How companies failed a Trust Exam by Coronavirus
Remote work hasn’t been an option for most companies. Suddenly, it became the only possible one. Does it mean that automatically employers started to trust their employees?
Nope. Definitely not.
Wall Street Journal
Corporate Rebels wrote an awesome article. There’s an example of WSJ communication to their employees about remote work policy.
Respond within few minutes to a Slack or Google Hangout message from your colleagues. Let your manager know when you are taking a break, conducting an interview, in a meeting, or will otherwise be unavailable for a while.
Keep your phone’s ringer turned on and answer it when it rings. Now is not the time to screen calls.
No comments needed.
Comarch — IT company
I would call Comarch a traditional Polish company. It means that the hierarchy in the company is very important and it is a reflection of superiority/inferiority. Usually, in such companies, there is one “generous” autocratic leader that has huge authority (if you are interested in reasons why Polish companies tend to be like this, one of my previous articles would be a good start).
Unfortunately one of the characteristics of such companies is that they have a strong need for controlling people.
What are the results of this dangerous mixture of lack of trust and need to control people?
The board of the company forbade employees to work from home unless an employee fills out the form explaining why you want to do that. You have to have a serious reason, otherwise, you got rejected.
It is not even funny anymore. It is dangerous.
A small company from the architecture industry
Speaking of controlling people…
All employees of the small architecture company in Poland started to work remotely as COVID-19 pandemic fired up. Before it happened, the thoughtful employer decided to install a software that was supposed to “help” everyone work remotely.
Everything seems okay so far right?
On Friday, after the first week of remote work, one of the employees received a report from a manager… saying more or less:
- Monday — you spent 5.5 hours working
- Tuesday — you spent 4.5 hours working and additionally 10 minutes searching for a new job.
- (…)
Take a look at this helpful software:
The good thing is that he will no longer be a part of this company. It’s his decision. Good for him.
Not enough?
Few other examples:
- Working from home only for parents
- 3–4 hours long online conferences (guess, for what?)
- Management is working from home, but regular employees have to be in the office (it’s sick!)
No matter if a company is big, small, international or local — there are plenty of examples available showing how employers do not trust their employees.
I believe that such a set of behaviors leads to active disengagement at the workplace.
If people:
- feel like someone is spying on them
- do not feel safe at work — we are in the middle of word pandemic for god’s sake!
- have to check in and check out each time taking a dumb (Yes, daddy, I’ve finished, can I go out now?)
They will not be engaged nor motivated at work. What is the price of active disengagement? Let’s see Gallup’s research:
Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion in lost productivity per year
Companies already lost a lot of money because of the pandemic. Additional costs might be the final nail in the coffin for some of them.
“We trust you”
I loved Corporate Rebel’s 3-word remote work policy: “We trust you”.
I would add from myself one more: “We trust and support you”. It’s everything that you want to hear from your employer. If you did, you are in the right place — if you did not… maybe it is time to rethink your career choices.
