In recent years, companies have invested a lot of time andenergy into improving company culture. Shiny new fitness centers,break rooms stocked with refreshments and equipped with couches andbig screen TVs, flexible work hours, extended vacation time, freemeals, educational programs — the list of employee perks and benefits goes on.Companies like Zappos and Google are leading the wayin the company culture movement. Zappos even screens prospectiveemployees through a cultural fit interview to ensure they’re theright fit for the company’s culture.

So what’s the motivation behind the company culture frenzy thesedays? For one, companies seem to be realizing that employees aremore than just revenue-producing pawns. Employees want to be valuedand treated with respect. The other reason is that employees tendto work harder when they are comfortable with their company’sculture and feel like they are working toward a common goal andvision. In short, great company culture will result in drivenemployees and increased productivity.

Companies have certainly come a long way in taking care of theiremployees, but what if there is another factor flying under theradar that can’t be solved in break rooms or fitness centers and iskilling workplace productivity? In fact, this responsibility isforcing employees to cut back on work hours, take leaves of absenceor, in some cases, even lose their jobs. To top it all off, what ifemployees felt they had no choice but to take on thisresponsibility and face it alone?