Stuck in a Time Warp
Is your company 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.
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?