Yesterday (7 July 2005) will be for many people in the UK one of those days that is in the exclusive club of “I remember where I was when I heard about…” – along with Kennedy’s assasination and 9/11.

A number of friends work in our capital. Some had tales of how quickly their employers organised transport to take them away from work and thus meet a very basic but overpowering need – to get home safely and quickly and look after one’s own. (I think Maslow was on to something with his hiearchy of needs theory!!).

Some, admittedly a few, had tales from the other end of the spectrum. Tales of employers not taking the unfolding events seriously enough, of berating and pressuring staff when the staff chose to leave early in the full knowledge that it would take them hours to WALK home, through a capital city under attack – and in the absence of hard knowledge we humans are very good at filling in the gaps with scenes from Dante’s Inferno.

Every single one of these admittedly few (so far – it’s early days yet) friends and relatives have said at some point in our conversation “that’s it – I’m not working for these people any longer than I have to…”. It seems yesterday was the straw that broke several camels’ backs.

My question is in several parts, one rhetorical.

1 – Have others had similar conversations with friends and relatives or is it just me?

2 – Is your own organisation like that in the first example, or like that in the second example above – and what are you going to do about it?

Be safe and enjoy the weekend.
Martin Schmalenbach