I once had an Archivist working for me,
let’s call him Arthur, who used to arrive at work at anywhere between 9.15 and
10.00; work till around 2.00 then roll out his ‘swag *’ on the floor of his office and catch 40
minutes shut eye; go back to work and then head home anytime between 17.00 and
20.00.
ISQua staff members here in the Dublin Office
arrive at work anytime between 7.00 and 9.30 and leave between 16.00 and 18.00.
Over the course of a week average hours worked by staff is more than is
normally expected and it varies very little for each member and from member to
member.
In Arthur’s case, one day I was approached
by a delegation of other staff who asked me how it was that I tolerated his behaviour. My reply was in the form of a question being ‘Does he do what is expected of him?’ to which the answer was ‘Yes – and more’. The realization on
the part of the other staff that productivity rather than adherence to specific
start and finish times is the more relevant measure of worth had a transformational
effect on that workplace (in hindsight it would have been better had I made
this clearer to all staff at the outset – but I excuse myself on the grounds
that I was a young CEO who was still discovering these things myself!)
In the case of ISQua staff, the
productivity individually and collectively is higher than I have known in the many
other workplaces with which I have been associated – both public sector and
private sector.
Perhaps
the more subtle lesson in this is that the benefit of a staff member to an
organisation is inextricably tied to how the organisation benefits the staff
member.
It is the benefiting of the individual for
her or his own sake, because that is a good thing to do, AND because inevitably
it benefits the organisation, which drives the philosophy that the Deputy CEO
and I try to bring to the ISQua workplace. One way of doing this is to
understand what motivates each person and to work with that. Another is the
active professional development programme we pursue and in which the staff are
pleased to participate. And adding CPD to the end of a working day is not
always easy. After a full and busy day at work it can be difficult to get motivated
by the thought of three hours of ‘college’ work which might mean ultimately
arriving home at midnight knowing an early start is required the next morning
for another day at work (so – why not come in at 10.00!). This is especially
unappealing if it happens to be one of Dublin’s less than pleasant winter
evenings and you are relying on public transport.
All these things, the flexibility, the CPD,
the recognition that at the end of the day a staff member’s family is the most
important part of his or her life (so, yes take time off to meet a family
need), all these things are a way of saying to staff that we respect you, we
trust you, we believe in you and we are prepared to invest in you. An
organisation’s efforts to do this will be rewarded tenfold.
However, swags are not about to become
standard issue to ISQua staff!
Peter
Carter
April
11 2013
* In Australia and New Zealand, a swag is a portable sleeping mat or blanket
sometimes with other possessions rolled up in it.
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