A few days ago I was chatting with a former colleague about “the good old days” at our old workplace. We had a few laughs as we recalled some of the less-humorous experiences that eventually inspired both of us to leave.
One particular event from my time there stands out in my memory as a significant leadership lesson.
One day in late Fall, the organization’s executive management team sent out an email offering an opportunity for the hourly employees to work some overtime in order to clean up some back-logged work.
Eager for the opportunity to make a little more money, people responded to the request for help. In less than 2 hours they had ample volunteers to resolve the backlog.
People made alternate child care arrangements, called to re-schedule shared commutes and to ensure their older kids had rides to and from their nightly activities.
Less obviously, they also made plans for the extra money they would see in their next pay check. This last-minute opportunity was viewed by many as manna from heaven that would serve as holiday gift money, the funds needed to replace worn-out tires or the means to pay an overdue medical bill.
People moved quickly from “Yes, I’ll help!” to knowing that this month their financial situation was a little better.
Then, someone in the executive suite got a “better” idea.
They decided to hire an outside company to take care of all of the work instead.
Just like that, the opportunity for overtime was gone.
The company had every right to make the decision and from a financial or even productivity perspective it might have been the best decision; but it was not the best decision from a leadership perspective.
No short-term cost-savings can balance the goodwill that was squandered that day. Wronged employees have very long memories.
This may seem petty and childish, but you need to understand the mindset of the people working for you: once they said “yes” and rearranged their lives, they felt an ownership of those hours and were already counting the extra money as theirs. When the C-suite took the opportunity away, it had the same effect as taking money out of their paychecks.
I’m not suggesting that executives should make decisions by tip-toeing around their employees, but with some common sense and a touch of empathy you can have it both ways.
If the C-Suite had asked me (which they did not), I would have suggested that they allow a day or 2 of overtime, and then phase in the consulting company, who would need a day or so to get things up and running, anyway.
Would people still be angry? Some would, certainly, but since there was no set amount of overtime offered, a couple of days and a few hours of overtime would have engendered grateful employees. When combined with the efficiency and cost-savings of the consulting firm, this could have added up to a big win all around.
As leaders we must remain sensitive to the lives of the people who help make our organizations successful. We all juggle families, budgets and busy lives, but many of our employees hold their breath a few days before every payday and wonder which bill they won’t pay when an unexpected expense lands on their doorstep.
Leaders get up every day focused on moving their organizations forward. In the best ones, this applies to people as much as it does to productivity and profits.
Rebecca Harmon is an experienced educator and health care professional with clinical laboratory and health information management expertise. She has served in faculty and administrative roles in U.S. community college and university (public, research) settings. Ms. Harmon is passionate about empowering students to make good decisions about college by ensuring they have access to complete information – especially financial information – before enrolling.
Image courtesy venitism.blogspot.com
