Embattled employers

Last night I was listening to the radio in the car and I heard a new business theory being propounded. Vineet Nayar the CEO of HCL Technologies has set out the theory in his book Employees First, Customers Second. It sounds crazy, but like all crazy ideas it’s worth consideration. It’s certainly generating a good deal of debate and I suspect that the trend-hungry business schools will take it to their academic hearts and make it very popular. After listening to him, I quite liked the ideas, although I’m not persuaded that they’re all that new. They’re mostly a re-packaging of ideas relating to employee engagement.



But will it work? Where employees have a reasonable and balanced approach and work for the common good, perhaps they will. The problem I foresee is that increasingly employees in the UK do not see themselves as part of a work unit so they don’t understand the bigger commercial picture. As a result they often operate in a way that’s at best unhelpful to the organization and at worst detrimental. Employers are getting fed up.



Last year a colleague made all his admin staff redundant and outsourced the function. "Best thing I’ve ever done," he said. "I know the work will be done in a timely way now and to my standard and I don’t have to waste time I don’t have on chasing people to do the work I have reasonably asked them to do and for which they are being well paid. I resented the time I had to spend to chivvy them along - courteously reminding them of their duties, keeping them in the picture, asking for their contributions, consulting on changes. I was a good employer, and while they weren’t bad employees, they thought

about the work only in terms of what they got out of it. They were never members of a team with a common objective. In consequence, they never gave anything extra. The end came when I carried them for months through difficult financial times and they repaid me by demanding their rights, twittering on about work-life balance (I was the one working 80 hours a week to keep things going) and giving nothing in return. It’s soul destroying. In the end I thought ‘why bother?’"



John’s experience is not unusual amongst small business owners. The other huge problem faced by employers is the gorgon of an ineffective and inefficient employment tribunal system. This week a client has received a tribunal application from a woman whose frankly hysterical allegations have already been factually rebutted line-by-line to her solicitor. The fact that the client can evidence every single word has not stopped them pressing on. I know that if we go to tribunal there’s a 95% likelihood that we’ll win. But because the tribunal system is so inefficient and time consuming, the employee knows that we’ll probably pay a sum of money to conclude matters and allow us to get on with our business.



We’ve heard a good deal in the press over the last few weeks about whether the tribunal system is working or not. My direct experience is that in addition to its correct and proper function of correcting wrongs done to employees, it is an opportunity for the lazy, greedy and spiteful to wreak commercial havoc. No wonder employers are so reluctant to employ.



Will I espouse Mr Nayar’s theory? No. It won’t work for me. While building a relationship with employees demonstrating honesty and dignity, and taking steps to engage employees, clients are the most important commercial relationship. They come first for me every time.





Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For more information, visit our website at www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk or call a member of the team on 0845 644 8955.



Russell HR Consulting offers HR services to businesses nationwide, including Buckinghamshire (covering Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Banbury, Northampton, Towcester and surrounding areas), Nottinghamshire (covering Chesterfield, Mansfield, Nottingham, Sheffield, Worksop and surrounding areas) and Hampshire (covering Aldershot, Basingstoke, Reading, Farnborough, Fareham, Portsmouth, Southampton and surrounding areas).