The Time Affluent: 5 Points to Ponder to Achieve Loyal Teams
4-minute reading time
By Mary Boza Crimmins
What Your Employees Crave
Here’s what your employees crave - time. They want to be members of what seems to be an exclusive club: the time affluent. It’s a privileged sector, but entry is possible for all team members. It won’t be equal, but it can be equitable.
I was listening to a Happiness Lab podcast interview with writer Tom Hodgkinson when I first heard the phrase "time affluent." I knew it was what I wanted, what I needed. I wanted to become a member of the time affluent clique.
Defining Time Affluence
What is time affluence? It’s the ability to have more control over your time. It’s more time to pursue and enjoy other important aspects of life. It’s time to breathe, to live a less frenetic life. It’s also the choice of how to prioritize time. Time affluence leads to having peace of mind to meet work responsibilities and care for personal needs without more stress.
Retired persons and the incredibly rich are obvious examples. You may be time affluent and not realize it, or perhaps you haven’t fully appreciated the privilege. To be clear, there’s no shame in this privilege. When our children were young, we were blessed because my husband’s job allowed him to be time affluent. He worked hard, had plenty of responsibilities, and had many direct reports. However, he also had the flexibility to arrange his hours to coach our children.
Be Aware, Be Considerate
Within your organization, some are more time affluent than others. It doesn’t mean some of your team contributes less. It simply means some employees have less flexibility because of their position.
Hourly production line employees with a set number of personal days do not have the same choices as the salaried leadership team. I’m not advocating for a proletariat uprising or disregarding policies (part of my living comes from writing policies for companies). I’m advocating for you to be aware of your affluence. Acknowledge how the scarce non-renewable resource of time affects each person in your organization. I’m advocating for more consideration of the time constraints employees face.
Make Time to Ponder and Discuss These 5 Points
The irony is that a discussion of time affluence requires more TIME than this 4-minute read. Even so, here are some points to ponder and discuss.
Do your employees who are time affluent recognize it? Do they appreciate it? Are there some who abuse it?
Do your supervisors know their direct reports? Do they know who lives with an elderly mother who has dementia? Who is about to experience a drastic life change, such as a new baby or an empty nest? Are they considerate of other aspects of their team’s lives?
Is there consideration and flexibility for your employees to take care of personal matters? Can they take time other than an allotted break to make a doctor’s appointment for their child? Can they attend a parent-teacher conference without feeling guilty and rushed?
Do you have clear policies and procedures? Does your leadership team understand that there must be flexibility and consideration of individual situations?
Do you have team-building events outside of work hours? Have you considered teambuilding's positive impact if experienced within the work day rather than taking employees away from family time?
Spread the Wealth: Low Cost, High ROI
Time affluence is a form of wealth and power. Spreading the wealth by being considerate of the time constraints employees face in moments or seasons of their lives increases loyalty. Investing in the well-being of your employees by providing flexibility when needed has an ROI you can’t place a number on and is beneficial to your company culture.
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