1981) , available online here.

By Robert Stephenson-Padron

At his 2016 Templeton Prize address, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks warned against dangers simmering in Western societies from the outsourcing of moral responsibility. Lord Rabbi Sacks said:

“Wherever we look, politically, religiously, economically, environmentally, there is insecurity and instability. It is not too much to say that the future of the West and the unique form of freedom it has pioneered for the past four centuries is altogether at risk.” (1)

Indeed, there is an air of cynicism in the West today. I can feel it. I expect you can feel it as well. Fortunately, as in other periods of human history, there is a glimmer of hope that rejects this cynicism: the modern Living Wage movement born out of East London in 2001 by Citizens UK.

The cynicism of the age is fuelled by masking the costs of society’s economic progress

It’s important to first look at the personal attraction to outsourcing moral responsibility since much of the pathologies that appear in society as a whole or in our workplaces specifically start within each one of us. Tribalism and nativism stem from a universal vice – that of a tendency to reject the dignity of “other” human beings out of selfishness. This tendency is amplified with feelings of insecurity.

If you harm an innocent person however, the goodness within you also has a say – you are likely to feel bad about it afterwards. It appears as guilt and that type of stress that keeps you from sleeping well at night. It nags at you, it tells you, “maybe you’re doing wrong.” “Maybe you shouldn’t be doing this.”

We humans don’t like feeling guilty, but we are also aghast to the idea of anyone telling us what to do – and that goes for our inner conscience. Therefore, by dissociating certain human beings from their innate dignity, by reducing them to some category of otherness, we move to a system whereby we may violate the dignity of human beings while minimising our guilt in our progress towards whatever lofty goal we may have: say purely maximising profits or minimising costs without reference to any value system.

With guilt restrained, human selfishness metastasises into an epidemic of exploitation. Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski believed that “sensitivity to evil” is indeed “the only system of reference that allows us to contemplate [the] price [paid for ‘progress’] and forces us to ask whether it is exorbitant.” (2) To violate the dignity of another person is evil and by blurring our associated guilt behind different man-made curtains, we lose our sense of evil.

In the UK, we see the results of minimising costs without reference to human dignity starkly demonstrated in the ailing home care sector – where years of Local Councils tendering out home care services for the elderly and disabled persons to the lowest bidders without reference to minimum legal labour standards resulted in a sector of contract winners that widely pay their care workers below the minimum wage, rush them from 15 minute home visit to 15 minute home visit, and call them in and out of work like machines in a warehouse. With home care workers working behind the curtains of these contract holders, Local Councils turned a blind eye to years of labour exploitation.

The case of the UK home care sector has also shown that maximising profits or minimising costs without reference to human dignity is not sustainable. As Herbert Stein’s Law counsels us, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”

In the years following the British tax office’s justified step-up of enforcement of the National Minimum Wage in 2014, three of the UK’s top five operators in the home care sector exited the market. In January 2018, home care workers in Birmingham went on strike over continued austerity of the city’s social care budget which has put enormous strain on the city’s shrunken home care workforce. Events like this, akin to the Memphis (USA) sanitation strikes of 1968 which halted trash collections, remind us that human beings can only be exploited so far. These sudden stops are harmful and they are the direct result of responsible parties outsourcing their responsibilities to others.

Paradoxically, these cases of labour exploitation are under the backdrop of GDP per head in the UK, a broad measure of wealth, being the highest it has ever been in history. Unfortunately, rather than use our growing wealth to adequately address the “costs” associated with this growth, individual actors who are able to address them have widely let these costs spiral out of control into the dire situation we have today. (3) Former American diplomat Ivo Daalder well summarised the paradox of the West’s unprecedented economic growth in 2016:

“Within… global cities… a growing number of people have been left behind. And beyond these cities – out in other parts of the country – more people have lost out on the benefits produced by globalization and accelerating technological innovation. All too many people, in the past fifteen years, have seen their wages stagnate or even cut, their jobs lost, hopes dashed, and dreams deferred.” (4)

With hopes dashed and dreams deferred, we see a rise in people in the West adhering to movements which offer false dreams, which Rabbi Lord Sacks identifies as: “the far right, the far left, religious extremism and aggressive secularism.” (1)

Should we not be surprised that this culture of moral irresponsibility that poisons societies as a whole also poisons workplaces?

Indeed, former PR executive Robert Phillips notes that, “In any organisation, 80% of the workforce is dis-enfranchised and doesn’t care. 25% of the 80% would actively sabotage the organisation for which they work.” (5) If you’re a business leader of an organisation with employee disenchantment to that degree, do you think your organisation is sustainable? I think not.

The real Living Wage accreditation process unmasks hidden exploitation

When I first entered the corporate workforce in 2007, I discovered that the kind security staff, the indispensable cafeteria workers, and phenomenal cleaners I encountered in my workplace all worked for other firms although we all worked under the same “umbrella firm”. I thought at the time, that’s odd. I later learned that this was a common system of outsourcing whereby companies contract out essential internal corporate services, often to the lowest bidder.

If a decision-maker can seemingly outsource the moral responsibility of say, the exploitation of workers on their premises to boost the bottom line, then why not? What if your cleaners and security staff can only get by with third-party assistance, such as in-work benefits; or have to work a second job which means they seldom see their families? Behind the curtain of the contract holders, you may think these are the contract winners’ problems, or more likely, you just may be wholly unaware of the working conditions of these outsourced staff.

As the common reasoning goes: as the manager of the “umbrella firm”, I am responsible for my “employees”. Whereas, what happens to the others – the contractors – that is not my business and you think, not my responsibility. The actual accreditation process of being a real Living Wage Employer however recognises that IT IS your responsibility.

The Living Wage Foundation requires an Accredited Living Wage Employer to roll out the real living wage – £10.20/hour in London currently vs a minimum wage of £7.50/hour for those 25 of age and above – to certain outsourced staff such as cleaners, along with the organisation’s actual employees.

In this way becoming an Accredited Living Wage Employer does something very simple but also very powerful: it reminds you that moral responsibility for the labour standards of those serving your organisation, whether employed or contracted, rest with you. In a culture where the buck stops nowhere, the Living Wage movement reminds you that the buck stops with you.

Celebrating the goodness of the Living Wage promotes the sustainability of those committed to it

By making the courageous moral choice to pay your workers – employed and outsourced – a wage they can live decently from, you are implicitly recognising that all of your colleagues have dignity as human beings. As with finite lives, human beings’ sweat and time is sacred, and thus must be duly respected with fair compensation in return. The young Winston Churchill eloquently recognised this truth in the last century, “It is a serious national evil that any class of His Majesty’s subjects should receive less than a living wage in return for their utmost exertions.” (6)

Realistically, making a moral choice where the cost are high is difficult, hence the need for courage. It means you as a leader need to build and maintain an organisation that is voluntarily taking on a higher cost base than your peers and yet must still be viable and sustainable. For organisations that are not naturally high value-added – such as social care, cleaning, non-luxury retail, and certain manufacturers – and so struggle to afford paying the real Living Wage need a higher quality product/service and associated brand to allow them to charge sufficiently to maintain viability and sustainability.

This is where the Living Wage Foundation, and its celebratory awards such as the Living Wage Champion program, are key. By helping to publicise the good moral choice of your organisation to pay your workers the real Living Wage, the awards help you convey the message of goodness to the public, which will hopefully raise your brand awareness in prospective customers, helping to sustain your Living Wage commitment.

This has been a key recipe for success for my organisation, Penrose Care, which was one of the UK’s first Accredited Living Wage Employers. This view was further confirmed to me in December 2017 when I posed the question to Lee Phillips, finance director of Living Wage-pet food manufacturer Roger Skinner Ltd, “how can a manufacturer in an OECD country maintain ethical labour practices when its cost base is already higher than its international peers?” He told me, “The right ethics, right morals, and you need a brand [to credibly signal this quality]; and look after your customers.”

It must be highlighted that being a real Living Wage Employer means your product and service is higher quality. Since neuroscience tells us that good actions tend to release the “feel-good hormone” oxytocin, by adding an ethical component to the purchase of your goods and services for your customers, you have ipso facto boosted the quality of your offering. (7) It should therefore be no surprise that research has indicated that consumers are willing to pay a premium price for goods and services from Accredited Living Wage Employers. (8)

The intrinsic morality of the Living Wage movement stands in contrast to unbridled self-interests

By working as partners with employers, the Living Wage movement builds up workplaces that adhere to moral responsibility, that promote togetherness, that have a common vision that all of us have innate dignity.

Do not underestimate the impact your decisions in the workplace can have on wider society. The great American labour leader Lane Kirkland once said, “history moves when civil society reaches a critical point. It is not decided in the foreign ministries or in the palaces of power but on the streets and in the work places.” (9) By doing a moral good in the workplace, you set a good example for your colleagues to also do good and by boosting their financial security, you reduce the fuel to some of the more macro-level evils we see in the world today. In a cynical world, the Living Wage employer stands as a visible sign that humans can be good. And together, we in the Living Wage movement will continue to make history, tilting it towards goodness and justice, remembering that “It is not hope that gives rise to action so much as action that gives rise to hope.” (10)

Robert Stephenson-Padron is the managing director of home care provider Penrose Care, the winner of the Living Wage Champion award in 2016 for the London region. Penrose Care has been an Accredited Living Wage Employer since 2012.

The foregoing article is the full version of a shorter article written for the web page of the Living Wage Foundation.

***

(1) Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, “The Dangers of Outsourcing Morality” (www.rabbisacks.org: 27 May 2016), available online here.

(2) Nathan Gardels, “Man does not live by reason alone”, interview with Leszek Kolakowski from 1991 (New Perspectives Quarterly: Fall 2009/Winter 2010), available online here.

(3) Angel Gurría, “Launch of ‘In It Together – Why Less Inequality Benefits All’” (OECD: 21 May 2015), available online here.

(4) Ambassador Ivo Daalder, “The New Demagoguery”, address at the University of Kent (Chicago Council: 13 July 2016), available online here.

(5) Robert Phillips, “Post Truth, Post Trust, Post PR: The crisis of trust is a crisis of leadership”, address at Erasmus University (Jericho Chambers: 20 October 2016), available online.

(6) Donald Hirsch, “How the old idea of the living wage has been embraced by the political establishment” (The Conversation: 6 June 2017), available online here.

(7) Priya Advani, “How Random Acts of Kindness Can Benefit Your Health” (Huffington Post: 11 August 2013), available online here.

(8) Living Wage South Bank Report (South Bank BID: 4 October 2017), page 6, available online here.

(9) Arch Puddington, “How American Unions Helped Solidarity Win” (American Educator: Summer 2005), available online here.

(10) Matthew Taylor, “The idealism of realism” (RSA: 29 June 017), available online here.