Dexter sat at the computer reading an article about the new climate of business. It was a fascinating chronicle of the changes that had taken place in the business community over the past two years. According to the article, it had all started with a workers revolt, triggered by some guy by the name of Dexter James.
After he finished reading the article, Dexter sat back, looking thoughtful. It had been interesting ... not because it had given him a lot of credit for the changes, but for the changes that were documented. The weird thing was, he hadn't even been aware of some of the changes that had been taking place. He knew part of the reason for his ignorance was because he wasn't actively in the workforce any longer.
Companies no longer allowed people to travel on their own credit card. The lawsuits employees had filed to reclaim interest had proven too expensive. The days of using employee money in that manner were over. In fact, a lot of companies now wanted everything charged on the corporate cards. The company provided credit cards had lower interest rates than those levied on personal credit cards.
One consequence of that change in credit card policy, was that expense reports had changed tremendously. They were simplified to facilitate rapid submission, and to reduce the cost of reviewing them. Since companies were now paying interest on balances, they wanted the expense reports processed as quickly as possible.
Major corporations had also transitioned to a tactic used by the taxman to prevent fraudulent use of the card. Rather than verify each and every expense report, many companies would randomly select one report to audit. Employees found to have used the card for personal use, or to have used it fraudulently, were prosecuted. This actually saved companies millions of dollars.
Many companies had transitioned to a per diem approach for paying for meals during business travel. Now that people had corporate credit cards, they discovered that they could just charge all of their meals using the corporate cards, and the need for receipts disappeared. Even fast food places took credit cards, these days. Travelers pushed the envelop on what they spent on meals. In response to the increased food expenditures, many companies gave employees a per diem, and insisted that meals no longer be charged to the corporate card. Going to a per diem had been a cost saving measure.
Sunday and evening travel had been cut back, although early morning travel hadn't been affected. In cases where Sunday travel was necessary, companies actually gave comp time. It had taken several lawsuits to make that happen. There were still some problems, in places, with the comp time being honored. However, there were court cases pending on them. Several individuals, on having terminated their employment, demanded getting paid for their unused official comp time in the same manner in which unused vacation days were paid.
After having hundreds of empty flights on Sundays, and not enough planes to put in the air during normal business hours; the airlines realized they, too, had to respond to the changes in business travel patterns. Businesses who now had employees traveling during work hours, were not pleased with the airlines' overbooking practices. Even after a year, the airlines hadn't found a reasonable scheduling solution.
One beneficiary of the travel chaos, was the train system. Someone had come up with the brilliant idea of scheduling late night trains with sleeper cars among the major business destinations. The idea was that traveler would board the train at ten or eleven at night, sleep through the night, and then disembark from the train at a reasonable time in the morning. Even though the train ride might only be four or five hours in duration, the travelers weren't asked to leave the train until seven in the morning. The price was higher than an airline ticket, but it was cheaper than an airline ticket and hotel room. A lot of business travelers took advantage of it.
Hotels also experienced a major drop in Sunday night bookings. Different hotel chains were pursuing different strategies. One chain offered discounted Monday nights with a Sunday night stay. Another chain went after the local market by trying to create a 'Sunday Romance Special' for lovers. There were some failed strategies, and some not so successful strategies.
Some companies reimbursed data plans on cell phones. Other companies just stopped the practice of sending corporate email to the private email accounts of employees. It was found that employees weren't answering their emails until business hours the next business day, anyway.
One of the cellular companies came up with a plan to lease cell phones to corporations as a means to replace the landline systems they had. It was a good idea, but too expensive, and the effort failed. A second company tried the same thing, but targeted small and medium sized business. They relied upon their flat rates being lower than the higher rates that land line telephone companies placed on businesses. It succeeded.
Home office allowances actually worked to the benefit of the companies. The amounts of compensation offered, were far less than the actual costs that most employees incurred in setting up a home office. However, in order to receive that money, the employee had to demonstrate that they worked from home enough to justify the expense. Companies ended up getting unpaid overtime, for what was basically pocket-change.
A few companies were experimenting with giving technical groups greater secretarial support. Much to their surprise, productivity went up significantly. Dexter's numbers had been proven to be correct, time and time again. It left some executives wondering how previous cost-benefit studies could have been so wrong.
Despite the many positive changes, not everything had improved in the corporate workplace. The refrain that 'people should be happy they have a job' still echoed through the hallowed halls of the cubicle farms. Instead of demands to work later, it was to work harder and smarter. Office politics didn't change all that much.
The service industry had undergone just as many changes as the corporations. Again, Dexter was credited with bringing about much of that change. His articles on demanding service while being willing to pay for it, had struck a chord with readers. It had also changed the way that some service businesses viewed themselves.
The biggest change was that a lot of service businesses had actually taken the time and effort to study their customers' desires. What they found surprised many of them. It turned out that customers were complex. They wanted different things in different circumstances. It was not a 'one size fits all' world. The variations among customers expectations of service, was rather shocking to them.
A lot depended upon the socioeconomic situation of the customer, but that difference was not as great as many had thought. There were also differences based on what part of the country that was surveyed. There were differences between the east and west coasts, the north, the south; as well as rural, suburban, and urban area differences.
The most significant factor dictating service expectations, was age. Older people remembered a completely different level of service than did the young folks. It might have seemed obvious to some, but to the large chains it hadn't been.
A rather large restaurant chain changed its advertising, to target a specific sector of the dining market: fast and efficient service. It didn't promise the kind of 'friendly service' that many equated with 'good service.' It promised that you'd get seated, your order would be taken, and your food delivered, in as quick and efficient a manner as possible. It had recognized that there was a market of individuals who wanted a quick meal, without having to accept the poor nutrition of fast food restaurants.
A lot of family owned places went for intense service, with the expectation that the customers would spend a longer time at the table. In some cases, they advertised that 'your table' was your table for the night. Prices were a lot higher for the meal, and the tips were expected to be better, but they discovered that this was a significant market niche.
Some retail chains figured out that having independent service help actually made economic sense. It kept their staffing down, while providing customers with the level of service they desired. The person who wanted additional help could hire someone, while another person who knew exactly what they wanted, could satisfy their shopping needs directly. This led to an interesting blend of self-service, alongside of full-service.
Shopping malls and large stores often set aside areas where independent shopping assistants could wait for customers. Often times there were posted rules on expected behavior of both parties. These rules prevented scenes where a shopper was overwhelmed by a dozen shopping assistants, all shouting: 'Pick me. Pick me.' Many customers established relationships with some of these people. They began making appointments with them, well ahead of actually going shopping.
A lot of teenagers sought those kinds of jobs, particularly in malls where they knew the inventories of every store in the place. In many ways, this was a perfect job for some of these kids. They didn't have to get permission from their school to work, and they weren't bound by any labor laws that prevented them from working during the mall hours. Additionally, the malls were never open very late, so they got home at a reasonable hour.
In some cases, where married couples both worked, people actually hired women to do their grocery shopping for them. This was a wonderful job for women with children in school. They could shop while the kids were in school and then deliver the groceries once their husband returned home. Quite a few single mothers sought this kind of work, as well. Some stores even set up separate lines for customers with a train of shopping carts, recognizing that these shoppers represented three or four customers at a time.
"Interesting," Dexter said.
"I thought you would find it interesting," Eric said.
Dexter asked, "What do you think?"
"I think the article missed a lot of other changes," Eric said.
"Like what?"
"Did you know that my credit score went up after I paid off the credit card debt I was carrying on behalf of our previous company?" Eric asked.
"No!"
"Yes. My apparent personal debt was higher before I paid off the company debt. My payments on my other cards were good; but the one which I used for company business, had a history of erratic payments, because of when I got reimbursed. Both of those things killed my credit rating," Eric said.
"I didn't even look at that," Dexter said.
Eric said, "I was throwing my personal money away, paying interest on that credit card. Once it was paid off, I used the money to pay my other cards. That knocked my personal debt down as well. Now I'm getting lower interest rates, and I'm able to pay things off quicker."
"I guess the cost of carrying corporate debt was higher than just the interest payments," Dexter said.
"Exactly," Eric said.
"What else did the article miss?" Dexter asked.
"There's been a shift in spending habits among the young," Eric answered.
"What?"
"Well, a lot of teenagers are working independent service jobs. They are being paid in cash. Their money isn't being reported to the IRS. There are no payroll taxes being taken out of it. As a result, they're making pretty good money. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they are spending it. What a lot of people may not realize, is that they are spending their money rather than their parent's money," Eric said.
Dexter said, "And as a result, the parents have more money to spend."
"Exactly ... and what are they spending it on? Elimination of their debts," Eric said.
"That is interesting," Dexter said.
Eric said, "They missed another trend that you started."
"What trend?" Dexter asked.
"Higher quality products," Eric answered.
Confused, Dexter said, "We haven't been selling coffeemakers for all that long, for it to establish any kind of trend."
"Your article woke up some smaller companies that had niche markets in a number of 'household goods' areas. They've started pursing a long-term high-quality product strategy. Their goods are coming on the market, and they are selling well."
"I guess I should pay a little more attention to other products. I've been so wrapped up in the coffeemaker," Dexter said.
"I bought a folding lawn chair last week that I swear I can beat with a hammer all day, and not break it. I can jump up and down on it without ripping the fabric," Eric said. "It has a ten year 'no questions asked' warranty."
"I want some of those for camping. My little folding camp chairs are coming apart. I bought four of them last spring, and two are already broken."
"I know what you mean. I bought some chairs for the backyard last summer. The fabric ripped on one chair about the third time I sat on it. The frame bent on another when one of my neighbors sat down on it. The colors faded on the other two and they wobble."
"You know, we spend a lot of money replacing junk," Dexter said.
Eric said, "I think those days are coming to an end."
Dexter asked, "Is there anything else that the article missed?"
"The biggest change of all isn't in the workplace," Eric said.
"What's that?"
"Manners."
Dexter knew exactly what Eric meant. It seemed to him that people were generally being nicer to each other. People were saying please and thank you more often. Folks had always held doors for others. However, even that had changed. The minor exchanges of thanks had become a bit more expressive.
Drivers didn't seem as aggressive. It was as if people realized that they had time for courtesy. Maybe being treated nicely at stores carried over to the rest of people's lives.
Dexter said, "There's been a big improvement, there."
"I was at the movie theater with my wife the other evening and some guy was being a little pushy. I noticed that a lot of people looked in his direction with frowns on their faces, in clear disapproval. A couple years ago, people wouldn't have thought a thing about how he was behaving," Eric said.
Dexter said, "I told my kids one day that hello was the most powerful word in the English language. I really believe that."
"Hello?" Eric asked.
"Yes. Let's write an article about the word, hello," Dexter said.
"An article on the word, hello?"
"Do you remember that television series that took place in a bar? Someone would enter the bar and everyone would greet them," Dexter said.
"I saw it a couple of times."
"Well, that whole act of everyone greeting each other was part of building a community. That's what's been missing in our world. How many times did you walk into work at the old place, and have someone say hello to you?"
"That almost never happened," Eric said thoughtfully.
"We spent ten or more hours a day with our coworkers, and we didn't even greet each other in the morning."
"There is something wrong with that."
"You know, I used to see you more than I saw my wife. We hardly exchanged a word of common courtesy during the last five years at that company. That's not right. We were supposed to be colleagues, but there was nothing collegial about our relationship," Dexter said.
"It was definitely a toxic environment," Eric said remembering those miserable days.
"Part of it was that old 'you should be glad you have a job' atmosphere. However, a lot of it was just coworkers being nasty to each other. I think the simple act of having people say hello to a couple of coworkers on arrival to work, would change things tremendously," Dexter said.
"Not that much," Eric said doubtfully.
"I think it will create major changes," Dexter said.
"I can work on that for the next few days," Eric said.
Dexter said, "Along the lines of 'hello, ' there was something else I noticed. A lot of email that I received didn't include a 'Dear Dexter' at the beginning. The emails launched directly into telling me to do something or describing some problem. The overall tone of emails like those was demanding.
"Maybe 'Dear Dexter' isn't appropriate in a business setting, but how about 'Hello, Dexter' instead? Just that act of acknowledging the other person at the very beginning might change the wording used in the rest of the email."
"I never noticed that."
"When speaking, if someone points at Joe and shouts, "Move that barge!" it comes across as a demand. On the other hand, if you shout, "Hey, Joe, would you move that barge?" it comes across like a request. If it is the boss doing the shouting, the barge is going to get moved regardless of which way he words it. The point is that Joe will react differently to the two statements."
With a trace of humor in his voice, Eric said, "With the first, he'll be pissed at his boss. With the second, he'll be pissed at the barge, for being so much work."
"There's a lot of truth in that," Dexter said. "All I'm saying is that our emails have degenerated to being of the first form, rather than the second form."
"I'm going to read over some of my old emails that I have archived."
"Do that. I think you'll be surprised," Dexter said.
"I guess we have a good topic for the next article," Eric said.
Dexter picked up the article that he had read earlier. Looking a little uneasy, he said, "I think this article gives me too much credit for what's been happening in the world."
"I think you didn't receive enough credit," Eric said.