Are Risk Regulations Another Form of Corporate Bullying?

The other day I was working with a banker who has found himself in a ‘golden hamster wheel’ which may end up killing him. Whilst poor regulation in the financial world contributed to the global recession, the risk regulations now introduced are producing a new type of paranoia and stress.

This young man, earning in excess of £150k, is working on average 18 hours per day every day of the week, not just for a couple of weeks, but for the past 6 months – endlessly, including all through Christmas and now through Easter holidays. The lack of sleep, proper food or exercise is not just adding darker circles under his eyes, but it is eating away at his confidence, affecting his home life and actually putting his employer once again at risk. In fact this man is worse off than any labourer in the third world down a mineshaft – apart from his salary - but for what?

What sort of society are we, if we are asking our staff – regardless of what they are paid, - to work 18 – 20 hours per day, day after day and expect accuracy, high application of intelligence – and of course: risk free? The paranoia starts with management’s need to check, re-check and counter-sign all work undertaken by all staff involved in deals and transactions in the bank. However, the pace of the work demands that the turnaround on this checking is covered within the ordinary time of a deal – even though it actually requires triple the activity. As many teams reduced, due to the recession, staff are doing at least 2 jobs. The addition of triple check paranoia causes an appalling bottle-neck, organisations are effectively bullying staff to work these hours. With threats of losing jobs, of course staff will do whatever they think they need to do to keep in work, even if it could kill them.

Corporate Bullying – a new phenomenon?

Is this form of regulation, resulting in the checks etc., actually demoralising staff to the point where they simply lose sight of how to use their judgement and assess risk for themselves? The recent allegations of bullying at No.10, reflects an abhorrence of any form of individual bullying. Surely though, we now have a much deeper problem with what is effectively Corporate Bullying.

Driven by the threat of losing major clients, or being sued for malpractice or any sniff of money laundering – take your pick – results in everyone in the organisation colluding to insist on these ludicrous hours of work to become standard – and expected. Lawyers, bankers, deal makers all work through the night, day after day nervously covering their backs hoping they cannot be blamed for any mistakes. What drives this is both the desire to get the deal struck, but also to cover all the due diligence, and research before the signatures – and there just is not the time. Globalisation has exacerbated this and has given us permission to insist staff are like the Associate in John Grisham’s book (the Associate) working in darkened basements, with a sleeping bag under the desk and colleagues dropping like flies around him, feint from lack of sleep and food.

Can we have a moratorium to reduce the pace?

How can we stop this slippery slope of corporate madness so that our talented people are not burnt out by the age of 40? Organisations could:

• Re-visit the drivers for the speed of transaction
• Re-educate clients about the need for speedy turnaround times – are they really so disinterested or callous that they don’t mind staff working 20/7 on their deals?
• Agree a moratorium between major professions to stop this lunacy.

Will your firm be brave enough to be the first to sign up?

• Are you feeling pressured, to work these hours in your team?
• Are you having mistakes made by staff doing ‘all-nighters’?
• do you have staff off with sudden bouts of sickness,?
• have you had any suicides in your organisation because of the way your staff are managed and driven?

Why do the young bloods’ believe that this pace can be kept up till they are 40 – 45 by when they hope to have made enough ‘dosh’ to retire into something easier? I know a number of people in their late 30s who have now decided to stop the race, find a mate, get married and have children. However, by then they find they have become such work junkies they are impossible to live with and can be doomed to a lonely time in their hamster wheel.

Our world has gone topsy-turvy, the hamsters are definitely in the wheels, spinning away, faster and faster in case someone decides to make them redundant. Relentlessly they are in the office, on the end of the Blackberry or ‘FirmFone’ (Grisham’s invention).

Will it take corporate deaths to get any sense?

What will it take for major institutions, Governments around the world and our business federations, to realise it is not individual bullying we should be concerned about – but this wholesale Corporate Bullying that is apparently being condoned in every commercial office and profession by our so called Leaders. What sort of example are they really offering or are they too hardened to even notice?

Will it be a banker’s suicide, or the mental breakdown of a lawyer, or the alcoholic deal maker, or the drug-riddled financier who will finally jog the conscience of the so called Bosses to take some practical action?

Implications of the ageing customer

Scrooge must have flown by, between Christmas and New Year because the mortgage company I had applied to, had cut their original offer by two thirds. We will all be experiencing savage criteria to get any credit – but these experiences are bizarre.

Managing expectations is one of those golden rules with customer service strategies, you just dont over promise and under deliver, unless you deliberately want to lose customers, or you simply dont care.

It started as a slow creeping sensation, when I realised that all was not well three weeks ago, but my broker just didnt have the courage to flag up that I had got older (hmm, what a surprise) and so could not borrow as much as before Christmas. Yes, me too, I am aging. I thought I had put my date of birth on the form so it came as a bad shock to learn that the world of finance is now making fresh assumptions about my health and ability to work.

Shifting sands and criteria:

No one asked me, nor told me, at the start of the house hunting process just how demanding or time consuming this would all be and that it would include these ageist and complex criteria. As each new requirement to be met comes through, (3rd set of bank and savings statements, and even going back to the solicitors statement accounting for the home I sold in 2003!) I have to stop all else and deal with the latest baffling request. And it is baffling just why some of the information and forms are needed at all, and with no explanations. Unfortunately the mortgage broker is apparently as confused as I am: there is definitely a training need for him and an education for us the customer, and quickly.

The recession has placed inordinate pressure on those selling and delivering service, for example:

• the estate agent did over sell the actual state of the house (it wasnt fully tanked and lined),
• the insurance broker delayed responding so I would have to stay with the more expensive product, and so on.

On the other hand due to recent redundancies, we are now not getting the service we have come to believe is standard, due to a lack of personnel, so:

• the lawyer hasnt chased up the other side to resolve key questions.
• another financial services company has lost a critical certificate and is hiding behind their processes as an excuse for not dealing with the problem for at least 4 weeks.

Develop Greying Processes:

Organisations have been developing strategies to link their brand values to the performance of their staff at the front line, they are in danger of losing the good will they have won if they go on ignoring these warning signs.

The Governments message which is on the TV, radio and in newspapers at the moment, is that we should be saving, building our pension pots, etc., because, yes it is official: we are living longer. There are going to be more and more of us getting older and of course we have been brought up on the concept of customer service. It is no longer acceptable to fob off the little old lady in a dismissive manner, or to assume because we have greying hair we cant hear and are stupid in some way.

Organisations need to consider how to take advantage of this large population who will continue to have a big buying power. It will require a re-think of many aspects of business operation that we take for granted are easy for the current target market. So you should review your business plan and objectives in the light of:

• the use of technology, as although more of us are using the internet – not everyone does, could you be excluding a large market?
• How old are your staff, as people buy from people, so should you employ those who can empathise most effectively?
• How flexible are your reward mechanisms to meet aging staff needs?

This will be a growing subject matter as we all experience the rush and tumble of modern day life but what changes to deal with our ageing. Bright organisations will be ahead of the game, and start to develop their understanding that 70 is the new 55!

The Full Article can be read on www.callcentre.co.uk.

Vodaphone Dongle 3x more expensive with no notification to customers

Eeek!!! Just got Vodaphone Dongle Invoice (for South Africa) now charging 3x more with no notification to customers - anyone else caught out? Feedback please!

Do you want me to come back?

It was busy this New Years Eve in Cape Town, and maybe that is why the Police (apparently in the next street) didnt hear the gunshot fired at my familys taxi. The five of them were going to HQ night club, Very VIP guests of Johnnie Vaughan and were in a great mood for fun.

Charlie had been leaning forward to look at the shops, and in the flick of an eyes second as she sat back the bullet shot past her forehead, an inch away from killing her, and flew behind Dougs head, smashing through the off-side front passenger window. Glass splintered everywhere, and in the seconds of gasped breath, Dermot shouted: Drive, drive, drive – out of here! to the rather nonplussed taxi driver.

We reported the incident to the Police who were polite but did nothing.

The house letting agent offered counselling, but did nothing. I didnt think that would help: we needed answers. Over the following 7 days, the Police still did nothing, but we all had a growing sense of outrage that no one believed or cared about the incident. The standard response was: well no one was hurt (apart from some minor cuts), were they? Maybe it was a firecracker.

Where is the fine line between customer services and public relations?

The relationship between each one of us and another person is all about trust, faith and a degree of honesty about the situation we all find ourselves in. Usually, and in most instances, this can be a wonderful and satisfactory experience. When it goes wrong – surely we should be working doubly hard to put the situation right?

In fact Vicky wrote about the experience in the Irish Mail – and via the UK it got into the Cape Town newspapers – and reflected badly on the collective civic response.

Double the effort:

If we liken this frightening experience with any everyday customer service experience there are some similarities:

• You don't expect to have a bad experience;
• Being disbelieved only exacerbates your sense of disgust, alienation and frustration
• Your experience is your reality (there really was a bullet shell, broken glass and cuts)
• The memory of the experience is longer lasting than any good experience

Oddly many of us have a higher percentage of negative thoughts than positive: as much as 80% negativity. South Africas government should be working doubly hard to ensure that their country is safe and sound for all the football fans who will be out there in June, 2010 for the World Cup. It was such a shame we had this experience, as it is the most glorious country with many wonderful people, beautiful cities and towns.

A remedy?

What would you have done to advise the Police, if you were in their team? I would suggest you'd say:

• Empathise with the experience, and try to find out exactly what happened;
• Identify what would help to address the situation and then take action;
• If it is high profile, then ensure your PR team are in involved to help mitigate any negative outcomes
• Publicly offer to ensure this sort of incident is rare.

Getting it right is really very easy if your organisation (and you) is genuinely interested in delivering excellence time and time again as you want the customers back, time and time again. If you go to Hout Bays Sunday Market you will find lots of locals selling wood carvings, pottery, sparkly jewellery, etc., and will spend precious time tailoring items to suit you there and then – with wonderful smiles.

Insincerity, lack of guidance for staff at the front line, or inadequate leadership just highlight the gaps: the difference between what you say and what you do.

But that was 31 December 2009 – now we are in a New Year, so maybe things will get better? I hope so, and every day I thank God that my daughter is alive and well.

The Full Article can be read on www.callcentre.co.uk

Crisis control: Legal Marketing Interview

Read Graham Jarvis' article 'Crisis control' about how to implement the changes necessary in times of fiscal trauma without irrevocably damaging a firm’s culture and the services it offers.

Trafalgar's Patricia Wheatley Burt was interviewed about how to keep staff engaged, productive and mindful of achieving high quality results.

The Future of the Legal Profession

Trafalgar in collaboration with Fast Futures Limited is scoping a book and report on The Future of the Legal Profession - 2020 and beyond. Fast Futures is a ground breaking company working with Governments, Banks and global Law Firms (to mention only a few clients) to identify global future trends. This will look at the likely shifts in structure and leadership in law firms, delivery of legal services and even a common legal system throughout the world.

We are delighted to invite all our blog followers to contribute to the initial research via an online questionnaire. If you read this but are not a law firm, you will note that this questionnaire also includes those who use legal services. It would be great if you could pass this on to the lawyers that you use too.

The questionnaire can be completed online, the link is: Law Firm 2020 Questionnaire. We would really appreciate your thoughts.

Global Sponsorship: We already have a number of renowned companies interested in sponsoring this project. If your organisation would be interested in exploring sponsorship options we would be delighted to discuss this in more detail.

Careers Panel advice for Legal Executive Journal

With tentative signs of economic reality, does 2010 promise job hunters a more active market? The Careers panel finds some hop but also many factors to consider.

February's questions included:

• How is the recruitment market looking for 2010? I would like to move on but have held off because I was just happy to have a job. Now though, with talk of the recession coming to an end, I've been busy updating my CV.

The Legal Executive Journal's Careers Panel is aimed at providing practical advice and answering questions readers may have about any aspect of the careers process.

The members of the panel have a broad range of background and experience and includes Trafalgar Director - Patricia Wheatley Burt.

Golden Grey Heads – Let’s Keep ‘Em!

It is good that this topic is now raising its golden grey head above the parapet. For too long our society has chosen to laud the young and dismiss the over 50s as terrible 'has beens', and without a doubt,some are!

Having just spent 4 weeks in South Africa of unutterable indulgence and indeed indolence, I am now absolutely certain that I couldn’t do the endless rounds of nothingness for the rest of my life. At 57 I realise I have at least another 15 - 20 years of energy, ideas, enthusiasm and sheer brilliance which should continue to put to good use for the good of my clients and their businesses.

However, we all have to shift our attitudes to the concept of employing and being served by people over a certain age. I think age should not be the difference, rather the attitude and competence of the individual whilst realising that their physical being will be key. We only invented retirement ages from heavy physical work, and now that we all live to ripe old ages it really is an outmoded concept that should be swept away.

Critical to all this though, is how Partners and managers will tackle those who are not up to the job: that will be a huge challenge for those who dislike difficult conversations. So when I walk into the office, shuffling, dribbling and talking gibberish: do tell me; (hope you don’t think it has started from this comment!)

So firms need to start developing strategies to prepare for these changes and manage expectations starting in 2010. If you are already developing these – do share them as we are building ideas on best practice.