Time gentlemen, please


Time gentlemen, please

Time. In this fast-paced world we never seem to have enough of it. So it has become a very valuable commodity. So valuable that more and more people are realising that it is too valuable to spend working. Now if you are thinking, ˜But I read all the time that people are working longer, and longer hours,' you'd be right. What I am saying - and what people tell me - is they may be working long hours, but they have no plans for this state of affairs to last forever. Most people, most employees , deep down inside, have a plan. And it doesn't necessarily include a career in your business.

Already in countries like Belgium and The Netherlands three- and four-day working weeks are government approved for those that want them (for those over 40 at any rate), which means that there has been a huge rise in job sharing. Part of the reason for this is something that bosses often don't understand: the lack of ambition in much of our society.

Basically, many of your employees are very happy if they can contribute, but they don't want their hearts or minds won, they just want to do the job, get paid, go fishing and take their vacations (two or three times a year) on some sun-kissed beach . As they reach a certain age, most of the important and expensive purchases of life are taken care of (in addition their spouse probably works too). So they don't need the money, or not as much as they used to. So what do you do? You ask to work three or four days a week and you use the rest of the time to go fishing , or whatever.

There is increasing evidence that this is the way people are going to choose to work. So if you as an employer aren't ready, these people will find a way to meet their own expectations without you.

A survey in the UK by the Department of Trade and Industry in 2004 found that 70 per cent of workers would like more time off to pursue an arts hobby, and 38 per cent have already changed their working hours to accommodate outside interests. If any other proof were required a Graduate Career survey in 2003 discovered that graduates value work flexibility over pay and that the British (who allegedly have the longest working week in Europe) would rather work more sensible hours than win the nation's lottery.

It seems pretty clear that employers who fail to heed this groundswell of need are going to find it tough when competing for people.

And Britain isn't alone in thinking working hours don't work out. Europeans think so too. Students polled in Belgium, France and Germany by their student unions said they would prefer to work a four- day week, if that was possible. Maybe political apathy has spread to work as well?

There is also a trend for people to request longer vacation periods, or to go on sabbaticals. Equally, the idea of leaving a company for six or nine months and then hoping to pick your job up when you return is gaining popularity. ˜She's gone travelling for six months,' when you call someone's office is an answer I am now hearing all the time.

And this has been followed by a steep rise in interim assignments. Ren Grootaert, managing director of Ernst & Young Executive Temporary Management observes that interim management is now in its second generation and it has changed. ˜Up to five years ago temporary executives were exclusively from the ranks of people who had been made redundant by their companies,' he explained. ˜Today there are young people going straight from university. They like the flexibility. Some of them work an assignment for six to nine months and then take three to six months off. For them it is a lifestyle thing and they have no plans to change that.'

This type of flexibility makes a great deal of sense to employers though. When skills are needed for a new assignment or project, you can quickly hire a contract manager who can do the job and doesn't expect to be around in a year's time. If employees can be flexible like this employers can gain as well.




The New Rules of Engagement(c) Life-Work Balance and Employee Commitment
Performance Tuning for Linux(R) Servers
ISBN: N/A
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 131

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