Company Blog

Who cares?

by Adam Zack — September 24, 2025

“Most work relationships and the level of caring present are quid pro quo connections.”

Do a lot of people care about you? How do you know? Can you prove it? Of course, your spouse cares about you. And your kids do, even if they don’t show it all the time. Your parents do if they are still around. Caring for and about someone is about repeated kindness and unselfishness. It’s the consistency of your actions. There are many people – and I might even put it out there that it’s a majority – who care about you because there’s something in it for them. It’s not as negative as it sounds. Most work relationships and the level of caring present are quid pro quo connections. You work hard for me, I pay you well and give you a place to work that is safe, friendly and consistent. When that work bond changes – whether employer/employee or co-worker to co-worker, the relationship usually falls off and eventually ends. It was built at the workplace and when the familiarity and consistency of being work friends changes, things change. Family and personal friend relationships, however, don’t end when employment changes. To grow and flourish, the level of caring has to be mutual – kind of like last week’s blog on reciprocity. If one thinks that the other doesn’t sincerely care, then we move on to someone else who will nourish our basic need to be cared about and loved. So who do you care about? Do they know? Can they prove it?