Chapter 19: Cumulative Effects

Posted: July 26, 2011 - 06:40:23 pm

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 envelope 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 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 which part of the country 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 intensive 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.