BUSINESS leaders today agree that their employees are their most valuable corporate asset, but many are finding it increasingly difficult to retain and recruit those who are talented and highly skilled.

One of the reasons for this predicament is the inflexibility of the traditional structure and policies of the work environment. There is also the continued insistence on maintaining a plantation-like work environment where employees are seen as labouring in the field for their “massa” (boss) who has little or no interest in their well-being but rather, on the profits that they generate.

I once worked at a large organisation in another Caribbean island and was one day harshly reprimanded by my ‘massa’ because I attempted to challenge the veracity of a statement he had made and sought clarification on the issue. I had to be “rescued” by colleagues, who came to my defence.

On that day, I felt hurt — not so much for myself as for my African ancestors whose rights were taken away during slavery and who could not even have attempted to do what I did because of the physical punishment that would have been dealt to them.

My boss later apologised for his behaviour but I am sad to report that not long after he was once again found guilty of using the same “I am in charge of you so don’t question my decision” attitude in his interaction with another “labourer”.

How we work should not only reflect the freedom from shackles of slavery but also freedom from oppressive policies and systems and freedom from power-hungry managers and supervisors. In this post-colonial era, employees’ freedom should also reflect the freedom to think and be critical, the freedom to ask questions, the freedom to develop their own systems and structures, the freedom to initiate change, the freedom to become part of the policymaking process, the freedom to challenge foolishness in the name of intellectual discourse, the freedom to become shareholders of the companies they work so hard to build, the freedom to be treated equitably and the freedom to change the paradigm of how we work.

In some organisations, such freedoms do not exist and some of the issues raised by employees about what limits or enhances their performance could be addressed by giving employees the freedom to decide where and when they work. This new paradigm of how and where work is done is referred to as “working naked”. This could be at home, while on a trip overseas, under a tree or anywhere the worker feels most productive. There are many talented people in journalism, marketing, sales and information technology, for example, who would prefer to create their own work environment, if given the chance to work naked. They say that they feel most productive, creative and energised away from the four walls of their offices.

We have yet to make the full transition from manual labour to knowledge-based working. It is easy to see when a farmer, factory worker or construction worker is being productive because they are expending physical energy on visible tasks. In fact, the more energy and effort that is expended on a task, the more they sweat — and by the sweat of their brow, we conclude that they are working hard.

This does not translate well to white-collar work, so we have created a complex system of visual cues to signify or give the impression that people are working. The office has become the stage where people perform their work for others to see. Wearing a business suit, sitting behind a desk, talking on the phone, being in a meeting, operating a computer, bumping into the CEO and offering fake pleasantries, among other things, send a message that the individual is hard at work.

Don’t get me wrong, all these activities may result in high-quality work. But there are those who don’t want the suit and tie or the 9 to 5, the corporate politics or the four walls of an office; they want to work naked. That is, they want to work from home, under a tree or from anywhere they are most creative, while remaining accountable and contributing to the profit margin of the company.

I believe there is an untapped potential within the workforce that can be trusted and supported to work where and when they are most effective. However, to take full advantage of that freedom to choose where and when to work, employees need to be unencumbered by outdated corporate rules and the trappings of the plantation era.

How are managers constraining individual and organisational potential in today’s working environment? They are:

* wasting time commuting at peak traffic hours and making workers conform to a 9 to 5 routine;

* thinking they can manage workers most effectively by seeing them in the office everyday;

* embroiling employees in bureaucracy and office politics;

* spending too much time in lengthy corporate meetings;

* housing employees in one-size-fits-all cubicles that are not tailored to their unique work styles;

* providing the environment where it is difficult to concentrate and easy to be interrupted;

* failing to use technology tools to their best advantage; and/or

* not trusting employees to make smart choices about the best place and time to work.

Do I think that everyone should be offered the option to work naked? Absolutely not. However, as companies seek to downsize, right-size, flatten, decentralise and re-engineer for growth, chief executive officers can begin to explore the merits of allowing some of their trusted and loyal employees in critical positions to work naked.

Henry Lewis is an executive coach and chief executive officer of the Caribbean Coaching Center. He may be contacted at henrylewis@caribbeancoachingcenter.com