Once there was and once there was not, a successful IT company based in Johannesburg. It was expanding quickly and had a very hands-on managing director who had grown the company from his bedroom at home to an operation that employed 80 specialist developers and programmers in plush offices in Rosebank. The MD led by example – he was always first to arrive and last to leave and was completely committed to his vision of carving a niche for the company in the IT world internationally and to show that a boy from Boksburg could make it big. The company had landed new contracts from Singapore and everyone became used to working long hours fuelled by adrenaline and coffee.
When the December holiday season came, the MD planned a big party that was designed to help people let off steam. A lot of money, time and effort was spent on the party and there were musicians, jugglers, mountains of food and fancy dress. And, as an afterthought, an accountant was asked to buy some cheese from the local supermarket for the cheese platter for which she would be reimbursed. As it happened, the company closed for two weeks and it would be another 3 weeks before the employee who bought the cheese would be reimbursed.
Now, while the cheese only cost around a hundred Rands, the employee suffered considerable financial distress during the holiday and came back to work in January with a rather dispirited attitude. When she wasn’t immediately reimbursed
, she told story to a friend of hers that the company didn’t pay her back for the cheese because they were in financial difficulties.
This story immediately started to do the rounds and escalated into a crisis of which everyone was aware. Everyone except the MD. It was only after external consultants were asked to shed light on the reason behind the rash of resignations amongst the normally loyal employees that the cheese story emerged as a core driver for many negative experiences and perceptions – people’s fundamental need for safety and security was compromised. As it happened, the employee left in January but the impact of the story was felt for many months afterwards.
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