Quantum Physics and Refuse Collection

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Simon Jones • Posted in HR Thoughts, Work Related Posts • Tagged employee relations, management style • Leave a comment

Originally posted July 2013

At the moment I’m reading and enjoying Daniel Pink’s “Drive”, and have just reached the point where he describes companies who have introduced a system called ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) – where so long as the objectives are achieved, there is no monitoring of whether an employee is in work, or if they are actually working at a particular time.

It sounds innovative and radical, but it reminded me of my days working as an Industrial Relations Officer for a local council in the late 1980s. There, the refuse collection department was seen as a hotbed of labour disputes. One of the particular problems from a management perspective was a working practice called “Stint and Finish”, where once the days bins were collected, the bin men could finish work. So although contracted to work between 730 and 430, with an hour for lunch, the men (and they were all men in those days) would – by agreement between themselves – cut short their break and aimed to finish as early as possible – usually by 230 and earlier on a Friday.

At the time, the government were introducing “Compulsory Competitive Tendering”, whereby Councils had to tender their direct services and where – provided minimal quality standards were met – price was the only determining factor. “If the staff can finish that early every day, then they must not have enough to do – and maybe we need fewer staff” ran the logic. “If we can cut costs, the in-house service has more chance of winning the tender”.

So off were dispatched the Council’s Work Study team (or as they grandly titled themselves “Industrial Engineers”) with their stop watches and clipboards, along with the Safety Officer to make sure that the staff were following proper procedures. And what did they find…? Without any apparent dawdling or shirking, each daily round was completed exactly as specified and the vehicles arrived back promptly at 430. It was almost as if, like sub-atomic particles, the very act of observation had changed the behaviour of the employees. And on the days the study was being carried out, residents’ complaints about late collection of the bins rose.

What we had was the classic trade-off between efficiency (keep costs to an absolute minimum and work staff as hard as they can be) and effectiveness (provide a service residents are happy with, give staff the freedom to organise the work as they see fit within a defined cost base). Where does your organisation lie?

(Oh, and if you’re interested, the in-house team won the competitive tendering bid)

One Way or Another

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Simon Jones • Posted in Work Related Posts • Tagged business strategy, customer care • 1 Comment

I went to see Blondie this week, and about 3 songs in Debbie Harry said the words that send a chill through most concert-goers’ hearts: “We’ve got a new album out, and we’re going to do some songs from it”. It’s not surprising that after 35 years the band don’t just want to play “Atomic” and “Heart of Glass” all the time, but that’s what the audience want. It set me thinking that it demonstrates one of the fundamental work dilemmas – as managers we want our employees to be creative, innovative and adaptable, yet in many cases our customers are quite happy with the existing product and don’t want change.

So what’s the solution? It seems to me that there are three approaches

Firstly, there is the Scott Walker approach. He famously walked away from being one of the biggest stars of the 60s and now produces music that satisfies him creatively but which provokes some extreme reactions. Essentially it’s about abandoning the mass market and instead do something where the employees are fully satisfied. Lots of customers may be lost but those that remain are loyal and “buy into” the exclusivity.

Secondly, there is the Dexys Midnight Runners approach. They still perform their old songs but in a different style to their heyday (here’s their biggest hit) and market carefully (their last tour was billed very explicitly and repeatedly as “performing their new album, followed by some old hits”). This is a much more evolutionary approach – it keeps the employees creatively satisfied but also keeps the customers happy.

Finally, there’s the Squeeze approach. This is to reform periodically to play the Greatest Hits, and then with the income generated the two main songwriters are able to develop their own music (often separately). In this case, it’s about protecting the core brand while diversifying into (hopefully profitable) other markets.

What it all means of course is that the way that we run and manage the people in our organisations depends very much on what our business strategy is. From an HR perspective, it shows why it’s essential that we know and understand business objectives while from the management side it demonstrates why involving your staff is integral to business success.

Oh, and the new Blondie songs? They’re ok, but I wish they’d played “Sunday Girl“

Fear, Itself

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Simon Jones • Posted in HR Tips for Business and Charities, Work Related Posts • Tagged business strategy, employee relations, employment law • 2 Comments

Originally posted May 2013

Being an entrepreneur involves taking risks. Setting up a business, launching a new product, or making essential changes come as second nature to many of those who lead organisations (including those which are “not for profit”, which doesn’t make them any less enterprising).

So why is it that when it comes to people issues, so many dynamic and energetic business people suddenly become very cautious and risk averse? Is it because

Even the most task-centred of us doesn’t like confrontation and bad feeling?
Or because people can answer back and challenge us?

Maybe it’s because

We believe what politicians and tabloid newspapers tell us about how complex and restrictive employment laws are?
We fall for the scare tactics used by certain companies selling their employment insurance products?

Or perhaps it’s a result of

Bad experiences of HR people or departments who seem process bound and too eager to say “no” (I suspect, without any evidence, that this might be the origin of the infamous Beecroft report)
A single bad experience (maybe a very problematic employee or a badly handled tribunal) that colours our view of all employment issues

Rather like the fear of crime far outweighing the actual likelihood of a criminal event, so people will still fear HR issues no matter how many times they are told the UK has one of the most flexible labour markets in the world. And fear – as this excellent blog points out – can be paralysing.

I don’t have an answer – I’m just interested to know why it happens. And I also wonder why we don’t treat our fears like Buffy the Vampire Slayer when we realise how insignificant they actually are

Attitude Gets You Attention, but Courtesy Wins You Respect

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Simon Jones • Posted in Work Related Posts • Tagged employee relations, management style, sme • Leave a comment

Originally published May 2012

I had the misfortune recently to catch an episode of “The Apprentice“. What’s particularly depressing about this reality TV show is that people see Lord Sugar and his bunch of social misfits undertaking work-related projects, and think that business success is gained by backstabbing colleagues, talking in business clichés and pursuit of personal gain at the expense of everything else (including basic competence).

This “economic” view of people as inherently selfish and untrustworthy has a long history – in management theory it goes all the way back to FW Taylor, and now has a new lease of life following the publication of the Beecroft report. If, as Beecroft and his supporters do, you believe that labour is simply a commodity to be picked up and put down when required, then it is logical to call for a reduction in employment rights. As I pointed out in earlier posts, it’s ironic that this view of labour ultimately derives from Karl Marx!

There is a different way, as many successful businesses and business people recognise. They take the view that employment is a relationship between people, and therefore requires trust, confidence and mutual respect. People aren’t just machines to be managed at the touch of a button, but have different interests and motivations, and respond best to being treated as human beings. It’s no wonder that the current big issues for many businesses and HR professionals are around employee engagement, values and retaining good people. Though sometimes all people want is a simple “thank you” to recognise their efforts or achievements.

As another wise economist recognised “How selfish … man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it” But businesses who display an interest in the fortunes of their staff will derive plenty from it, through greater commitment, reduced turnover and ultimately more profit.

Dads Army & Crisis Management

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Simon Jones • Posted in Work Related Posts • Tagged economics, HR • Leave a comment

Originally published February 2011, at a time when everyone was seizing on the latest economic statistics as evidence that we were all “doomed”

It’s often helpful, in a difficult situation, to see how people have handled such crises before. For example, the different ways in which the members of the Walmington on Sea Home Guard reacted to the constant threat of invasion in WW2 is strikingly similar to how many are behaving in the economic climate today. See if you can identify yourself or colleagues in the list below:

Capt Mainwaring – in charge because of his status rather than his competence, he uses bluster and nice sounding phrases to disguise that he has no idea how to deal with the situation.
Sgt Wilson – the calm voice of experience, refuses to get flustered as he knows that things have been this bad before and will resolve themselves again. He always takes the considered view, which often pulls Mainwaring out of trouble.
Cpl Jones – panics at the slightest thing and over-reacts to the mildest bit of bad news. Unless controlled, his attitude infects the rest, creating mayhem and negativity.
Pte Fraser – the voice of despair, who enjoys seeing how bad things can get and is secretly hoping they will get worse.
Pte Walker – spots the opportunity to make money in everything. Sometimes his scams backfire but often they come to the aid of the platoon as well as his own pocket.
Pte Pike – never experienced anything like this before, really not sure how to deal with it except that it all looks very bad indeed and his Mum wouldn’t like it.

Looking around, it seems to me that at the moment we have a lot of Frasers (especially in the media) and Joneses, and perhaps not enough Wilsons and Walkers. While many under 35s, who have never experienced any kind of negative economic conditions before, are cast in the role of Pikes, slightly bewildered and looking for reassurance. As for Mainwarings – are there any you could suggest?