How Can I Handle Management's Strict No-Break Policy Without Hurting Morale?

Challenges in Maintaining a Positive Work Environment

I am working as an HR Manager in the service industry. The strength of the company is around 40 employees, excluding the management. In the management, we have our MD, Director, and Operations Manager. Our staff is very good. They are very dedicated to their work. However, if after completing their work, they speak for a few minutes or visit a colleague's seat for two minutes, this becomes intolerable for the management. They want the staff to remain seated from morning till evening and not speak to other staff members, as they consider this indiscipline.

I, being an HR Manager, try to maintain a light and healthy atmosphere in the office without compromising on work and quality. Unfortunately, I am failing to do so. Can anyone please give any suggestions as this behavior of the management is pressurizing me and sending a very negative message to our staff? I have already spoken to the management about this issue, but they don't pay any heed.

Seeking Advice on Next Steps

Can anybody please suggest what should be done in this scenario on my part, as I am considering resigning? It has been more than 1.3 years working here.

Dear Anjali, Not allowing staff members to speak among themselves even for two minutes is the height of close and tight supervision. This type of management style was prevalent in Europe and the USA when industrialization began. Nowadays, a lot of talk is going on about whether robotization will impact work. However, your management has converted humans into robots. Possibly, yours could be the only company where robotization will have no impact!

Solution Exploration

Now, coming to a solution. You have written that you work in the service industry. What type of services does your company provide? What type of customers do you have? Do customers visit your company premises? In service companies, interaction with customers is an ongoing process. How does the interaction take place? Is it face to face, through email, or over the telephone? Due to the 2-minute breaks, will customer service be impacted?

Measuring Business Performance

Interaction or no interaction among staff members, a service company needs to measure various ratios to gauge business performance or customer satisfaction. How do you measure customer satisfaction? What are the parameters? How is business performance measured?

Teamwork and Employee Engagement

In all types of companies, teamwork is needed. To foster teamwork, if not emotional, at least a professional connection is essential. Why is your management so rigid about the interaction among staff members? A workplace of the 21st century is different. Companies invest heavily in employee engagement activities. As a part of these activities, some games are also conducted at the workplace. During discussions that follow after the games, an exchange of views takes place. Contrary to this, why has your management taken an inflexible stand that can be compared with the management style of the 19th century or the first half of the 20th century?

Yes, working under very close supervision is difficult. It will be unbearable if the person is outgoing, sociable, or lively. However, what about the other team members? Is this diktat of the management acceptable to other members? Have they expressed their dissatisfaction?

Potential Solutions

One of the solutions could be to organize a town hall meeting and have employees express their reservations about this forced quietness. If the inflexibility of the management continues, then quitting the job is always the solution!

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Out of academic curiosity, I would like to know, what is the management's actual view on this? When you have brought this matter up to them and have asked them to relax the rules, what is the reason they have given to you as to why they would not be agreeable to a change.

The other thing I would like to know is whether there is an actual complaint from the employees in this regard.

Nowadays, management has to understand that the workflow will be better if the employees are in good relations. Relations happen with communication only. The people who are in good relations by talking every day can cooperate within themselves and produce good results for the company. However, communication should not exceed the time limit, and work should receive preference. OK, Anjali, all the best. Try to convince the management of the above wherever you join.