Stuck in a Time Warp
Welcome to the ninety-third edition of “In-Touch”. As always, I would love to continue the conversation so please hit reply and let me know what you think.
Story of the Week: "Stuck in a Time Warp"
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself with Marios and Chris (two of my oldest friends) at a café where we had arranged an early morning coffee meeting.
From the moment Marios arrived, he had been nervously glancing at his watch as if it was about to explode. I thought that he must be concerned about a big office meeting or an important appointment but I soon found out that, for him, it was just another day at the office.
Chris had also noticed his anxiety and, when it became clear that Marios was preparing to leave, he tried to convince him to stay a bit longer. "Come on, we hardly ever get to enjoy a coffee the three of us together!" he told our friend but to no avail.
As he stood up to leave, Marios dropped the bombshell. In the company where he works, he told us, anyone who hasn’t swiped his time clock card by 9:01am will receive an email informing them that they were late for work. By one minute!?
That was the moment when I realised that, while so many companies are embracing flexible hours and focusing on results, Marios’ workplace is stuck in a time warp and obsessed with clock-watching.
And I couldn't help but wonder: What is his company gaining here? Yes, they know if he's at his desk by 9:00am but at what cost? They're trading Marios’ goodwill for a punctual clock-in. They're swapping potentially creative morning conversations for stressed clock-watching. And they're probably losing out on some of Marios’ best ideas – the ones that come when he's relaxed, engaged and certainly not rushing to beat the clock.
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As we watched our friend rush off, leaving half a cup of coffee and our barely started conversation behind, I felt really frustrated and sorry for him. In a way, I felt sorry for the management of his company, too. They're so focused on what time he arrives at the office that they're missing out on the best of what he brings to the table.
In this modern era of remote work, flexible hours and a growing focus on ensuring that employees enjoy a healthy work-life balance, Marios’ company is a metaphorical dinosaur that hasn't realised how the world's moved on. It is not only out of step but is probably pushing away and losing talent.
I suspect that Marios’ bosses would argue that punctuality ensures greater productivity but drawing attention to even one minute’s delay is more likely to ensure resentment. Clocking in on time may demonstrate a certain degree of discipline but it certainly doesn’t mean that every super-punctual employee will spend their day on creative, innovative and original work. Research has shown that companies that offer some flexibility in arrival times will benefit from their people’s good will, loyalty, improved engagement and much more.?
For the business dinosaurs, extinction looms!
Words of Wisdom
“We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details.” Jeff Bezos
A Question to Ponder, dear friend.
Have you ever worked for a company that seemed stuck in the past? How did it affect your work and your attitude? And if you're a manager, how do you balance punctuality with trust?
Group Marketing Manager at P&P Ice Cream Group
3 个月Well said Michael. Attention should be on the end results/target achievement and not to minor details
Award Winning Entrepreneur | Coach for 13-17 year-old home educated entrepreneurs |Bibliotherapist | Author | Passionate Youth Advocate | Unschooling Mum Big Ideas Wales Role Model for Youth Entrepreneurship
3 个月I agree with the comments here too as well as the point of your story. What I also see in these situations of which there are plenty of examples, is a lack of trust. We have been conditioned to hate work and do the minimum required to get the paycheck and go home. Employers have been conditioned to apply controlling and manipulative behaviour because there is a lack of trust. Perhaps the hardest thing to cultivate in any company is a sense of trust between employer and employee because this requires time and nurturing as well as dealing with those who will inevitably betray trust, but within this organic, relationship-building effort, the gems will float to the surface and remain in the sieve while those who never belonged in the company will float away. When you work in a company that trusts and values you, notices you, and makes you feel seen or heard, you are highly likely to give back multifold. But here comes the second most important aspect (for me), and that is making work enjoyable. Why do we have to hate work? Why can't we create ways to make even the mundane aspects more enjoyable? It isn't the task that is the issue it's our approach, mindset, perspective, environment etc that change the game.
Accredited Executive Coach | Leadership Communication Coach & Strategist | Leadership Trainer | Semanticist | Helping leaders communicate with confidence, clarity and influence with their team
3 个月This is a very interesting topic Michael R. Virardi From my experience business/team leaders rely more on managing tools (for example, what you mention in your post) whenever there is a low relational engagement and they don't know how else to feel assured the work is done. It's a strong indication to me to check and delve deeper into trust and effective communication issues between leader and team or team member. But, it's also an opportunity to discuss with the team member who exhibits a tendency to show up late as defined by the business's rules. There might be underlying issues that haven't been discussed or need to be acknowledged or even accomodated, unknown needs. A conversation, an effective feedback conversation, (the ones that the majority of the leaders I work with avoid or don't know how to have them) is, in my opinion, necessary. One minute late is NOT late, btw ??
Assistant Human Resources at Four Seasons Hotel, Cyprus - Health & Safety Officer - Founder of "INSPECTOR APP"
3 个月Being punctual at work is fundamentally about discipline rather than maximizing individual performance. Arriving on time is a small, daily test that fosters self-improvement and enhances one's ability to handle time-sensitive tasks. In many companies, an employee cannot leave until their replacement arrives, a common practice in sectors like security. Even though work schedules have become more flexible, being on time for work or professional meetings remains crucial.
Mechanical Design & Engineering | Prototype Manufacturing | THU and UCY
3 个月Great story and I agree with your opinion on productivity. I wonder, does the same company reward overtime the same way they value being on time Michael R. Virardi ? Not specifically asking but as a general thought.