For several decades, human resources management called for empowerment instead of control over employees. Successful HR management depended on encouraging workers to innovate through engagement in their work. The focus was on taking responsibility for the work outcome, in both quantity of work and quality of work. In stead of just “getting the job done efficiently” employees were empowered to go the extra mile and WOW customers with exceptional service.
While the majority of HR Managers would still subscribe to the empowerment style of management, called Theory Y, I am seeing a strong return to the controlling style - known as Theory X - and the treatment of labour as a commodity with minimum wage mentality. This trend is driven by technology and by the significant use of artificial intelligence (AI). If in doubt, just look at the following examples:
- In the hospitality industry, employees in fast food outlets are monitored by cameras for their adherence to instructions and most rigid tasks.
- Warehouse employees picking orders are constantly under electronic surveillance and their productivity scrutinized. Actually, at some large firms, computerised data can issue automatic warnings, and after the third warning, deliver a dismissal notice to employees unless the immediate supervisor over-rides the system decision.
- The TELECOM companies that sell phone service and advertise “let’s talk” actually discourage customers from calling them (it takes up too much time!).
- Banks that used to have Managers at their branches are now staffed with no Managers where all decisions are made centrally. Branch employees are merely following strict computer processes. As a result, most generation Z have never visited a bank branch.
- In professional firms, more and more employees are substituted by contractors, free lancers and temp workers that are paid at piece rates, negotiated on who can offer the best price.
- Retailers are pushing their customers to self check-out their purchases with automated machines to save on labour (and ask me if these automated machines always work!).
- Doctors and dentists’ offices have no administrative assistants. Patients have become data entry clerks to fill-in the required medical details and book their own appointments.
- Significant growth of part-time workers in the work force. Part-timers that are paid minimum wage, have no benefits and have not even a weekly schedule. They are called to work or dismissed with less than few hours notice.
- More and more employers are hiring people on fixed term contracts, creating a two-tier category of employees: the have and the have not.
- Truck drivers that used to be selected for their experience are now managed by following AI and algorithms that dictate the route, driving practices, “allowed” stops: all through using an array of electronic surveillance tools that check every move.
These examples could be labeled as contributors of efficiency, faster service, and improved quality in terms of better, faster, cheaper. This may be somewhat true, but such efficiency and automation can also mean a narrow-minded priority to “money driven decisions”, with greediness at its root.
If these examples do not remind of Theory X, then what does? Robots and computerised systems that help increase productivity, improve quality, and perform at lower costs are okay for repetitive routine tasks, but treating employees as machines is not the right progression for the 21st century and the future.
The challenge isn’t whether or not to choose control or empowerment, but how to strike the right balance in serving all stakeholders with excellence, while sustaining the performance and engagement over time.
REMEMBER … Happy and healthy employees = Happy Customers = Happy Profits!