Words matter. So does context. That’s why you need to strike the word “labor” from your lexicon.

It’s easier said than done. If you think adjusting to new pronouns is hard, try telling a businessman to eliminate the word “labor” from his vocabulary.

I’ve been in the industry for 40 years, and we’ve always used the word “labor.” But “labor” has negative implications. It connotes the end of a value chain. It’s about “people doing work.”

“People doing work” don’t have much value. “People doing work” are replaceable. You can hire people to do work in the parking lot of a Fiesta Mart. I drive past them every day. That’s where the labor is.

This isn’t meant to disrespect people who labor for a living — I’ve done it myself. But in our industry of professional services, there’s really no place for the word “labor.”

“Labor” doesn’t connote much in the way of value. It’s transactional. You inadvertently subvert any attempts to deliver value by slipping in the word “labor” to describe highly skilled, talented professionals. It affects how your clients view your labor costs and how you hire.

In short, it devalues what you do.

I’m as guilty as anyone. I’ve written blog posts in the past year about Labor Coordinators, which I now realize is an awful title. It’s not labor that’s being coordinated — the position manages the schedules for the talented professionals they’re recruiting.

Talent Has Value

Talented people aren’t necessarily people on stage or in front of cameras. We can use “talent” to describe the team of people we’re putting out to do shows. Talent is valuable.

My first company was a staffing company — but I didn’t call it a staffing company back then. I called it a labor company, just like everyone else in the industry. We recruited labor. We found freelancers to work on jobs.

Some days, we hired a bunch of warm bodies. Other days, we needed talented individuals to work on shows. We called it all labor.

As the AV industry became more professionalized, the temporary labor industry also became more professionalized. A lot of companies adopted the word “staffing” because staffing companies already existed — places professional organizations could go to hire a part-time accountant or a temporary supply chain manager.

“Staffing company” is now the correct term for labor companies that provide stagehands and AV technicians. “Staffing coordinator” is a better title than “labor coordinator.” Taking away words that devalue what you do is a valuable process.

There are many other examples of this. I’d love if everyone stopped using the term “project manager.” If everyone could agree on what a project manager was, it would be a great term. But since nobody seems to know what a project manager actually is, it’s a really bad phrase.

As an exercise, try generating a list of words that devalue your company. If you can come up with a few words or phrases you need to stop using, send them my way. Let’s work together to eliminate language that devalues what we do.