Top Australian CEO unleashes about his workers’ bad habit

By Ashley Nickel

(Daily Mail Australia) – The boss of a prestigious accounting firm has admitted he hates watching his staff go out for coffee while clocked on, especially since he has extended their weekends.

Greg Keith, chief executive of Grant Thornton Australia, fronted the Australian Financial Review’s podcast, 15 Minutes with the Boss, on Tuesday.

Mr Keith made headlines last March for offering his employees a nine-day work fortnight, giving them a long weekend every second week.

Despite the generous hours, Mr Keith said some Grant Thornton staff are still guilty of wasting time by leaving the office to get coffee in large groups.

When asked what his ‘pet hate’ in the office was, he said: ‘[Staff] going downstairs to grab a coffee and seeing 15 people in one of the teams lining up, waiting for the 15th person to get their coffee before they all go back upstairs.

‘It’s taken them 30 minutes or 40 minutes to get a coffee. That’s just a huge waste of time and efficiency.’

He said the introduction of a shortened work fortnight has heightened his awareness of making time in the office count.

‘When we brought in our nine-day fortnight, it was really to tackle those sort of issues, to say to people, “If we can use our time more efficiently, we’ll give that time back to you”.

‘We discussed all those sorts of behaviours.

‘We said, how much time do you spend on your phone and on your socials, and how much time do you spend just walking down, grabbing coffees, et cetera?

‘If you can trim those things down, it’s not hard to find half an hour a day that we’ll give back to you at the end of the fortnight. You can take a day off.’

While the company is still ironing out how the nine-day fortnight can best operate, Mr Keith said its ‘huge’ advantages are already evident.

‘Our retention rates are the highest they’ve ever been. Our people’s mental wellbeing is the best it’s ever been. Our engagement scores are the best they’ve ever been, and we’re getting more production out of less time, so it’s worth chasing,’ he said.

When Mr Keith first announced trials of the nine-day fortnight, he said the company would consider cuttting it back to just eight – four-day work weeks – if it was ‘extremely successful’.

‘With so many of the professional services’ workforce reporting increased stress and health issues, we remain convinced the current system is broken,’ Mr Keith said at the time.

‘We will be bold in trying something different as we want a better outcome for our people and our clients. We see an irresistible opportunity to improve quality, client service and our people’s wellbeing.

‘Whilst this trial prioritises our clients and their expectations, our people will also benefit from additional time to recharge.

‘We will be closely engaging with clients throughout the trial to ensure the quality we deliver and their experience improves as expected.’