I was heartened to see Chris Rosindale, COO at Connells, going public with their cuts of c. 10% to staff working hours.
There’s a rising realisation that offering employees a better work life balance is likely to not only get more out of them, but also keep them working in their roles for longer. This is not a wokey cry for equality or worry about improving mental health, though that may be a side benefit.
For many years when successfully working at Douglas & Gordon in its previous incarnation, I had the most fabulous bosses [Ivor Dickinson RIP and Michael Hodgson] who allowed me what might have seemed to others a lot of leeway in terms of holiday and time off. Enlightened as they were they realised how to get the best out of me. It used to drive regular lunch date Pete Rollings, who ran the competing SthKen office of Foxtons, nuts as he was up a 5 am six days a week and – although this is tongue in cheek, looked like it.
Ultimately you choose what you want from life, but my experience, whilst perhaps not as remunerative at Peter’s, has meant I’ve had what I’d consider to be a very happy life to date – we all have stumbles – whilst doing OK. For others cracking the whip and working all hours will lead to a better financial outcome down the line – your choice, but not the only one.
There’s been a paradigm shift over the last few years, setting ever higher targets and expecting a US style ‘in before and leave after the boss’ approach.
Clever use of flexible working can lead, I know – we do it at Viewber – to better outcomes for employees, better outcomes for clients as often staggering working times can lead to longer opening hours, better staff retention and a more robust bottom line.
My own personal experience over the years has been backed up by that of seeing how forward-thinking clients have taken to using Viewber and other established and reliable outsource services. In our case – allow employees to have weekends to watch the footie, see family or take their partner away by rewarding their hard work during the week with accompanied viewings over the weekend and commission from the results of those viewings.
Chris’s announcement is to be welcomed and I very much hope others will follow suit and trust [and retain] their staff to deliver even better results.
