Is your workplace managed by fear? During a recent BBC documentary about the leadership style of former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, a section that looked at how effective fear is as a management technique. That is, making your staff scared of you. Former players admitted that this was a key element to instilling discipline.When you’re managing a large group of young and highly paid men of sizable ego, it makes sense that some good old fashioned scariness can help to reinforce order into a workplace.Of course most workplaces aren’t like this. But it seems that a fear factor amongst employees is still important in the functioning of a unit. This can have good and bad consequences.
More sick staff report to work for the fifth year in a row
Around a third of employers reported another increase in the number of staff coming into work when they are ill, according to the CIPD Absence Management Survey 2015.More than half of the 600 employers surveyed also said that they hadn’t tried to discourage the rise in ‘staff presenteeism’.The survey found that it most likely to happen in organisations where long working hours are the norm and operational demands take precedence over employee well-being. Its tone was almost as if this should be casually accepted as a given, which is perhaps itself symptomatic of a wider cultural phenomenon in the UK.This could be more common in some areas or sectors than others, but if often appears like work comes first, personal health is less important, and the fear management technique rules everything.
Fewer UK workers seeking new roles
Reports like the next one come out all the time, and results usually tend to fluctuate. Like the ONS monthly employment figures, which this month make for positive reading, they just go up and down. A simple indicator of economic health, they are political footballs that make easy headlines.However, this survey from ‘best practice insight and technology company’ CEB, and released exclusively to Recruiter, may have genuine international interest.In spite of record numbers of job vacancies being posted, apparently fewer UK workers are actively seeking new roles. Fear? Lack of ambition? More workers generally being content where they are? You might guess at any number of reasons.
CEB’s Global Talent Monitor revealed that 37.8 per cent of UK employees have a “strong intention” to stay in their jobs. This is more than other markets including the US and Australia, and significantly below the global average of 42.7 per cent.
[Read our blog: Balancing Childcare And Work]
Nervous About Going Home On Time
A couple of weeks ago there was actually a Go Home on Time Day in the UK. This was part of a campaign to encourage people to keep to their allotted work hours.Clearly it’s considered that there is a broad need for this. Again, arguably a cultural quirk is at play here. Like abstaining from a lunch break, being seen to be working for much longer than an allotted time can be a point of professional pride. ‘Look how late I’m staying, what a perfectionist I am and how hard I’m working,’ rather than ‘look how disorganised I am that I can’t get all my work done within a reasonable time.’It can be infectious and competitive in certain workplaces, perhaps for the good of businesses if not for the good of individuals’ health, mental and physical. Workers could be penalised for being efficient, and fear of others could again be a factor.
Is Your Workplace Ruled By Fear?
Fear can be a necessary motivational and disciplinarian force in the workplace. For an outsider, it can also be entertaining to watch.As reality ‘business’ show The Apprentice returns for another series, it seems promotion of the fear management technique is as strong as ever. If the reactions and decisions of the all powerful Lord Sugar weren’t fearful enough, his new assistant is the equally scary Claude, previously used as an intimidating character at interview stage.It should also be remembered that in the real world fear as a management technique can also be corrosive and negatively impact multiple lives. Consider if the management style you currently adopt, or are subjected to, is largely positive for your work. And if not, attempt to address it with practical solutions.If you’re seeking new work in office administration, construction, catering or care, get in touch with us at Atlantic Resource.
