CITY AND SUBURBAN
If you're not in business for fun or profit, you've caught the Cherie culture
CHRISTOPHER FILDES
Robert Townsend had the answer to the personnel department. His anti-corporate manifesto, Up the Organisation, disposes of it in a sentence: 'Yes, fire all these people too.' All the job needed, he said, was a girl with a pencil. Since then, of course, she has rebuilt her empire, and now sits at its apex as global director of human resources. How grateful she must be to the legislators and lawyers who have made the business of hiring and fir- Mg so hazardous. It is not enough now to lure people to work with high salaries and bonuses tied to performance, or even to pay them more to go away. They will want their day in court to air their temperament and say how unkindly they were teased in the queue for the coffee machine. Such is the cost of creating a culture of rights, as advocated by Cherie Booth, QC. In two months' time an Act of Parliament promoted by her hus- band's government will cause rights and costs to multiply indefinitely. There will be a per- manent state of war on the nursery floor. 1 would argue that a healthier culture is and would be one of mutual obligation. Compa- nies and people work better that way; their interests are more closely aligned and they get more out of it. 'If you're not in business for fun or profit,' so Townsend wanted to know, 'what the hell are you doing here?' Still, the girl who used to hold the pencil must count Cherie Booth as her best friend. Once the Human Rights Act gets going, she can build a new wing on her office and pro- mote herself to global director in chief.
Previous page
