Einstein Was Right
One of the
great quests of science in a modern era has been the effort to
prove, disprove or modify Einsteins theories, including his
great general theory of relativity. Among other things, that
theory includes an imaginary Journey of the Mind in which a
person on a starship moves faster and faster, approaching the
speed of light. The closer the astronaut gets to the speed of
light the more quickly time would appear to pass on earth as
compared to the apparent normal passage of time on the
starship.
Einstein developed his theory based
upon a thought experiment. Instead of doing this work in a
sophisticated high-tech laboratory, Einstein, the young clerk
in a Swiss patent office, would go for walks and think about
what if scenarios.
The HR Doctor proposes that Einsteins
thought-problem about the relative passage of time is
absolutely correct. The proof is not the type of experiment
which would win the Nobel Prize in physics. Rather, the proof
is around us everyday especially on Mondays.
When we come back to work on a Monday
morning, the robotically asked question we encounter from
co-workers How was your weekend? is typically answered with
Fine, but too short!
When the speed of our life
activities changes, as it does on a weekend for most of
us Monday-through-Friday employees, time seems to move at a
relatively different pace. Time seems to move faster on a
weekend or on a day off for many people than it does on a
typical workday.
Another proof lies in what happens to
all of us as we grow older. The secret to time travel appears
to be nothing more than the aging process.
Time seems to crawl by at glacial
speeds when we are in the middle of a college final
examination or pacing back and forth in the hallway as a young
parent with a fussy baby at 2 a.m. However, as we grow older, the pace
at which events move past us and our experiences are deposited
into our life savings account seems to quicken.
Now that the validity of the time
travel thought-problem has been solved in only a few lines,
let us move on to some practical HR tips to help make time
travel easier.
The best and the brightest job
applicant and current employees are the ones on whom we need
to increase our focus.
In public administration, we spend far
too much time focusing on the borderline, marginal performers
who seem chronically unable to meet their job commitments to
get projects done on time, to show up when they are supposed
to, and to serve the public and their fellow employees with
respect and efficiency.
Attracting and retaining positive
can-do employees will not happen with the traditional models
of the 19th century workplace continuing to be applied in the
21st century. Our policies need to be more nimble and
flexible, and quickly adaptable to changing
circumstances.
As the HR doctor has written
previously, the modern workplaces needs are increasingly
inconsistent with a classical civil service model approach
that seemed to work well one 125 years ago. The need for
flexibility and adaptability seems also increasingly
inconsistent with an entitlement philosophy in which
employees feel that they are wrapped in an outfit made of a
combination of Kevlar and Teflon. This feeling is usually
accompanied by the attitude that the employee cannot or will
not be sanctioned, counseled or helped to develop by
supervisors in the organization.
One answer is to begin a conscious move
toward creating benefit models that go beyond merely rewarding
seniority without consideration of attitude, performance and
contribution.
Some agencies have an employee of the
month program in which a particular employee is recognized
based upon documented performance excellence and rewarded with
a close-in parking place or lunch with the county
manager.
Other places have implemented a rapid
reward bonus program in which documented performance
excellence translates right away into a days pay or an extra
day off. The word rapid in this concept means that an
employee who does a great job today doesnt have to wait for
nine or 10 months, if not longer, before the performance
evaluation is completed to receive recognition.
Flexible scheduling offering some
workers the chance to better balance their work life with
other personal needs such as time with children or
grandchildren, returning to school or pursuing hobbies, or
offering some work-at-home options represents very tangible
and compelling demonstrations of appreciation and
recognition.
Managers and supervisors simply pausing
to say thank you are further and extremely cost-effective
examples of how to make the workplace link between performance
and reward more effective.
As another example, given our nations
failure to implement any compelling vision for health
insurance, a highly valuable benefit would be post-employment
insurance, especially for senior retirees. What a wonderful
opportunity to link longer-term performance excellence with a
very powerful benefit of some continued payment for
post-employment health insurance. The same is true of the
increasingly important benefit of long term care
insurance.
On the front end of a persons career
path, creating apprenticeship and internship programs can
jump-start a persons public service career. Rewards such as
an unpaid volunteer being selected to begin a paid internship,
perhaps as an adjunct to a persons college or graduate
schoolwork, represents a very powerful incentive.
Just as Professor Einstein articulated
a connection between speed and time, so the modern public
administrator will increasingly dabble in the physics of
workplace relativity.
The key variable in workplace physics,
however, is that supervisors and managers cannot make this
link unless they are confident, trained and
supported.
Have a supervisory and management
academy in your own organization. Dont shortchange employee
development funding. Make tuition reimbursement a recognized
benefit, especially for managers and professionals. Provide
policies and help through a wonderful employee assistance
program and an HR-ER where managers can get instant and
valuable HR advice 24/7 (see a prior HR Doctor Article, The
HR-ER). Do all of these things to ensure that supervisors are
on-station, paying attention and aware of their critical
responsibilities.
No matter how wonderful various benefit
programs may be, managers and supervisors who are poorly
trained and equipped to deal with HR issues in a confident
manner will get in the way and complicate workplace
transformation. An organization must take the steps to fill
the void left by a lack of training and the confidence to
represent the organization well.
With confident managers, the migration
from one-size-fits-all reward for remaining awake, to a
stronger link between excellence and reward will take shape in
your organization.
One final note on a fringe benefit of
the future, since time seems to move quicker on the weekend,
clearly, the current concept of a five-day work week needs to
give way to something more modern and more
effective.
The HR Doctor suggests a migration from
working five days and having two days off to the opposite
model a two-day work week with five days available for civic
engagement through volunteerism, personal growth through
learning and helping others to learn especially our
children.
Mr. Einstein was right in physics and
also in public administration.
Phil Rosenberg The HR Doctor
www.hrdr.net
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