Employers who focus only on the bottom line and ignore employees' concerns will lose out in the long run
People power in Tunisia and Egypt has swept away governments that have ignored the will of citizens for decades. And in Libya, violence has flared after an attempt to oust Colonel Gaddafi. The wave of unrest could spread across the Middle East and may extend beyond the region to emerging economies and nascent democracies.
The revolutions in North Africa were sparked by a blend of self-servicing wealth, a refusal to allow democratic rights and a lack of engagement with the population. As Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote during the Great Depression: "True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made."
In the wake of the upheavals, there are key points for workplaces to consider. First, it is crucial for business leaders and senior managers to keep in touch with employees, and to understand what they are feeling. This is usually done through employee surveys but unfortunately too many of these are tick-the-box exercises, leading to much navel gazing but little action. The surveys are used more to benchmark organisations against other employers, rather than as a way to assess fresh strategies. They give employees a chance to have a say, without much being done to meet their concerns.
Second, leaders must spend more time on the shop floor, gaining frontline experience before research is carried out. There is much talk in HR literature about workplace engagement, involving employees in decision-making that affects their jobs and asking for ideas they may have for new products and services. Many organisations measure engagement against industry norms, but they don't understand what it means or how to create the right culture. This is especially hard to achieve in hierarchy-based workplace systems, where managers feel they must be seen to be decisive, hard-nosed and authoritative.
Third, although we talk increasingly about the importance of workplace communication, we are spending less time showing this skill. Technology has taken us partly away from our colleagues, and bosses from their subordinates, as we keep in touch more and more through our laptops than in face-to-face meetings.
In February, there was outrage when British soldiers were made redundant by email. The army issued a swift apology but the damage had already been done. There is a glimmer of hope, though, with some organisations banning intranet emails within the same building to encourage more interaction between colleagues.
Greater workplace dialogue would help to identify problems, as well as opportunities, and would be a first step towards better engagement and a stronger sense of community at work.
If business leaders and senior managers fail to change behaviour patterns, keeping their eyes firmly fixed on the bottom line to the exclusion of employees, it will be a gamble they, and the country, cannot afford in tough economic times.
Work doesn't have to be a nine-to-five slog, it can also offer meaning and value to a person's life, as well as providing a living. The challenge for leaders is to recreate a family atmosphere at work, where everybody pulls together for shared rewards.
