Members Column Day: About the workweek

Dear FakeMike, a growing number of CGI members are concerned that the company is raising the workweek at many U.S. and Canadian locations purely for financial reasons. A lot of regular folks down the pyramid think CGI has reach a point where money is the only value the company cares about. The Kool-Aid has a strange after taste. Is there a reason for raising the workweek other than increasing company revenues?

Let me think… no… none than I can think of. Look, this is just one of those things that we can’t avoid. We set aggressive sales objectives and the reality must adapt to our perspective. I don’t give a damn about the recession, I don’t care about the competition, and – don’t take this personally – I don’t care about members working an additional 30 minutes each day.

Let me tell you a story. A hundred years ago farmers were raising chickens in the wild. Farmer John would put up a fence around his property, put a bucket of seeds in the middle with fresh water, and the chickens would take care of themselves and do chicken things. As the 20^th century progressed, Farmer John realized that his business model had flaws. He built a large hen farm, increased the number of chicken per square foot and built partnerships with other farmers to buy seeds at lower price. Then came KFC, and the demand for chicken increased ten fold. So what did Farmer John did? He was a smart man. He built small cages that could be layered one on top of the other, chicken would literally live in cages without being able to stand on their feet, and Farmer John was able to raise 150 times more chicken without raising substantially his operating cost. Farmer John worked from dusk until dawn, and by the time they found a tumor in his brain he was filthy rich.

Farmer John invented profitable growth.

You are important to me the same way chicken were important to Farmer John, except I don’t chop your head after 42 days. My goal at CGI is to increase revenues per chicken.. I mean per member. Billing more hours for the same fixed salary is one way to pursue profitable growth. If you’re doing 37.5 hours a week, don’t whine – I could increase you to 40. If you’re doing 40, I could increase you to 42. German laws have a 54 hours limit, so there’s plenty of room to grow. I wish we could be headquartered in Japan so we could implement karōshi. Plus, I work 60+ hours a week and I’ve never felt better in my entire life - true, the $800 000 bonus helps a little.

Our competition is acting in the same way, don’t think for a minute that the other guys are better than us. If they interview you, all they see in you is another source of revenue, they don’t give a shiitake about your career objectives, your cute kids and your personal values. They want to leverage whatever is inside your head and bill a customer for it.

Money drives this world.