Developing People…It’s Not Rocket Science.

"Another article from my archives that is as true today as it ever was…written somewhere around 2015-2016 and shows our intention to try and improve the lives of the staff who come and work at Frontline. While not all ideas become reality as you will read below, you can see an intent behind Frontline that continues to this day…"

Not all businesses actively seek out ways to improve the lives of their employees.

I know you find this shocking and hard to believe 😉

But some businesses are stuck in a rut.

They are busy dealing with day-to-day issues and not thinking about long-term people development.

That’s fine if it’s short-term, we all get busy – but good luck if that’s what you do long-term.

Many of our staff have come from businesses like that – it’s one of the main reasons they looked for another job in the first place.

But much worse than apathy…

…some businesses treat their staff like crap.

I’ve met LOTS of job applicants who were not just working in a bad job, but were also treated like crap by their employer, and sometimes their colleagues too.

My own experience in my first full time job in the early 1990’s as a 16-year-old was like that.

I won’t name the company, but it was a large supermarket chain in Australia.

I was forced to work when I was really sick, to the point my doctor even suggested possible legal action over my treatment.

I called in sick one day, but my manager rang me back and demanded that I go to work.

One of the tasks they gave me when I turned up, was to go outside and push one of those massive dumpsters to get it ready for the truck to come and empty it.

It was winter, freezing cold, and I was outside in the pouring rain with a chest infection.

My manager was standing on the loading dock. He was dry…and he just stood there laughing at me.

Asshole.

I used to start work at 5am and work very long hours.

I was one of their best employees.

The longest shift I did was 21 hours.

And it was physical, on your feet for 21 hours type of work.

After a couple of years, they promoted me.

I was transferred to a different branch to take up a new role.

But guess what they did before I got there?

The company removed the title of the role I was going to fill.

So, that meant they didn’t have to give me a salary increase for my ‘promotion’.

Because the role technically didn’t exist anymore.

Even though I had to do the work.

The job still existed of course.

Again…

…assholes.

I remember meeting with one of the senior managers who would visit the branch from time to time…

‘You guys have promoted me but not given me a pay increase. You’ve removed the job title, and I’m now being paid the same as the dude mopping the floor while you expect me to manage a department’ I told him.

‘Here’s the thing, Mark’ he replied…’You have done well to get to this point, now you need to prove yourself. When you prove yourself, we’ll look at your salary’.

‘No.’ I said defiantly. ‘I’ve spent the last two years working my ass off proving myself.’

I lost all motivation and quit shortly after that.

At the point I quit, my working hours were 7:30am – 11:00pm.

I had to cover two shifts.

Why?

Because the night manager quit, and my manager didn’t want to replace him.

So, they made me work the day and the night shift.

Can you imagine how much I hated my life?!

No wonder I became a Grumpy Old Bastard 😉

They had zero interest in helping me develop and improve my life as an employee.

I used to know numerous people in different branches of that company in my region.

Within a couple of years, most of them had quit too.

High turnover.

Much like many companies in the Philippines.

That company simply didn’t give a shit about the staff.

And knowing what I know now – that approach must have cost the company a fortune in constantly hiring and training new victims…err…I mean new staff.

While my example sounds a bit extreme, it’s more common than you think.

Let’s contrast that to an example of how we approach people development in our business.

I’ve started exercising again now my shoulder has mostly healed from surgery a few weeks ago.

I was going to buy a home gym.

And I thought, ‘Why not share it with the staff. I’ll set it up at the office instead of my house’.

Good idea, right?

So, I put up a post on Facebook to see if there was any interest…and a bunch of staff were keen.

But after that, I realised it was a dumb idea.

Mr. Stupid went from idea to implementation a bit too fast!

How can dozens of staff possibly share gym equipment meant for one person?

Ugh.

Time for Plan B!

I took a survey of the staff to see who’d be interested in me finding a corporate gym membership vs the office gym idea.

About 50% of responses asked for the corporate membership, 30% wanted the office gym and 20% wanted nothing.

So, I went hunting for a corporate deal.

We visited “Golds Gym and Fitness First”, the two main gyms in our area.

By Friday, we had the required minimum number of 15 staff to get the heavily discounted corporate deal at Golds Gym

Five days – idea to reality.

Most people sit on ideas like this for months and don’t do anything.

I’d rather have a go and fail, than sit on an idea and do nothing.

It took Jandy several days of work to make it all happen, including a few headaches along the way trying to get everyone on the same page.

It’s a little bit like trying to herd cats into a room.

But hopefully the staff will enjoy the new benefit 🙂

What’s next in Frontline’s World to help improve the lives of employees?

Our business is far from perfect, and I’m quite sure no employee expects perfection either.

There are always issues to deal with.

And I know there are issues I haven’t even heard about yet.

But if we help develop people and make their lives better, it will reduce turnover, increase satisfaction among staff and clients, and increase productivity.

Everyone is better off.

And aside from the business justifications…

It’s just the right thing to do.

Seems obvious to me.

What do you think?