People create three existential buffers to protect us from this knowledge. They are consistency, standards of justice and culture.
Why is this relevant to an employment column? Seemingly because anything that threatens these buffers exposes us to the looming reality of death. Therefore changing an employee’s routine undermines the consistency barrier. The article says that if you change someone’s routine as an employee you in some way break down the barrier of consistency thus expose employees to their fear of death (I think it is interesting anyway).
The good news is that there is a lot that leaders can do to “ease employees unconscious fear of death”. That includes being consistent in making sure employees are informed about, and trained in, new operational procedures well in advance of any change and allowing them to acclimate. Who would have thought that the howls of protest that go up when an employer suggests changing morning tea from 10.15am to 10.20 am is not based on employees irrational inability to be flexible but rather their fear of death.
