TECHNICAL MYTHS THAT KILL CORPORATE STAFF LOYALTY Prisca is known to be a late night worker in one of the largest Consulting firms. Strangely, what she does after 5 pm is not work associated with her employer, but her own assignments. She does not feel guilty as the kind of clients she serves are those that cannot afford the services of her employer. She affords a descent lifestyle – much above what her official earnings can afford; and is never agitated about the seemingly uncompetitive annual salary increments by her employer. There is a belief among technical services providers that approves of what Prisca does. If you are a consultant, auditor, mechanic, IT Technician or any other form of technical services provider and a client has not called you aside to offer services as a person, then you should question your competencies. Many professionals in such fields find themselves in situations in which they are taken to tasks by needy clients who may not engage their employers for issues to do with costs. Many of such arrangements are often first moving with incentives like immediate payments or even prompt money transfers for the services. Some of the services are carried out during weekends and after work and private email addresses are used. The reality behind such services is that there are enterprises that are focused to accrue growth but cannot afford to engage the services of the established consultancy firms. Secondary to this is the fact that with the insatiable nature of human wants, even an exceptionally competitive remuneration cannot challenge the thirst for e few extra coins. It is important to realities that some of the competencies that these people have are bankable- every business regardless of their position in the growth profile looks forward to engaging them. There is however an outstanding and acceptable ethical opposition to this trend. Every work place requires that its employees dedicate all their efforts to their assignments and any attempt to endeavor into offering services to another business entity while in employment is not acceptable. The reasons for this could span from conflict of interest for firms that have some conflicting relationships or the need to maximize focus, concentration and energy to the assignment and contracted job. It is logical to recognize that after handling all those additional person clientele responsibilities, you certainly will not have the required energy to handle the next of your employer’s duties. The impression that comes with staff being awarded private assignment is that they are competent and are recognized outside their scope of the official assignment. This is supposed to be a positive confirmation for a progressive employer. However, in the interest of staff dedication to their work, this is a controversial positive. Some employers have put in place very clear policy provisions that attract harsh punishment for employees who get contracted privately and are caught engaging in private related business. What makes the distinction then for staff that choose to invest in something that is not in line with their employer’s line of business? Are employers supposed to support personal development? What if the personal development avenue is just in line with the employee professions? There is normally a very thin line in the answers to what defines unacceptable personal development option. This often causes a lot of conflict and many such employers loose key staff. Employes at some point in time may find it lucrative to go on their own or to resort to partial contractual relationships with their employers. The latter may take the form of associate service providers who are called on for specific one off services for which they are paid. In principle, this is how many consultancy or technical services entities hit the road. Patrick surprised many of his workmates when he approached a Partner at the Audit firm where he worked to request his contract to be changed to be on Associate terms. He was trading off his relatively competitive salary package which consisted of a car allowance and an exceptional medical cover for his entire family. One of the worries that the Partner expressed was the level of commitment that he would have to the firm especially where his profile needed to be pitched in a bid for client engagements. His decision was irreversible and has to date ceased to have any involvement with this employer – even as an Associate staff. Organizations deserve to focus on the strategic choice of clients and not consider incorporating low cost clients in order to prevent their staff from taking such jobs. Perhaps the challenge is how to manage the reality while mitigating such risks as lack of dedication in core assignments. Employers need to embrace the reality of staff building up on their private practice into establishing their firms. Non accepting and attracting severe punishments for symptoms of such tendencies will certainly brand one as a non preferred employer. There are trends in the market in which employers have introduced incentives for jobs of whatever financial magnitude that are introduced to the company by the employees. Some employers allow staff to bring in their private assignments, provided that they are rightfully declared and the time spent on them accounted for. To some employers a percentage of the contract value for the private assignment is payable to the company, owing to the time and other resources spent on the assignment. Some employers deduct an equivalence of the duration spent on private assignments from the regular remunerations. The most exceptional initiative is where the employer offers to pay employers who have chosen to be external contractors some nominal remuneration with specified monthly investment in the company to enhance their loyalty. Striving to enact disciplinary previsions to guard off private employee commitments may be costly with significant implications on the ability of an organization to attract and retain high profile and seasonable technical services providers. The solution may rely on managing the realities and mitigating the risks.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 15:28:12 +0000
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