Flexibility key to success

By VIKKI BLAND


In days gone by people used a clock to punch in and out of their working day. The more hours worked, the more dedicated they were perceived to be. Long hours on the job meant a better shot at promotion, better pay and faster career advancement.

By contrast, modern employers now evaluate employee dedication and performance by key objectives achieved and individual productivity rather than hours spent in the office. Or do they?

Surprising research from Sweeney Research in conjunction with mobile PC maker Toshiba suggests employers in New Zealand and Australia may be languishing in the management dark ages.

The survey of 198 organisations in New Zealand and 402 in Australia found most do not trust their employees to work away from the office, preferring to "clock watch" and deny employees the opportunity to work flexibly.

Mark Whittard, Australia and New Zealand general manager for Toshiba, says mistrustful employers need to beware of the possible ramifications of this.

"These organisations risk their competitive advantage by not understanding the benefits associated with flexible working and by ignoring the demands of employees, who will soon be at a premium, according to projections on a tightening workforce," he says.

Whittard says while 38 per cent of the organisations surveyed were working flexibly, these did not typically have policies dedicated to the management of flexible hours and mobile working.

"We appear to be behind the rest of Western world in that we still measure people by their time in the office rather than on their performance. [New Zealand and Australia] do need to update company cultures and management practices," he says.

Dave DeClean, author and publisher of The Oracle, a management advice book, has a history in helping corporate restructuring and providing management advice. He says too many New Zealand employers and work colleagues harbour the false belief that productivity is achieved through long hours and manic labour.

"The opposite is true. A very busy mind is not calm and directed, it is not disciplined, creative or productive."

DeClean says New Zealand organisations would do well to follow the successful management style of companies such as Microsoft.

"There, people are encouraged to take their time, to walk around calmly and to think. Microsoft simply expects its people to be innovative and productive - clock watching is not a part of the Microsoft culture."

DeClean says people who work together maintain tabs on each other through fear.

"When people have a high level of fear, wherever that has originally come from, they feel the need to control those around them. To solve it, they need to learn to let go and understand that their fear of not being in control is the problem, not their colleagues or employees.

"Give people freedom and they will perform," says Mark Campbell, general manager human resources and corporate affairs for DB Breweries.

Campbell says DB Breweries, which employs 500 staff in New Zealand, wouldn't have a clue how many hours its people work.

"This thing about 'the longer you are at work the better you are', is rubbish. We are not into managing our people on an attendance type basis; we consider that to be pretty outdated," he says.

While DB Breweries has plant and shift workers who keep to hours, Campbell says at least a third of its employees have the technology to work remotely from anywhere.

"Employees in sales, IT, and human resources work fairly flexibly all the time. All we are interested in is how they get the job done. Where and when they do that is less important to us."

Examples of the extent of DB Breweries' trust for its employees include its policy of letting people work from home when they decide their work needs would be better served there.

Others come to work late, leave work early (or both), work part time, work while travelling, work from home after having children or work at weekends or in the middle of the night.

"When we shifted our head office from central Auckland to Otahuhu, a lot of people told us we would lose our North Shore employees. In fact, we didn't lose one of them because we told them to come to work late [after the bridge traffic cleared]," says Campbell.

He says a national economic need for increased company productivity should mean employees are awarded a high degree of trust.

"People should be given the freedom to perform. There's a subtle peer review going on all the time so people don't really get the chance to get away with things."

Flexibility is crucial to DB Breweries' performance because the job market is tight and people with talent increasingly like to work part time or flexibly by choosing their own hours and place of work.

"People need the opportunity to get their income to work around certain personal requirements and as an employer you do whatever you need to keep and inspire people. Employers are missing out if they are not being flexible," he says.

Nor is it wise to assume people can't be trusted. "It is old thinking to start with the assumption that employees can't be trusted. You have to give people the chance."


We have the technology so get out of the office


VOICE over IP: internet protocol telephone systems can carry voice, video and data over the internet and into home PCs providing the home PC has a fast internet connection.

This means large call centres and sales departments can attach flexible workers to their telephone and data networks as those people become available for work.

Once connected over their internet connection, the flexible worker can receive calls and see related call data through a headset and their home PC.

Wireless telecommunications: Despite a few teething issues around data security, wireless communication technologies are now well advanced. Flexi-workers can connect wirelessly to a business network or the internet and download customer information or clear their own work email inboxes.

Mobile devices: There is plethora to choose from depending on the type of work the flexi-worker does. A few examples are the little Blackberry devices; smart phones, mobile PCs (laptops), tablet PCs, and PDAs.


Are NZ managers mistrustful?


Key findings of the Toshiba/Sweeney Research survey were:

* Mistrust of flexible workers is prevalent among Australian and New Zealand organisations

* Most managers in non-flexible workplaces said they would be unlikely to let employees work flexibly, even though most employees would like to, if allowed

* A main obstacle to the uptake of flexible working is the perceived difficulty of monitoring and supervising employees, indicating scope to increase trust by using performance criteria rather than attendance-based evaluation techniques

* Most organisations do not have policies to support flexible working. Where policies exist, most are tailored to individuals rather than standardised across the organisation

* Technology is not considered a significant impediment to flexible work practices

* Mobility and Mistrust, commissioned by Toshiba (Australia) Pty Ltd Information Systems Division and conducted by independent researcher, Sweeney Research. Sample size: 600 organisations, 198 from New Zealand and 402 from Australia.