Looking around at the state of businesses in Britain, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the way we work now isn’t working. According to the Office for National Statistics, 2.8 million people in the UK are off work with long-term sickness – 700,000 more than before the pandemic. Employees at Deliveroo and Uber Eats are striking over pay and conditions. Teachers complain that the hours of unpaid overtime they are expected to work amount to “daylight robbery”. In February, the government responded to a huge trial of reduced working hours by 61 organisations by saying, “We have no plans to introduce a four-day working week,” regardless of how successful the pilot had been. It seems that, across sectors, many workers are feeling disrespected and burnt out, and neither bosses nor policymakers can imagine doing anything differently. But in my experience, work doesn’t have to be this way.
Timpson, the business I joined in 1995, is both successful and takes care of its employees. In fact, I’d argue that we are successful precisely because we take care of our employees. This year we will open 50 new shops, on high streets and in retail parks, recruiting an extra 160 colleagues. I believe that in any business, if you have a strong culture and keep investing in your colleagues, you can survive disruptive times.
We call this culture “upside-down management”. If you sat in one of our board meetings you wouldn’t hear much from Paresh, our finance director, about money, but you’d hear a lot about our colleagues’ happiness, and the levers we use to inspire and care for them. The more money we invest in our culture of kindness, the better the business performs. And so, those colleagues who serve customers have complete authority to do what they think is right. They can ignore guidelines from the office, as long as they stick to our only two rules: put the money in the till and look the part. Everyone else in the business is there to help them, not tell them what to do.
Many businesses that are struggling don’t seem to realise that their most valuable asset isn’t the stock on the shelves, it’s the loyalty and passion of their colleagues. When sales fall, directors usually demand that costs are cut, prices are raised, investment shelved and training ignored. It’s the start of a slippery slope that often leads to higher sickness, low morale and even strikes. While struggling business leaders are locked in meetings planning store closures and job cuts, maybe they could consider another approach.
How might Britain’s employment landscape look if bosses wondered: what if I tried to lead the best company our colleagues have ever worked for? If they offered staff carrots instead of sticks – like free trips to company-owned holiday homes, extra days off on their birthdays and their kids’ first days at school, or even when their pets die? None of these things is impossible, or even difficult to offer. This month, for example, Timpson paid for one colleague to get new teeth, bought another a garden play area for their grandchildren, and a family facing major health issues went on a special trip to Disneyland Paris. It’s not surprising that these colleagues stay with us, and give customers amazing service. To get a lot from workers, it’s only fair to give a lot first.
And what if companies completely changed their leadership style? Did away with budgets, kept meetings to a minimum and banned memos? Timpson’s only standing committee is the “cut the crap” committee, which hunts down pointless reports and processes. You may think it’s old fashioned but I also send a lot of handwritten letters to colleagues to say thank you, and to wish them well in new roles. I doubt any of this is taught in business school.
The best upside-down management techniques will be different for every business, but I wish more managers would start experimenting with doing business a different way, and seeing their colleagues as valuable human beings, not expendable units of production.
Employment statistics aren’t just bellwethers of the economy and changing times; they also say a lot about the way we treat each other and the kind of country we want to live in. Running any business is difficult, but it helps when colleagues love their jobs, feel trusted and are valued. The happier they are, the better the customer’s experience will be, and the more likely the name above the door will survive – and workers in Britain won’t have to feel broken.
James Timpson is the CEO of the five-generation, family-owned company Timpson and the author of The Happy Index: Lessons in Upside-Down Management
