Career Clinic

Career Clinic 

Q

Our chief executive is a stickler for timekeeping and imposes a clock-watching regime on all staff. She doesn’t have a background in social work and cannot see that working

Ben Wilmott

with users of mental health services is not a 9-5 job. Our team is hard working and her jobsworth attitude is getting us down. What can we do?

A

Employers are entitled to monitor employees’ performance and behaviour in order to record output and absence. However, it should be done in a way that recognises the particular demands of a job and does not de-motivate employees.

According to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, staff who feel subjected to tight monitoring typically have more negative attitudes to their employer and suffer higher levels of stress.

Most managers would prefer a team that does not need constant surveillance, so they can manage bigger issues, rather than every detail. Motivated staff are less likely to slacken off as soon as their manager is absent.

Your chief executive will be measured on your success, so she should want to know staff concerns. When raising them be tactful because your chief executive may have a perfectly good explanation as to why staff need to work fixed hours.

It might help to highlight some of the benefits surrounding flexible working. Giving staff control over working patterns can mean higher levels of satisfaction, motivation and performance.

All parents with children under the age of six and disabled children under the age of 18 have the right to request flexible working and employers must seriously consider any requests.

Ben Willmott is employee relations adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

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