The boss of a prestigious accounting firm has admitted he hates seeing his staff go out for coffee while they are clocked in, especially as he has extended his weekends.
Greg Keith, CEO of Grant Thornton Australia, fronted the Australian Financial Review’s podcast, 15 Minutes with the Boss, on Tuesday.
Keith made headlines last March for offering his employees a nine-day work fortnight, giving them a long weekend every two weeks.
Despite the generous hours, Keith said some Grant Thornton staff are still guilty of wasting time leaving the office for coffee in large groups.
When asked what his ‘pet hate’ in the office was, he said: ‘(Staff) came downstairs for coffee and saw 15 people in one of the teams queuing up, waiting for the 15th person. He’ll have his coffee before everyone comes back upstairs.
‘It took them 30 or 40 minutes to get a coffee. “That’s just a huge waste of time and efficiency.”
He said the introduction of a shorter working fortnight has increased his awareness of making time in the office count.
“When we created our nine-day fortnight, it was really to address those kinds of issues, to say to people, ‘If we can use our time more efficiently, we’ll give that time back to you.'”
Greg Keith (pictured), chief executive of accounting firm Grant Thornton, admitted he hates seeing large groups of workers drinking coffee.
Keith explained that groups of 15 workers can take “30 or 40 minutes to get a coffee.”
‘We talk about all those types of behaviors.
‘We said, how much time do you spend on your phone and on your social media, and how much time do you spend just walking around, drinking coffee, etc.?
‘If you can reduce those things, it won’t be difficult to find half an hour a day that we’ll give you back at the end of the fortnight. You can take a day off.
While the company is still working out how the nine-day fortnight can work best, Keith said its “huge” advantages are already evident.
‘Our retention rates are the highest they have ever been. The mental well-being of our people is the best it has ever been. “Our engagement scores are the best they’ve ever been and we’re getting more production in less time, so it’s worth pursuing,” he said.
When Keith first announced the nine-day fortnight trials, he said the company would consider reducing it to just eight (four-day work weeks) if it was “extremely successful”.
Keith made headlines last March for offering his employees a nine-day work fortnight, giving them a long weekend every two weeks.
“With so many professional services workers reporting increased stress and health problems, we remain convinced that the current system is broken,” Keith said at the time.
‘We will be bold in trying something different because we want a better outcome for our people and our customers. We see a compelling opportunity to improve quality, customer service and the well-being of our people.
‘While this trial prioritizes our customers and their expectations, our people will also benefit from additional time to recharge.
“We will be interacting closely with customers throughout the trial to ensure the quality we provide and their experience improves as expected.”