In the age of COVID-19 we are dominated by rules and restrictions. There are very few aspects of our lives that we can manage as effectively as we’d like to. We are not free to go wherever we want and we can’t be with the people we love. We have very little influence on how long this situation will last, nor do we have the key to a solution that will make all of this go away. It’s a tough one for the people at Schuberg Philis, who are wired to find solutions, both in the short and long term. Even the most independent-minded person could get a bit disheartened by how little there is we can do, besides staying home, adapting to this reality and riding out the wave.
Interestingly, it seems as if this ‘new normal’ is not causing us to desire more freedom. Quite the opposite. People fall back on old-fashioned frameworks to guide our lives. It’s like we’re so preoccupied with worrying about the state of the world, that we long for a simple set of rules that tell us what to do. Even if we would normally hate those rules for being frustrating and restrictive.
I’ve noticed this at Schuberg Philis, where some people are struggling with our holidays policy, even though we’ve had it since day one. We don’t have the traditional finite number of days off at Schuberg Philis, because we feel that our team members are more than capable themselves to decide when they need a break. We feel it is outdated and counterproductive to force people to ask managers for permission to take some time off. We don’t even have managers.
Everyone who works at Schuberg Philis is bright, responsible and team-oriented — otherwise they wouldn’t be there. We trust them to build complicated, resilient systems for our customers, so why would we not trust them with deciding when they need a break?
This holiday system has always worked well, because it encourages people to reflect on what they have contributed and to take into consideration what their team is working on. If you feel it’s a good time for a break, you just ask the people in your team if it’s ok to go on a holiday, pop on your out of office reply and away you go.
But obviously there is a world outside of Schuberg Philis that follows other rules, a world in which we operate. Schuberg Philis works for customers who are highly regulated because of their essential position in society. Because of this, we get audited all the time. And rightfully so: we need to be a trustworthy and reliable partner.
Every now and then, our auditors point out to us that our holiday system could, theoretically, cause a buildup of holidays. To prevent that, our finance team periodically sends a gentle reminder to people who have a surplus of days off. Sometimes this leads to confusion. Wasn’t there an infinite amount of days off?
Yes, there is. But just as in every aspect of life there is always more than one factor at play. As much as we believe in our holiday system, there is still the reality of auditors, which is extremely important to our organization. It comes with the territory of working for extraordinary customers.
Besides the auditors, there’s the law. Everyone in The Netherlands has a right to at least 20 days off (we have 25 at Schuberg Philis). It’s as simple as that. We want to make sure people take their minimum days off. The law is there for a reason: everyone needs time off to rest and recuperate. It’s something Schuberg Philis strongly believes in. So if people need more days off, its fine as long as the team is happy. We go beyond the minimal requirements of the law because we want to further its intent.
That’s the way we work for our customers as well. Whenever there’s an issue, we make sure to fix it first. After that, we always look for the underlying causes, so that we can address those too. It’s how we are hardwired to think.
It’s understandable that this new normal of the last few weeks has us craving stability and clarity. We may be rocked by what is happening. We miss being part of something bigger than ourselves. We miss the pack that would normally guide our decisions.
And alas the answer to our insecurities is not more rules and regulations. It has never been that at Schuberg Philis. Because even though times may be tough, we are still curious, smart and independent people. We can communicate with our colleagues and teams and we can ask questions if we want to know why things are the way they are. That’s what made us thrive when all was well and that’s what will strengthen us now.
Lotta Croiset van Uchelen
