by Jack Sunn
“Yes, of course. 287 in thirteen divisions.” He started to itemise the divisions when I cut him short with a polite hand gesture.
“Tell me Jan, has HR division ever been in here?”
“No, no, “shaking his head.
“Jan. What made you want to work here? Please, this is only between you and I and at no risk to your employment.”
“Mr Sunn. I was raised in central Europe and rose to be second in charge of a large conglomerate. Twenty-eight years in total with them. After the Berlin Wall collapse, all manner of changes followed. Eventually I was made ‘redundant’ to a four-year MBA graduate who had a pause followed relations with the CEO’s son. In short, I left and came to Australia, where I became unemployed. I like to keep active and sought employment. I soon found out that what you must do is to meet HR’s requirements of a position and no more. If I said I had a doctorate I was dismissed out of hand.”
“Do you have a doctorate Mr Peters?”
“Mr Sunn. I am from Europe where expectations of education appear to differ from here.”
The conversation continued for another five minutes on a wide range of topics before we amicably parted.
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Back at the HR meeting: “Ms Anders. This is what I would like you to do. Mr Peters is currently downstairs. I would like you to interview him. That is, talk with him and find out as much as you can about him. He has been instructed to directly answer your questions, but not to volunteer anything further. Are you comfortable with that?”
“Well of course not. It is not my job.”
“It is now. Two minutes down. Ten minutes in situ. Two minutes up. See you in fourteen minutes,” I said, and for show clumsily set my watch timer to be observed as time obsessed.
I resumed what appeared to be paperwork, and said to the rest of the HR staff that the meeting would resume in 14 minutes.
After sixteen minutes, we heard a knock at the door.
“Come.” Ms Anders entered and returned with a notebook.
“Are you enlightened, or just pleased that I am still here Ms Anders? I am on a tight schedule and I thought that of all people you would respect that. Two minutes is all the time needed for a building, empire or company to collapse. I am still here though, so please report your findings and any recommendations you have. Firstly, your personal observations, then specifics.”
“Your Mr Peters does not appear to fit well within this company. He appears to not be a team player, an odd shaped peg in a square hole, and does not speak English like the rest of the staff do. He does not have coffee with the others, nor talk a lot. He lives in Brisbane and has worked here for two years. Recommendation. Watch him, as he may be socially disruptive in the longer term.”
I looked up from my paperwork.
“Earlier I asked how many staff worked in the building. Do you recall?”
“Yes of course,” Dale answered gruffly.
“Let me ask you again. Do you know how many?
“About three hundred, like I told you.”
“I asked Mr Peters the same question. Do you know what his answer was?”
“Am I a mind reader?”
“Attitude will get you wherever you want to go Ms Anders. A slight pause. He responded with 287 in thirteen divisions, plus five security staff, twelve casual cleaners and one to two kiosk staff. You said before you are responsible for the HR team. May I suggest that you have been responsible more for yourself and your own promotion. I see that you came here from a much larger organisation, and that may be part cause of the problem. What we have here Ms Anders, is a wheel, not a pyramid. The wheel has the business and CEO in the centre, with the spokes comprising the supporting divisions. Unlike pyramids that are stationary, wheels move. Apt I would think, considering this is a transport company. I see that you have had more off-site training than anybody else. Why is that I wonder? But let’s finish with that. Ms Anders, we are going forward with or without you. With the boss’s complete support, we are breaking down some of the stale hierarchy here. Now you may not like it but your salary is to be reduced. You have been paid a sum higher than your 2-I-C by an amount greater than Mr Peters’ total salary, and yet you appear to know less about the organisation than he does. With the boss’s full consent, you are to report immediately to the mail room. In the envelope I am about to hand you is a letter of resignation if you prefer that option.”
With a look of near total horror on her face, Dale reluctantly started for the door.
“And I would appreciate if you could be there looking at my watch in about thirteen minutes when the next ingress of mail is expected. That will be all. Good day.”
“I expect Mr Peters to show me the ropes then.”
“No, Mr Peters has been moved. Besides, you should learn quickly being more than overqualified for the position, speaking the correct form of English and being a drinker of coffee. We are all part of the wheel Dale. No longer is HR here to be the gatekeeper for employment. You see Mr Peters is someone you do not know and he clearly outsmarted you. Obviously you did not know that he had been 2-I-C for a company much larger than this one, and at one time a professor of international trade and economics at large German University. You see Ms Anders, it is not the i-dotting and t-crossing on applications that is important, it is what the person can do. Professor Peters is currently Mr Redman’s personal advisor and will likely be offered a position of overseeing Overseas Operations. I am not privy to all, but they spent a day and a night together and Mr Redman is certainly excited to have someone of Mr Peters’ background, experience and knowledge here. Unlike many of the staff here, Mr Peters has been studying the company intranet carefully whenever he could. In checking the records, he has spent more time online learning about the operations here than you have. And to his credit he is not a social media client. Nine minutes Dale. Two minutes down. Seven minutes tuition before the rush. See you around.”
I consulted my notes and turned to the 2-I-C of HR. Carol Roberts.
“Ms Roberts. You were second in charge of HR here. What is your take on what has happened here in the last, say, half hour?”
Looking isolated and put upon she replied, “Mr Sunn. I am not sure to be truthful. I understand you work for the Redman Group, if not Mr Redman himself, but we have managed fine in your absence up till now. Perhaps you can enlighten us further.”
“You have an HR staff of nearly thirty doing what we are not quite sure. That represents about one of your staff for about 8-9 other staff. You may remember that HR departments were originally records and staff development branches of organisations such as government departments and big companies. With the introduction of United States University-speak, what some call Harvard-speak, these same records and staff development sections became known as Human Resources departments. And so arose HR managers. Euphemistic swindle and sidestepping. You may think of yourself as a human resource, but I most certainly am not. I am a person. Staff development and training officer is quite an apt, reasonable and responsible title for anybody engaged in fostering the staff’s education and training. HR has been allowed to develop a mystique impenetrable by nearly everybody else in the organisation. Let me tell you what is going to happen. You and your staff are to pack up all loose materials and personal effects, and seal up the filing cabinets. Have this done by close of business today, 5pm. Tomorrow morning have everybody here at 7.30 am sharp. No flex time tomorrow. That will be all.”
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The next morning, 7.30 am. “Good morning all. I see you are all here. We are changing work patterns, behaviours and responsibilities. As you can see most everything has been moved out. You occupied this top floor space for years. Now it is time to clean this office space and have it spotless for the next occupants. You have till 12 noon. Remember, time is of the essence. But before I leave, I ask you to place your mobile phones in this box, which I shall return later. Cleaning materials are in the adjacent room, as is plenty of bottled water. If you have time t
o take advantage of the allotted ten-minute break for tea or coffee, be sure to not go overtime and not to return here with the containerised drinks. Everything will be explained later. See you at noon in rooms 3-5 on the ground floor.”
Comes noon and they reassembled on the ground floor. In contrast to the top floor offices they had vacated that had views of the city and Port of Brisbane, the ground floor had only a partial view of the adjacent building.
“Welcome. These are your new rooms. Please take a thirty-minute lunch break and be back by 12.30 sharp.”
Mumbled disgruntlement flowed through the group.
“Mr Sunn, what is going on?” interjected a middle management staff member.
“Change. That is what is going on. The very thing that your department was supposed to foster and infuse within the organisation’s culture.”
“But these rooms are a mess.”
“Then clean them. I feel sure you know how.” With that I walked away saying, “Remember, 12.30 sharp.”
Come 12.30 and the staff had dwindled with the resignation of five HR staff, the envelopes handed to me personally by Carol. I supressed a smile, but only just.
“Alright, attention please everybody. Let me explain. Ten years ago, this section was considered overstaffed with only five members. Yesterday you had nearly thirty staff, now twenty-four with one seconded to mail duty. Whilst you were on the top floor you thought you were above everybody else, caring little for them, even lauding it over them as to how important you were. That has changed. Administration and IT services that were here have been moved to freshly cleaned rooms on the top floor. This here is your new home. Please be cleaned up and unpacked by 4pm. We will reconvene at 4.15 pm latest.” With that I walked out, took the lift to the top floor and delivered five envelopes to administration. On seeing me approaching, the junior admin officer walked briskly over to me and asked how he could assist me if possible.
“Please process these would you?”
“Right away Mr Sunn. It will be my pleasure.” He quickly returned to his desk that now came with an expansive view and immediately accessed the staff employment database. In mimicking the Daleks of Dr Who, he quietly said to himself, “exterminate. exterminate.”
I then proceeded over to the IT people. I assembled the main people and advised them that they were no longer to be called IT, but ITC, emphasising the C meaning communication. I then asked them to run a simple program to scan the activity of all staff computers over the preceding week. This produced results in little time and the IT and C technician showed me the results. The results were much as I expected. I then handed him a written directive. “Please inform all staff that the use of the internet for research and accessing professional databases like LinkedIn is acceptable in the day to day workings of the company, but be advised that personal social media applications are being blocked by the company’s servers. Outside of work internet usage by some has been excessive. However, under new arrangements, working hours per week may be reduced by up to four hours, to be replaced by a combination of up to four hours of study and/or physical development. To help this happen it would be appreciated if use of personal phones be minimised during work time. Lunch, as well as the other two breaks should be adequate for all but the most urgent of emergencies. The study and physical development programs are yet to be finalised, but you will be encouraged to undertake either or both at the company’s expense. We hope this is not seen as an inconvenience, but rather as an opportunity to take yourself and the company to another level. To this end, the HR department is to be transformed. To start with it will be renamed as the Staff Training Department, yes, abbreviated as STD, which is now located on the ground floor. Of course, any reference to disease is purely coincidental.”
CHAPTER 8
Sunnybank Satellite. As my training progressed, it became obvious to me that how I was living in the suburbs, though functional at a base level, would not suit future needs of survival or a place to accommodate very many people, either permanently or in transit. Thus a change was required, and I was developing plans, and those plans kept getting bigger. I wanted a retreat, but still in the suburbs.
Planning involved in acquiring and establishing a reclusive retreat type of home in the suburbs was different from the rural ‘prepper’ approach that often involved being isolated, and which was common within US literature. The plan with the Sunnybank ‘satellite’ was to establish a secure location within suburbia as a stand-alone retreat that would also serve as a half-way house for our Northern Rivers staff when travelling in and out of Brisbane airports. Northern Rivers was a further two hours away and not always safe to travel to at odd hours, or a safe option after long international flights.
Suburbia offered opportunities and challenges not present in rural locations. The goal at Sunnybank was to reinforce the idea that security of home life and its necessary supporting supplies can be achieved in many sorts of locations, especially in densely populated areas. The TaSMAN group’s consulting work was changing to increasingly incorporate long term survival of our clients under extreme impositions, whether natural or induced. What better than to do so at home. After all, much of the world’s population lives in low set buildings. Additionally, units and apartments in multilevel buildings were not part of my interest or expertise.
My first step was selection of a suitable building for conversion into a secure home. I shied away from readily available 3-4 bedroom houses, and instead looked at commercial buildings. Importantly commercial buildings offered potentially greater privacy. Most warehouses and storage sheds shielded their contents when the doors were closed. Storage sheds, forever on the increase and readily available, though suitable for short periods of isolated recluse did not suit my intent of having long term storage capacity and the ability to have hidden away a productive food and spice garden. Effectively I wanted a garden, aviary and small apiary out of sight. But more on that later.
Under extreme conditions of having to remain out of sight for extended periods of time, I needed to be able to escape cabin fever, especially if I was alone. Furthermore, temperature fluctuations were more extreme in sheds than houses, and therefore not conducive to comfortable habitation or food storage.
An industrial estate close to suburban housing seemed the most promising. In some industrial areas unroofed but fenced areas often accompanied large storage buildings lending themselves to multiple uses.
After not much searching I was able to purchase something that I thought would accommodate what I had in mind, and at the same time allow for future expansion. The tilt-slab building seemed ideal.
In planning how to customise the building and enclosed outdoor area I tried as best I could to scenarioize, new lingo from management speak, the future, and assess what resources I needed securely behind concrete walls, and those that would be available for outsourcing. In short, following a major calamity, what would be available in a two-three kilometre radius of home that I would be able to use if the present population was no longer there? Scary thought, but planning was not for a vacation, but for continuance of life, my life. This is where the urban environment differs from the rural. In the short term of up to a few weeks following a calamity, as people get increasingly needy, hungry, and desperate, all available food and backyard poultry are likely to be consumed. Sustaining poultry in my walled city was not really a high priority if it meant keeping roosters if they crow. Post societal collapse resupply of birds from the rural Northern Rivers base was readily achievable. I did, however, want to incorporate poultry in the long term, as in traditional village life they serve so many purposes and functions. Poultry could come later.
As household food supplies are depleted, shops are ransacked and gutted of supplies, poultry is eaten, and what is left if the population collapses? Obviously what has yet to become available. The main sources in Sunnybank are large fruited tree species, namely bananas, avocadoes, custard apples, mangoes and figs. Naturally I could not grow them in sufficient q
uantity in my walled garden, but there was no need to. So part of my plan was to inventory the neighbourhood which was readily done by walking the streets. I also noticed the most productive gardens; these were mainly tended by Chinese and Italian families. One thing I was not at all sure of was would people effectively destroy bee hives as a last resort? I noted what hives I could, for if nothing else, post collapse their owners would have useful equipment such as frames, foundation and boxes. I planned on installing several small hives in my garden as a nucleus for expansion if needed. After all, with little effort an apiary can be expanded tenfold in a season. The apiary then supplies honey, wax and in due course mead! All fine so far but when does it all become a reality. The next thing was done over a two-year period. In addition to researching the habits and cultural requirements of these major fruit tree species, I time mapped their fruiting periods to determine not only availability, but workloads to process them. Yes, we can eat fruit, but mangoes bananas and figs can also be dried or wet preserved to varying extents. This necessitated acquiring large commercial size food dryers and similarly other preserving equipment. Bulk good quality vinegar and containers were readily sourced. Vinegar is traditionally used in pickling all manner of fruits and vegetables. I planned on supplies that would last years, but also sourced material for making large quantities if needed.
There was a lot to do, but none of it was without a clear purpose. And amazing was the result of research. The suburbs proved to be a massive store of materials and supplies.
CHAPTER 9
Five months after the shakeup of the Redman Group that began with my whirlwind week of change, followed by adoption of the plans worked out by Jan Peters and Sam Redman, Alex and I returned to meet with Sam Redman. He welcomed us into his office which he had relocated to the ground floor.
“Gentlemen, good morning. You like the new office?” Not expecting a reply, he continued, “As you may know my family and I have acted upon most of your suggestions, and I must say we feel much happier and more secure. Moving to a regular suburb where we were able to purchase two adjoining properties, and make modifications along the lines you suggested has progressed rather smoothly. What you started here at the office some months back has kick-started much needed change within our company, and with the exceptional capacity of Jan Peters, our company is, from what I have been hearing from the staff, the greatest place to work at that one could hope for. The less-hours offset has resulted in greater productivity. The physical interactions in the gymnasium are working wonders also. Some have opted to participate in a research and development group of their own design in-lieu of formal study. They meet twice a week to investigate everything and anything that might improve the company. It is like they own it. For example, just one area they are investigating is how to build into our shipping model, the inclusion of smaller non-diesel powered ships to move freight. As you may know, all our ships are large, and all are diesel powered. Opportunities for using non-diesel power and berthing at small docks currently pass us by. As you are probably aware, places as small as Norfolk Island do not have a wharf for unloading. The cargo is unloaded into smaller boats then taken to land. The possibilities are many and varied, and extend into the Pacific and South-east Asia. They are also looking at the vulnerability of GPS navigation and alternatives. I like what I am hearing, and all this in five months. “