The modern company employee organization is an extension of military organizations going back thousands of years. There are the managers or salaried staff (officers of old) and the hourly workers (soldiers). As a society we have now often thrown in unions to represent the hourly workers.

In my 54-year career, the division between the salaried and hourly staff has done nothing but grow, now leaving in many cases a vast chasm between the two. Starting in the 1990's, with the widespread proliferation of connected computers (the Internet), the salaried staff has retreated to their offices leaving the hourly to often fend for themselves while they play with these cute machines on their desks.

This is to the detriment of the business as a whole and leaves the hourly workers with a feeling of abandonment. This is not good for business overall.

My modest proposal is this. Salaried staff should do an abundance of shadowing the hourly staff. And when I say shadowing, I don't mean micromanaging. And when I say salaried staff, I don't just mean line management, but also include human resources, IT and all other functions.

It used to be when a new manager came into a new responsibility, they shadowed their direct reports for a few days to see what a typical shift was like. I haven't seen this happen in years.

I also think it should happen at every level--CEO shadows vice presidents, vice presidents shadow directors, directors shadow managers, and so forth.

Further, this is not just a one-time event. Several days should be set aside each quarter to do this--maybe a week.

Work with your union, if you have one, and tell them your managers are going to be picking up tools, not to steal jobs, but to understand jobs. I foresee for instance, a maintenance manager spending a day with a maintenance employee that primarily welds. Pick up the stinger, make a weld or two, learn how to set the heat on the welding machine and how to select welding rods. Same thing in the other disciplines--help rebuild a pump, troubleshoot a starter and on and on.

On the loading dock, learn what truck loads next and so forth.

On the machine, side up to the wet end operator. Get on the winder crew and pull your own weight.

You get the idea. Get out of your offices and really learn what the people who do the work do.

It will help make a better business and improve working relationships at the same time.

Jim Thompson is CEO of Paperitalo Publications.