Ask John E-Book

John Timpson

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 445

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

John Timpson CBE is one of the UK's most successful businessmen. He is Chairman of the eponymous high street cobblers, key cutters, engravers and watch repairers, with more than 1,300 branches throughout the UK and Ireland and a turnover of £180m. John is hugely admired across the business world for the 'Upside Down Management' techniques that put the growth of the business in the hands of its employees – or of John's colleagues, as they are called. John's Daily Telegraph column, 'Ask John', has been dispensing straight-talking, no-nonsense business advice for more than five years. This book collects and expands the very best from that column for the first time. From why low cost will never be a real substitute for proper customer service to the etiquette of employing interns, John's honest, common-sense business advice should be required reading for anyone running a business – whatever the size.

Leseprobe

ASK JOHN

ASKJOHN

STRAIGHT-TALKING, COMMON SENSE FROM THE FRONT LINE OF MANAGEMENT

JOHNTIMPSON

Published in the UK in 2014 by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP email: [email protected]

Sold in the UK, Europe and Asia by Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House, 74–77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA or their agents

Distributed in the UK, Europe and Asia by TBS Ltd, TBS Distribution Centre, Colchester Road, Frating Green, Colchester CO7 7DW

Distributed in the USA by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution 34 13th Avenue NE, Suite 101 Minneapolis, MN 55413

Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd, PO Box 8500, 83 Alexander Street, Crows Nest, NSW 2065

Distributed in South Africa by Jonathan Ball, Office B4, The District, 41 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock 7925

Distributed in Canada by Publishers Group Canada, 76 Stafford Street, Unit 300 Toronto, Ontario M6J 2S1

ISBN: 978-184831-789-5

Text copyright © 2014 John Timpson

The author has asserted his moral rights.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Typeset in Epic by Marie Doherty

Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

To Alex, who is the ultimate source of common sense

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Timpson CBE was born in 1943 and educated at Oundle and Nottingham University. In 1975 he became Managing Director of William Timpson Ltd, the business that had borne his family name since 1865, and he is now sole owner of the company, which has a turnover in the UK of £200m per year. His last book, Upside Down Management (Wiley, 2010) was described by the Financial Times as ‘a practical and inspirational manual for anyone who runs a business’. Timpson and his wife Alex have been foster carers for 31 years, during which time they have fostered 90 children. He lives in Cheshire.

Contents

Introduction

The Importance of People

Day-to-Day Detail

Management Problems

Shops and Salesmanship

Strategy and Culture

Doing Deals

Family Business

Process and Professionals

Politics and Economics

A Personal View

How to Be Nice and Make Money

Conclusion

Index

Disclaimer

The advice in this book is given with the best intentions but the author and publisher disclaim responsibility for any loss or damage resulting from following any tip – big or small.

We do not intend to provide smart lawyers with the chance to make a quick buck at our expense!

Introduction

When some Daily Telegraph readers suggested I should put a collection of ‘Ask John’ columns into a book I was amazed to discover I’ve written over 250,000 words since starting to answer their questions in 2009 – and that’s after sub-editors cropped my carefully crafted columns to fit the space available.

I started writing about business in 1997, driven to pick up a pen by my long-time corporate communications advisor Michael McAvoy. ‘We manage our business in an innovative way but never seem to get the recognition we deserve’, I complained. ‘No one ever gives much credit to a cobbler – we are seen as a third-rate business by prospective employees, property people and probably the rest of the business world.’ Michael had a simple answer: ‘Let’s get someone to write a book about the Timpson story and your maverick method of management.’

I liked the idea of a book but didn’t fancy the thought of it being written by an outsider – if anyone was going to tell the Timpson tale I would write it myself. I was worried that my set of management tips would appear arrogant until I came up with the title: Dear James. There is nothing arrogant about a father who wants to pass on advice to his son. The manuscript took me nine months, then I discovered it is much easier to write a book than get it published. I got excited when one publisher was keen enough to buy me lunch but then her phone went dead. The only person to show a genuine interest was Stuart Rock from Caspian who wanted to use my manuscript to write an article for their magazine Real Business.

The book stayed unpublished but I was asked to come up with a couple of 850-word pieces for Real Business – that was the start of a column I wrote every month for over ten years. After another fruitless year chasing publishers, Stuart Rock came to the rescue and Dear James was finally produced as a joint venture between myself and Caspian. To boost the circulation I handed out signed copies to Timpson colleagues who attended our senior management training course. Some years later one of the delegates at a conference where I was speaking gave me the copy of Dear James that he’d bought on eBay. In my handwriting, on the inside cover, I saw ‘To Ray – Best Wishes for your Future at Timpson – John’.

I’d been writing in Real Business for about seven years when they asked me to add an agony column. Their preferred contributor had turned them down so I was the substitute selected to serve up light-hearted but controversial advice in correspondence that appeared on the last page of the magazine. A couple of years later The Daily Telegraph asked if I would do a bit of the same for them.

At first I was in an Appointments supplement, hidden at the back of the Business section about once a fortnight, alongside a couple of panellists from Dragons’ Den. In December 2009 I was moved to the main business section where my column has appeared every Monday ever since.

I suppose anyone who writes an agony column can be expected to have all the answers. I confess to knowing little about the detail in Timpson but I’ve lots of colleagues who between them know the business inside out and have been happy to give me sound advice. As a result, by answering their questions I have probably learnt more than any of my readers.

Writing the column has never been boring; each question has presented a challenge. I faced a tricky task in deciding which questions and answers I should include in this book and in what order. Originally I was going to make it easy by picking all the ones I most enjoyed writing and putting them in chronological order. That was before I realised how much I’d learnt by finding an answer to every question. As a result I’ve divided the book into themes to cover a catalogue of management ideas, problems and hopefully a few solutions. To some the result may be an unusual, but hopefully amusing trip through the trials and tribulations of an entrepreneur. To others I am hopeful it will prove to be a unique business book with loads of ideas to help solve large and small everyday problems. The column claims to talk common sense but not everyone will agree. I try to be blunt – too many managers fail to face up to facts, which is why businesses spend over 80 % of their time dealing with those colleagues who are pretty useless at the job – and when possible I hope my answers have a hint of humour: business should also be fun.

I’m grateful to the team at The Daily Telegraph for giving me space in the Business section every Monday and particularly to Richard Tyler, James Hurley and most recently Rebecca Burn-Callendar who have, as my link with the paper, always picked up my phone calls and replied promptly to every email.

Christine Hickman, my PA, has been the vital communication link making sure we never missed a deadline.

Thanks are due to all the people who put the questions and keep finding new corners of business life for me to explore, especially my competitive friend Brian Thompson who has made it a personal mission to pose particularly tricky and quirky questions.

I would not have been able to cope with some of the queries without the help of a number of expert colleagues on the Timpson team. Gouy Hamilton-Fisher, our People Support Director, has helped me with most of the people problems; I have also pestered Paresh our Finance Director, Property Director Tricia, Computer Controller Paul Churchill and of course son and Chief Executive James who is now teaching me much more than I ever taught him.

My most prolific helper is my wife Alex, who not only often features in the column as my quiet superstar but also supplies most of the common sense and puts up with me breaking her home BlackBerry ban whenever I type the answers.

I have had great fun answering the questions – please keep sending them in.

The Importance of People

I suppose it isn’t surprising that my biggest category of questions is about people problems and problem people. Situations and solutions that should be simple and obvious are misunderstood and made unnecessarily complicated.

Our modern world of best practice seldom creates the best result. It is wrong to assume all people are alike and that everyone in the same job should be paid at the same rate. Modern management is being hampered by putting people into a process that is policed by HR professionals, whatever you call them (we prefer People Support). Personnel departments have a vital role to play but they should not be allowed to determine how the business is run. As a result we have a generation of managers who are terrified of being at the wrong end of an employment tribunal. Their lives are ruled by employment legislation and they follow guidelines that go way beyond the law, created by experts to keep the record so straight they could answer every detail if called to give evidence at the dreaded tribunal. Day-to-day business decisions are now dominated by the system and few managers risk following their instinct.

When I started in business it was trade unions that prevented management from tackling people problems properly. Today we are held back by the lawyers who give safety-first advice to HR departments (where there are twenty times as many ‘professionals’ compared with the 1970s). As a result 5% of our employees (the poorest performers) take over 80% of management time. Bosses are constantly involved in back-to-work interviews and performance management programmes designed to improve employees who are probably not interested in getting better. The time would be better spent telling the poor performer: ‘Your best will never be good enough for us and it’s time to find your happiness elsewhere.’ A vital part of people management is to say ‘Goodbye’ to the poorest performers as quickly, nicely and generously as possible. As soon as they have gone, all your good people will cheer and the business will be better for their departure. This hard-nosed attitude to problem people is even more important when it comes to bad bosses. One poor manager can ruin a business.

It isn’t all bad. During my career I’ve seen many changes for the better. Today there is a lot less ‘them and us’ in business. Not many companies still have executive loos, dedicated parking bays or a directors’ dining room. The role of women in business has changed dramatically – equal pay, maternity leave and a different company culture is leading to more women getting senior roles and appearing in the boardroom. Very few employees now have to clock in for a standard 40-hour week; flexible working is becoming more popular every year.

But with all the obstacles put up by the ‘employment police’ it isn’t surprising that middle and senior managers are reluctant to tackle the day-to-day problems like office romance, expense fiddles, bad timekeeping, bullying and body odour.

Years of HR dominance has turned people management into a chore, a series of box-ticking exercises that include warning letters, appraisals, recruitment and exit interviews that all have to follow the system and be carefully filed for future reference.

Too many managers have handed over the recruitment role to the HR department and their consultants, who take a lot of notice of the applicant’s qualifications, their CV, the application form and perhaps the added guidance of psychometric testing. We have discovered a simpler system. We pick people purely on their personality. Our interview assessment form is a series of pictures including Mr Keen, Mrs Slow, Miss Happy, and Mr Dull. We ask the interviewer to tick the boxes that most fit the applicant. That way we make sure they concentrate on personality. It works. Our aim is to have a business full of colleagues who rate 9 or 10 out of 10. We believe that the way to create a great business is to employ great people.

*

What are the most common causes of headaches at the moment in your HR department?

To find the answer I had a long chat to Gouy, our People Support Director, and learnt a lot from his surprising comments.

‘We honestly don’t have any headaches’, said Gouy. ‘It’s eight years since we had a redundancy programme, we have a waiting list of good applicants for every vacancy and with salaries handled individually we never have a problematic pay round.’

‘The day-to-day difficulties with long-term sick, poor performance, and terrible timekeeping fill a lot of our week – it is fair to say that the weakest colleagues take up a lot of our time, but we still have the chance to pursue our priority. We prefer to help colleagues WITH a problem instead of dealing with people WHO ARE a problem.’

I asked Gouy the obvious question: ‘Why are you headache-free when most HR departments seem knee-deep in aggravation?’

‘We are guided by instinct rather than process. I call my department “People Support” instead of “HR”, because we find the formal approach driven by employment law far too confrontational. I prefer a management style that relies on trust and respect.’

I pressed Gouy further. ‘Be honest, there must be some situations that give you grief.’ After a bit of thought he admitted: ‘Acquisitions create a colossal amount of work – we take on a lot of people who don’t understand our culture and some casualties try to take us to a tribunal.’

‘But my biggest nightmares come from outsiders who find it difficult to accept our “Part as Friends” approach to terminating employment. When filling in forms for the Department of Work and Pensions we can’t tick a box labelled “Parted as Friends”.’

Recently I was shocked to discover that in 1953 there were only 20,000 ‘HR professionals’ in the UK. Today there are 400,000. I guess I am lucky to have a department of only six people caring for the personnel affairs of our 2,700 colleagues. I am sure it is because Gouy follows his instinct in preference to a process.

The last few years has seen a mushroom-like growth of ‘HR’ and (what I consider) the malignant and unnecessary spread of appraisals as a tool of measuring employee ability. Are these methods a clinical means of avoiding ‘hands on’ management?

Sometimes you wonder who really runs UK companies. Too often the agenda is dictated by HR, health and safety, the accountants and the lawyers, none of whom are engaged in the sharp end of affairs where you make the money.

I am embarrassed to admit that I carried out a few appraisals in the 1970s, when business schools and consultants started to push the idea that running a business is about best practice and process rather than flair and experience. Using a standard list of topics I found something to praise about people who were useless and for the sake of balance pointed out some shortcomings in our superstars. Fortunately I eventually realised that appraisals took up weeks of management time so scrapped the scheme and nearly everyone cheered.

Today our managers don’t store up important conversations for a formal meeting. They have a continual dialogue with their team, issuing plenty of praise where it is due, and having a frank face-to-face chat with anyone who is failing to impress.

I am pleased to report that, at Timpson, the function that others label HR is called People Support – their job is to help, not to lay down rules. It is important to remember that it is people, not a process, that produce the profit.

Are we doing enough to provide our future leaders with career opportunities and guidance from a young age?

The straight answer to your question is definitely ‘No!’ We can never do enough to prepare young people for the world of work and probably never have done. I don’t know whether things have got worse but thankfully I’m pretty certain that even a poor education won’t put off a budding entrepreneur.

We should always look for ways to improve business links with schools and universities but I’m wary of think-tanks and councils producing guidelines and codes of practice – a lot of talking and official reports may tick political boxes but they make little difference.

Thankfully plenty of people are making the right moves. There are lots of teachers who get first-hand experience of business and many schools teach students interview techniques. More businessmen than you perhaps think visit universities to talk to students. Work experience schemes really work when the organisers become more worried about giving young people a real feel for business and less concerned with filling in the risk assessment forms. An encouraging recent trend is company involvement in Academies and Free Schools, thus creating a natural and direct link between young people and a local business.

We should never forget that it is our job to teach recruits about business – that is what apprenticeships are for. Schools that teach business studies are a bonus, but it is more important for school leavers to be equipped with a basic understanding of maths, English and day-to-day discipline.

We, in turn, must have the courage to give our young people the responsibility and experience needed to become confident managers.

Despite the prophets of doom, I am optimistic. At Timpson we find a constant stream of enthusiastic recruits who will clearly be capable of running the business well beyond the day when I have to hang up my cobbler’s hammer.

Don’t be put off by teenagers who spend too much time on Twitter and Facebook. Give them a challenging job and you are likely to find that they are as bright as a button.

Do you ever use interns in your office? I’m tempted by the free, or perhaps only cheap, labour but worried about running foul of employment legislation.

You’ve got the wrong attitude. This isn’t about cheap labour: interns turn up for work experience, not to be a dogsbody. If they do a useful job they should receive a proper pay packet.

I had to reveal my age by checking the precise definition of internship, which I now know is white collar apprenticeship or work experience in an office. I still have the old-fashioned view that trainees learn a lot more in a factory or a shop rather than sitting behind a desk or feeding the photocopier.

The first few days in a business can make a major impression on a newcomer. It could be a big turn-off or inspire the start of a dream career. It may give you the chance to meet a future superstar.

It’s hard work having a raw trainee hanging around. Far from finding a cheap pair of hands, you need to pay for a proper training plan to make any apprenticeship worthwhile. If you have a good reputation on the intern circuit you should attract good candidates who will enhance their CV while giving you the perfect chance to decide whether to offer them a full-time job.

If you only care about getting cheap labour without breaking the employment law, interns are not for you, and you are certainly not right for them.

When you hire graduates, do you ever narrow the CVs down based on what degree they got? I saw a report recently saying some employers ignore anyone who doesn’t have a first. Seems a bit extreme to me, what do you think?

In June 1964, I was having a drink at Wollaton Park Golf Club to celebrate the end of exams. I was lucky, as a player on the Nottingham University golf team I was able to be a club member for £3 a year (of which the University Union paid half!). I was chatting to one of the committee members about my chances of a decent degree, when he took off the pressure. ‘Hope you get a 2.2’, he said. ‘It shows you’re not just a swot. 2.2s are the sort of chaps I want in my business.’

I remembered his words a few days later when the results were posted on the noticeboard and revealed that I did indeed (like almost everyone else) get a 2.2. No one was awarded a first.

Today there are a lot more first-class degrees so I guess the country has more brains to choose from, but they don’t always come with a guarantee of common sense. Boffins at university and prefects at school seldom develop into captains of industry. Perhaps common sense sits in a different part of the brain to the bit that helps you pass exams.

During my three years at Nottingham, I am sure I learnt much more from running the Students’ Union laundry, dry cleaning and shoe repair service than I did by attending lectures on industrial economics.

At Timpson, we don’t set out to recruit graduates. Everyone who joins us starts as an apprentice and we appoint our managers from within the business. However, without looking for them, a number of graduates have become Timpson colleagues. When they apply to join our apprentice scheme we are not bothered about their degree, we simply want to know what they did with the rest of their life at university. Intelligence helps but personality is vital.

I am happy to let the high-flying academics go and work for the big lawyers, multinational accountants and the civil service at Whitehall. I will stick to the advice I was given in the golf club bar. A 2.2 may not be good enough for everybody but as long as it comes with personality it is certainly good enough for me.

My PA is leaving after fourteen years and I feel lost. I’ve done everything I can to keep her but she just wants a change. I’m now starting to recruit her replacement but can’t work out if I’m trying to find another ‘Pam’, with the same work ethic and patience, or if I should also consider someone with a different personality and skillset? Help.

Before starting the search for her successor it is wise to find out what Pam actually does. Be prepared for a shock – she almost certainly organises much more of your life than you ever imagined. After working with you for fourteen years Pam probably knows you so well she can take most of the day-to-day decisions on your behalf.

Don’t be tempted, however, to look for her identical twin. There is no need to pick someone just like her but make sure you find someone you really like.

Look for attitude rather than secretarial skills. You don’t need someone with shorthand and typing training but you do need a character who can use their initiative. Good PAs don’t need to be told, they already know what you want to do next. And when action is needed they ‘do it now’.

Personal skills are more valuable than efficiency and meticulous filing – your PA needs to command respect in the office and find it easy to get on with colleagues throughout the organisation. They also need the patience to deal with your most difficult moods. It won’t be easy to find someone who can mix all these skills with tact and discretion, but the ideal candidate could be staring you in the face.

Why risk recruiting an unknown candidate from elsewhere when there may be someone already on your payroll who has the potential to do the job? Do you have anyone standing in while Pam is on holiday? Is there a bright person in Personnel who would like to move to your office? Your life will be a lot easier if you can find an internal candidate who has already caught your corporate culture.

Finally I must draw your attention to an important part of PA selection.

I sincerely trust that my own PA, Christine, has no plans to move on, but if she did I would never dream of appointing a replacement without taking advice from my wife Alex.

I hear it’s going to be illegal to ask people about their health before I consider offering them a job. I ask all candidates to fill out a health questionnaire so I can have an idea about their reliability – this is just one more thing to put me off hiring in the first place. Do you see any way around it – perhaps looking at their tongue or saying they can have the job if they beat me to the fire exit?

Never mind whether it is legal, your health questionnaire is a complete waste of time. If they are desperate for the job, few unhealthy candidates will tell the truth about their medical history. If health is a safety issue in your workplace, e.g. it is not a safe place for asthmatics, then you should make that clear but even then the candidate could lie.

By discriminating on health grounds you may be missing some positive personalities that could do your business a power of good.

The real problems that make people unfit for work – suffering from sickies, laziness and lateness – are not revealed by a BUPA medical. If you want to find out whether the candidate is fit for your business, get him to do a trial day. The colleagues who work with him will soon know if he is up to the job.

Forget the questionnaire. To decide what the candidate is really like, just look him in the eye and follow your instinct.

I’ve hired some excellent young people over the years and continue to do so. Sadly, I’m frequently amazed at their poor level of spelling, grammar and basic arithmetic. Have you encountered this problem? How do you tackle it?

Sat nav, calculators, emails and the lack of handwritten letters have created a generation who can’t spell, don’t bother to add up and think Glasgow is somewhere near Leeds. But if you ever want to solve a problem with your computer or iPad, ask someone under sixteen – they are word perfect.

Some failed at school or perhaps their school failed them, but even the academic elite with a good degree can be pretty bad at spelling if they can’t use Spellcheck.

While we moan about traditional standards our children are developing a language of their own. You won’t find too many examples of good grammar on Facebook.

I wonder how many over-60s would understand this message: ‘cu 4121 2nite at *$ b49 coz Im bz l8r bfn.’ If you struggle as much with this stuff as I do, perhaps you are 2o2l (too old to learn).

Some jobs need people who are good at geography, writing or arithmetic. It helps if a journalist can spell and a travel agent is able to read a map, and one hopes that accountants can add up. But you don’t have to spell the word ‘cobbler’ to be good at repairing shoes.

When recruiting we are not bothered about sums or spelling, we want people with personality, but they need the ability to learn a lot of new skills in a short time. We expect our apprentices to reach a basic level in key cutting, watch repairs, engraving and shoe repairing within sixteen weeks.

Our skill tests are mainly based on practical exercises, so the testers aren’t interested in spelling and numeracy and they make allowance for anyone who is dyslexic, but when it comes to cutting a key it has to work.

The media is suggesting there will be a large influx of Bulgarians and Romanians into the UK. Where will they find work? Did you recruit any Poles, when a similar situation arose from Poland joining the EU in 2004?

We discriminate in two ways. We have pledged to recruit 10% of our workforce from prison and we only choose applicants who ‘get it’. You could say we discriminate against weaker candidates.

We always try to pick people with personality, and they come in all shapes and sizes. As a result the men and women who join us include Geordies, Poles, Cockneys, Somalians, Italians, Scousers, Scots, West Indians, Irish, Romanians, Welsh and Chinese – lots of nationalities with a wide range of accents who all speak our language.

Everyone starts as an apprentice so it is much easier for us to teach people with good English. Consequently, British-born applicants have a built-in advantage but I bet some Bulgarians and Romanians will become Timpson colleagues in the near future.

We need to freshen up our board. We’re considering appointing a talented, enthusiastic, loyal, sometimes chaotic woman, who will head up an important section of the business. She has so much in her favour, how would you ensure that those failings are mitigated (aside from training) and that she really can step up?

She sounds great – don’t hesitate, put her on the board.

In a world increasingly driven by ‘process’, quirky characters are just what you need. Don’t think of eccentricity as a failing. Businesses grow by pursuing new ideas and having the courage to make bold decisions. The go-getting culture you need can only come from people with a creative character. Your lady sounds like someone who has ‘got it’.

Most boards are dominated by professional managers who are determined to ensure their company keeps to convention. These ‘safe hands’ seldom make a difference – your chaotic woman could create the ideas that put you ahead of your competitors.

Don’t give her any training – it might teach her some bad, risk-averse, boring habits. Your biggest danger is that the promotion will stop her being herself – you don’t want this talented woman to become like the rest of the board!

I hope she accepts your job offer – you are very lucky to have her on your team.

I’m hiring some new staff in my business. We’ve seen some good people but some of the weaker candidates have thrown up some gems during the interview process. When I asked one candidate where he saw himself in five years, he said ‘in a rock band’, while another started telling me where I was going wrong with the business before she’d even sat down. Maybe I’m asking the wrong questions. What’s the strangest answer a candidate has given to you during the hiring process?

I passed your question on to our Area Managers who have been sending me lots of stories about comical candidates.

In the Midlands our Area Manager Paul asked a young man what interested him about Timpson. He replied: ‘Nothing, my mum told me I had to come.’ At least he managed it on his own. Les saw a guy in Scunthorpe who insisted that his mother sat in on the interview. When asked what he thought his strengths were, he lifted up his arms, flexed both his biceps and said, ‘These babies!’

A young man in the north-east said he wanted a job ‘until something better turns up’, and a lad in Birmingham said he had to ‘go out to work because Mum and Dad don’t want me round the house’.

Some interviewees are unbelievably frank. Andy, our Area Manager in Northern Ireland, posed the question, ‘What is your greatest weakness?’ ‘Timekeeping’ was the reply. When asked to describe his personality, a man in Derby replied: ‘I hate people, I get wound up easily and if someone looks at me in the wrong way I smack them in the mouth.’ A young lady in the Beverley Job Centre started her interview by asking: ‘How long will this take? I need to sign on, then meet my mate in the pub.’

Tony was interviewing a girl in Sheffield with the right sort of bubbly personality and carefully manicured nails. ‘I think I should point out’, said Tony, ‘it can be a dirty job at times, especially in shoe repairs.’ She winked as she replied: ‘Don’t worry, I can be a very dirty girl.’

At some point most interviewers ask whether the candidate has any queries. Sid in the south-east has had a couple of odd replies in the last few weeks. ‘I’m thinking of buying a pet’, said one. ‘I’m not sure what it will be yet, but can I bring it to work?’ ‘Can you tell me the way home?’ said another. ‘I can’t remember how I got here!’

Geoff explained our employee benefits to a jobseeker in Reading, who asked: ‘Could you put me down for a company loan as soon as I start work? I’m in a spot of financial bother.’

Jackie, interviewing a guy in Shrewsbury, asked: ‘Have you got any questions for me?’ ‘Yes’, he replied, ‘would you like to go out with me for a drink later?’

These anecdotes made me smile, but they also made me think. Who is going to employ these people? It doesn’t matter how many grants are on offer, no business should give a job to Mr Careless, Mrs Dull, and Miss Can’t be Bothered.

If any of these characters appear on your payroll they will irritate their colleagues and soak up management time. I would happily pay them to go and work elsewhere or do nothing. Which, come to think of it, is what happens if they go back on benefits.

What makes a good bonus scheme? I am keen to reward and motivate my colleagues by giving them a contribution from the company’s profits. Should it be paid monthly or annually? Should it be for individual performance or for group performance? What are the risks I must try to avoid?

Bonus schemes are a brilliant way to put buzz into your business but if you get them wrong they can cost money and demolish morale.

Find a system that works and stick with it. Good incentives keep running for years.

The bonus that operates in our branches has hardly changed since 1990. We make the same calculation in every shop every week. The wage bill is multiplied by 4.5 to set the turnover target. All turnover over target attracts a 15 % bonus split between the colleagues in the shop according to the hours worked and their skill level. Prompt payment is made the following week.

We base the calculation on sales because people in our shops have little influence on profit margins. It is different for Area Managers, whose profit-based incentive has a key influence on keeping costs down.

Don’t invent a different scheme for every department. If every manager has a custom-built incentive you will lose control. It is better to reward all your executives with a percentage of salary based on group profits. Keep the calculations simple.

I worry whenever we bring in a new scheme. I have seen so many incentives introduced with a great fanfare only to be quietly buried eighteen months later. To provide peace of mind we usually guarantee a minimum payment, but if that is all they earn, the scheme has failed. I don’t like setting a maximum but if earnings are incredibly high we have almost certainly set a soft target. Either way it is prudent to launch anything new on a trial basis, and have the courage to change the rules as soon as you are unhappy.

Bonus schemes work best if you pick the right people in the first place.

Should the pay of directors be linked to the pay of other employees?

It may sound sensible for the highest paid director to get no more than twenty times the minimum wage but no system can solve the problems caused by jealousy and greed. Rigid salary scales pay poor performers too much, while great managers get less than they deserve.

To compensate for the few directors who pick up inappropriate pay packages and unwarranted bonuses, business is in danger of playing politics instead of paying people what they are worth.

You wouldn’t expect Agüero or Suárez to turn up for twenty times the pay of a ball boy. Nor would you give Arsène Wenger twenty times an Arsenal steward’s salary. Top managers deserve top money – and not just in football.

Whatever process is put in place, people will still feel underpaid while they think the rest of the world is paid too much. You will never make everyone happy.

We’ve had a remarkable spate of departures lately, including some key staff. Sales seem to be holding up and I’m pretty happy with the replacements we’ve brought in, but hiring is expensive and I’m worried that company morale is suffering. How should I investigate – would exit interviews do the trick?

I wouldn’t bother with exit interviews – we don’t. They seldom tell you anything that you don’t already know – and leavers often lie about the real reason for their departure. The more useful interviews take place well before a colleague has decided to leave (when it is not too late to do something) or a long time after they have gone (when they are more likely to reveal the truth).

You say you are recruiting some good replacements and probably console yourself by saying ‘a regular turnover of staff is no bad thing’ but, at a time when most people are thankful to have a job, you clearly have a problem. More serious, you don’t appear to have a clue what is causing your workforce to be so fickle.

Is there an obvious trend? Is there a mass exodus to a competitor? Have most of the leavers been working in the same department?

If they are being poached by an aggressive competitor, what is he offering to tempt them away? If he is paying much bigger salaries there may be little you can do. Assuming you pay well above the minimum rate for the job, there is no point in paying fancy salaries to get people back – all you will do is increase costs and upset your loyal colleagues in the process.

People are more likely to leave a boss than leave a business. If you have a high proportion disappearing from a particular department, look at its leader. You probably have a management problem.

Whatever you discover, use the current spate of departures as a spur to improve the way you care for your colleagues. You can never do enough to look after your star performers. We have pinched a lot of ideas from other good employers, like our free holiday homes and an extra day’s holiday on your birthday – but we are constantly on the lookout for new ways to amaze our people.

With luck this big block of leavers will help you become a better boss.

Why do employees who have a job that pays well, provides a future pension and many other employee benefits, put everything at risk by stealing from their employers? Can you explain why they do it and, if you have the problem, how you manage it in your business?

It is a sad but certain fact that someone somewhere is pinching the company’s money. Many start for what they think is a good reason – they need the money to settle a debt or pay for a purchase that they think they desperately need. Having successfully stolen they try it again and dishonesty soon becomes a habit. Other characters don’t need a motive: they are career criminals who seize any opportunity to steal.

There is no excuse for dishonesty in any business, certainly not in ours. We have a Hardship Fund available to help colleagues in financial difficulty. We lend money to solve just the type of household debt that could otherwise tempt colleagues to take from the till. That is one of many employee benefits at Timpson, but being nice to your workforce doesn’t always stop them taking your cash.

Don’t spend a fortune turning your business into a fortress. Take sensible steps but never let security become an obsession that gets in the way of doing business. Strict systems can make life difficult for the 95 %+ honest colleagues, but your crooks will still find a way round the rules.

We spot most culprits by common sense observation. An obviously unusual sales performance, excess use of raw materials or simply the failure to look you straight in the eye can be enough to alert us to a possible problem. If suspicious we put in a covert camera.

Our team of tape watchers are so experienced they know from the body language when our suspect is at the point of putting his or her fingers in the till.

When we have the evidence we let the scoundrels see the film – then dismiss them for gross misconduct. It’s an unpleasant but essential part of managing a business.

I’ve got an overachiever in my sales team who consistently delivers great revenues and earns good commission as a result. But a number of employees across the business can’t stand working with him and we have had perennial disciplinary problems with him in the past. I don’t want to lose him for obvious reasons but at the same time I don’t want to be seen as a soft touch just because he’s bringing the cash in. How do you manage mavericks and difficult people in your business?

You have to decide whether your blue-eyed boy is an asset or a liability.

It is possible that the others are simply jealous of his success. They will certainly be conscious that his spectacular performance has raised the bar, making their results poor in comparison. But personalities who can charm big orders out of customers tend to be arrogant extroverts, whose brash manner is best experienced in small doses.

You mention his disciplinary record, but don’t reveal the causes for complaint. What has he done? Has he been fiddling his expenses, been abusive to colleagues or taken unauthorised leave? If you have been too lenient and let him get away with gross misconduct that was a sackable offence, don’t be surprised if the rest of the team are hacked off.

In the USA, such a high achiever would probably be seen as a hero, but in Britain blatant bonus chasers may not be so welcome. Look at the situation from the team’s point of view. Here is this irritating toad who is allowed to get away with breaking the rules and is still held up as an example for others to follow. He might be bringing in lots of business but he isn’t helping morale.

The next time he breaks the rules I wouldn’t bother sending another letter – I would give him the sack. It is only then that you will see the damage he has done. The rest of the team will jump for joy when they hear of his departure, and with renewed enthusiasm will probably make up for the sales you think have been put at risk.

For some considerable time I have been verbally promised a promotion involving taking over the management of a major subsidiary of my company. This assurance has been made by two chief execs. I was on the verge of being appointed when a new MD arrived and has appointed an old school friend of his to the position. I understand the chief exec is highly embarrassed about this, but has not overruled the MD. What can I do?

You have my sympathy. One of the biggest bugbears of middle and senior management is being let down by your boss, and it happens a lot, especially following an acquisition or boardroom reshuffle.

Although you were offered promotion it didn’t amount to much more than a nod and a wink. You haven’t secured the job until you are sitting behind the desk and your name is on the office door. With nothing in writing I can’t see any point in pursuing legal action. You are very unlikely to succeed at a tribunal.

Your new Managing Director has already brought in an old school chum and you can expect his previous PA, plus some more of his mates, to appear before too long.

Stay put but start looking elsewhere. They don’t deserve your loyalty. It is time to take your talent (and your PA) to a company where you can be appreciated.

I’m increasingly buying into the idea that I should let the 10% poorest performers in my company go each year to keep everyone on their toes. It sounds tough but actively managing people out of the business who are not contributing as much has to be the right thing – doesn’t it?

I first came across this idea in Jack Welch’s book about General Electric. I thought his approach was pretty draconian (I still do) but understand what he was saying.

Every company should seek continuous improvement, and the better their people the better the business becomes. Try a simple exercise. Rate all your colleagues out of 10. If you have some 3s, 4s and 5s they should be encouraged to leave. If you repeat the exercise in twelve months when the low scorers have gone, you will look closely at the 6s and 7s. Perhaps Jack Welch wasn’t as radical as I first thought.

Take this tough line and don’t be tempted to replace all the leavers. Use some of the savings to pay your superstars more money, leaving a bit to boost your bottom line.

Most managers opt for the easy life. Spurred on by HR managers who point out the problems of making people redundant, they leave colleagues in the wrong job for far too long. Every business has a nettle to grasp. Beware of the bloke who has been over-promoted and the long-service colleague who has failed to develop with the business.

A payroll full of great people is a passport to excellence. Keeping up standards is a big part of your job and whenever you say goodbye to drongos the rest of your workforce will be delighted to see them go!

I’ve got a bunch of older workers all in their early sixties and nearing retirement. They’ve been with the business for years and are very loyal. I’ve read you can’t forcibly retire them when they reach 65 anymore – even though that has been our way of doing things for over two decades. I’m worried they won’t want to leave. How should I approach this?

I was as confused as you clearly are, until I had a chat with Gouy, our People Support Director. Employment law has a wonderful way of building up myths that gullible managers assume to be the law.

You can set a retirement age as long as you go about it in the right way. In fact a recent UK Supreme Court ruling dismissed an appeal by a solicitor who had been told by his employer he had to retire after his 65th birthday.

Although you should no longer assume that 65 is the appropriate retirement age, forced retirements will still be accepted if they are part of a legitimate policy for workforce planning. This is where common sense is the winner.

If employers have no say on retirement, in twenty years we could find a payroll full of workers in their 80s and no jobs to offer to young people leaving education. Instead of careers ending with a dignified retirement dinner, long-serving colleagues will be pushed out on poor performance grounds.

You should set out a carefully considered workforce planning policy that doesn’t just state your normal retirement age but also lays out your reasons. These will include succession planning and equalising opportunities through the age groups, giving younger people a realistic timeframe to reach their potential.

Whatever retirement age you set, there should always be exceptions (I am 71!).

Through the wonders of the internet I recently discovered that you are a member of the Women’s Business Council, a government advisory group set up to help women play a full part in business. I was wondering why you agreed to be involved and what you think you have achieved.

I’d never been asked to do anything like it before and was intrigued to see what happens when you come that close to government. Council membership turned out to be a testing experience for a maverick who loves breaking rules. Inevitably, I was surrounded by women, who probably saw me as a bit of a challenge, keen to recruit me to the feminine cause. Alex, my wife, has shown me the wisdom of a woman’s viewpoint, so I listened a lot and said very little.

My fellow council members were on a mission to get a more equal share of the boardroom and produce plenty of publicity praising women at work. We launched a report, they tweeted on Twitter and networked on Facebook but it was mostly women talking to women. Not many men got the message. I didn’t agree with all they said but did appreciate how giving women their rightful place at work can benefit us all.

There was a lot of debate about the cost and availability of childcare, but we must also make sure the kids come first. The EU has a childcare target that would mean young children spending less time with their parents. That worries me. We should find more ways to help the parents of pre-school children fit their job around lots of family contact. We also need a company culture that doesn’t mean career breaks are a bar to reaching the boardroom.

New laws designed to make business more inclusive can have the opposite effect. Sensible ideas can get buried in rules, process and gender prejudice. Systems designed to avoid discrimination produce the sort of box-ticking that sits more happily in big business but smaller companies find hard to handle.

If you dig deep enough there is evidence to show that giving women a bigger role in business will increase our GDP, and common sense leads to the same conclusion. Put simply, if you employ the best people you get the best result. A good way to attract great people is to fit work around their lives. Thanks to being a member of the Women’s Business Council I realised the fundamental importance of flexible working.

People come in all shapes and sizes and do their work in many different ways. No matter where, how or when they do their job, the only thing that really matters is the end result. In 25 years’ time the world will wonder why everyone clocked in from 9 till 5.

There is no doubt women will benefit from a flexible job culture, but so will men. There will shortly be legislation giving most employees the right to request flexible working. Some bosses think this will make their life more difficult. I disagree. Flexible working makes the business easier to run and less stressful to work for, it attracts the best people and makes more money.

By pushing for more flexible working, women are doing all of us a favour.

I’ve got a lot of quite young staff, many of whom are keen on ‘working from home’. I’ve always resisted it but my business partner thinks I should be more flexible. My suspicion is that not much work gets done when people are out of the office. Obviously your shop staff can’t serve customers from home, but do you allow office workers to ‘work flexibly’?

It is a pity that most of the recent interest has centred on employees’ new right to request flexible working, with lawyers working out how HR departments can create a process that follows the law without making much difference to the way employees actually work.

Not enough people are saying that flexible working is a fantastic way to run a business.

Research has shown that the classic 9 to 5 working day is inefficient. The human body operates in activity cycles that last about 90 minutes to two hours, from bright-eyed and ready for anything first thing in the morning to downbeat and downright uninterested by lunchtime. While the rest of the world has a siesta, an Englishman is still behind his desk staring into the middle distance.

I can tell from your question that your mind is a long way away from embracing the world of flexible working. It all depends on trust. If you are suspicious unless you can see your team at work in the office, flexible working simply isn’t for you. Consequently you may well miss out on employing some potential superstars.

People work best if they are trusted to be themselves. The security that comes from having the freedom to fit work alongside the rest of your life reduces stress and increases commitment to the organisation. By working at a time and place that suits them, most colleagues will do a better job and feel a lot better about doing it. Clocking in, attending every meeting and following a proper process is not particularly important. What matters is getting the right result.

That does not mean that every colleague should have the right to work wherever and whenever they please. Flexible working should start with a conversation with both employer and employee seeking ways to help each other.

As you rightly observe, the scope for flexible working in our shops is somewhat limited. Each branch needs colleagues in attendance whenever it is trading. But many shops, particularly those open seven days a week, operate a rota organised by the colleagues themselves to suit their circumstances.

It is different in our office, where flexible working plays an important part. In our Finance department some mostly work from home, others come early and leave early, while a small group work well into the evening. We have mums and dads who arrange the week so they can drop off or pick up their children from school, and one keen table tennis player takes an extra 30 minutes at lunchtime.

Although it is particularly helpful to women, flexible working is for everyone. But as with every other part of employment, one golden rule applies – make sure you pick the right personalities in the first place. Flexible working will be a disaster with Mr Skive, Mrs Lazy and Miss Dishonest.

During the next few years some of the brightest and best people will work in a flexible way. If you think they are second-class citizens when it comes to promotion, you will miss some of the best potential candidates for senior management and the boardroom. It is this sort of stigma that could stand in the way of our future leaders, especially women.

It is time for you to think again and discover that a flexible workplace brings a better workforce and a happier team, and makes more money.