What it means to be an employee?

Definition of an Employee
A person employed for wages or salary, especially at non-executive level.
Oxford Dictionary

My motto however is not to give hard lined definition of an employee. What I am going to write here is Indian perception of being an employee. If anyone from out of India reads this has an opportunity to know what it means to be a private employee in the largest democracy of the world.
It is said that one is lucky to do a job of his interest. I think since everybody is not that lucky, one must put his hands in a job to know if he finds his interest there.
A dedicated employee is like the foundation of a building. It is under immense pressure always to support the whole structure and also lies so deep underneath, always unnoticed.
A good employee is the shoulder on which the administration of an organisation can rely. Any plan that needs execution will always require skilled worker that follows the instructions accurately.

Employee's Perspective
Hindi translation of employee is 'naukar'. This could be only considered the shortage of vocabulary but the sad part is many Indians have studded the literal meaning of this word in their minds. It is very obvious that in a job when everything is flourishing, salary is decent and the job is not hectic employee will be happy.

On the other hand when things are not in favour, salary is less than the labour and work is not easy going the employee will not like even a job that he always dreamt of. In these bad times many people feel that "why am I putting so much of effort in someone else's business?" Many people start thinking about starting their own business at this point of time.

One must understand that a good business idea never emerges from disappointment or impulsive emotions. An employee must realise that if an organisation goes towards downfall it directly affects the owner because the captain always goes down with the sinking ship. So rather than feeling disappointed, the employees must continue doing all his duties as he used to do in good times and be a part of company's upliftment.

Employer's Perspective
No one other than an entrepreneur (who once started a business or taken over a family business) can understand the struggle and effort required. An employee just has to work from 9 am to 5 pm. He just has to worry about only his part of the job. He gets his salary on first week of the month no matter what.

On the contrary, a businessman always thinks about his business even before the moment he goes to sleep. An employer has to take care of an officer to a janitor in his organisation. An employee can take leaves but employer cannot leave his work ever. If anything goes wrong in business, owner has to bear most of the consequences. Entrepreneur has to take care of the customers and clients and hear their complaints and nagging.
It is not an easy task to start a business and sustain its profits, otherwise everybody would've become a businessman. A person who can take risk and live with it is worth respecting.

My Perspective
When an individual develops the guts to start a work of his own, he ought to have some expertise and experience in it. The very next thing he looks for is partners and associates. The associates are not always partners. An entrepreneur will always need good dedicated workers. One can say that "good employees are not hired, they are earned". An employer must keep in mind that it is not easy to replace a skilled, hardworking, loyal and dedicated employee, it is a precious gem worth keeping as long as possible.

An employee working in a firm must closely observe the owner and feel the pressure that he experiences. He must imagine himself in the owners place and think what he would do. I guarantee that 50% employees will forget their complaints. An employee must never feel inferior by the thought that he is working for someone else's profit. Keep in mind that your employer also needs you and cannot do a thing without you.

A person should always try to improve his skills and become so valuable that if you leave, the employer must feel that he has lost something valuable. Also a rule abiding employee always remains happy and is never cornered by anyone.

If you follow old rules, no one will have the audacity to inflict new rules upon you unnecessarily.

I am not a very big thinker or philosopher but I have tried to write my feelings in as best ways as possible. I also accept that these feelings are developed overtime with the influence of workplace and coworkers. I don't like to argue or debate so if anyone does not like what I feel, I am sorry. Please feel free to give positive or negative comments. I will be happy if you add or contradict to any specific line I wrote.