12 ★ F I N A N C I A L T I M E S Monday 23 March 2020

Cometh the hour, cometh the manager.

While chief executives and their

coterie are in emergency board

meetings, drafting crisis directives, or

reassuring panic-stricken investors,

coronavirus is testing underrated,

overburdened, oft-maligned middle

managers as never before.

Some will emerge as heroes. Not that

they will receive the acclaim. Public

credit for getting through the crisis is

likely to accrue to their superiors, as it

almost always does.

This is not to underplay the influence

and importance of good leadership. But

much of the strain of interpreting the

uncertainty for worried staff is falling

to managers, at a time when their own

jobs, health, families, and financial

security are under threat. Managers

are also taking the operational

decisions on which national, not just

corporate, welfare depends, from

overseeing the restocking of

supermarket shelves to ensuring the

supply of face-masks for healthcare

workers. “There’s definitely a view at

the moment that we cannot manage

without managers,” one NHS hospital

doctor told me last week.

So forget all those surveys that

identified resilience, flexibility and

agility as critical skills in a fast-

changing world. This is the real test,

and, because it is without precedent, an

important first point is that managers

should acknowledge that they do not

have all the answers.

Plans are fluid and change day to

day. Admitting that the strategy is

bound to change, too, should build

trust and improve collaboration

according to case studies, such as one

into how a cool-headed manager

worked with his team to shut down the

“other” Fukushima nuclear plant,

Daini, after the 2011 earthquake and

tsunami. Situations beyond prior

experience call for “sense makers”,

who concede that they are feeling their

way to solutions and invite team

members’ to collaborate to think

themselves out of their predicament.

“You need to be clear and you need

your team to understand what your

priorities are and what you expect of

them, but you need to lead from the

human side first,” says Ann Francke,

chief executive of the UK’s Chartered

Management Institute.

It can feel lonely to be promoted to

lead a group, particularly if you count

its members as friends, so managers

know a lot about isolation. But

widespread remote working calls for

special skills.

The common instruction to

managers in recent days has been to

offset self-isolation by communicating

more frequently using all available

technology. That could mean

increasing routine online conversations

about progress to twice a day. But

technology can also encourage over-

communication and exacerbate

miscommunication. Managers are the

conduit for a deluge of commands via

teleconference, email, and Slack, while

team members use WhatsApp as a sly

back-channel to provide live,

subversive commentary on their team

leaders’ pronouncements.

Managers need to beware the danger

of digital overload. One friend says he

was forced to reserve time in his virtual

calendar for lunch with himself, to

avoid being block-booked by requests

for half-hour calls to resolve issues that

colleagues would normally handle in a

two-minute visit to his desk.

In what is primarily a health crisis,

self-care becomes essential. Managers

are already falling ill. They need to

protect themselves for the sake of their

staff. At the same time, they must

watch out for signs of social alienation

in their teams. “Tech isn’t the worry,

the loss of social interaction is the

worry,” says Lynda Gratton of London

Business School, referring to the

overwhelming outcome of a live poll

she conducted during a popular

webinar last week on virtual working.

I have my doubts about the forced

friendliness of online “coffee breaks”

and “cocktail hours”, designed to

replicate chance office encounters. It is

a start, though, and recognises the

importance of maintaining that human

touch, something that may well be

eased by the inevitable interruption of

families into the virtual office.

Ms Francke told me that the young

child of one participant in a

videoconference last week interrupted

his father by quietly handing over a

note. When other colleagues asked

what it said, he held it up to the

camera. It read: “I need a poo!”

Such incidents are bound to

encourage empathy, the final essential

managerial quality when forgiveness

and trust are in short supply. Some

managers might decide the crisis gives

them licence to behave like Winston

Churchill or Napoleon. There will be

moments when top-down orders are

needed. For once, though, managers’

attempts to convey that they are in the

same boat as their teams ring true. If

they want everyone to row in the same

direction, they would do well to jettison

the wartime rhetoric.

[email protected]

Twitter: @andrewtghill

’

Forget the surveys

identifying agility,

resilience and

flexibility as

critical skills in a

changing world —

this is the real test

Middle

managers: the

unsung heroes

of this crisis

Andrew Hill

On management

W O R K & C A R E E R S

‘

T

his time last year, James

Cairns’s work schedule was

packed; now it is empty.

The self-employed techni-

cian who works on sound

and lighting at live events faces cancella-

tions of gigs in Croatia, Italy and Spain.

He hopes to negotiate a mortgage holi-

day. “My next job in the diary is the start

of June but I don’t hold out much [hope]

that it will go ahead,” he says. “I have

always been busy and worked really

hard for my money... I am just hoping

that when we come out of this night-

mare, work will pick up and become

busier than normal.”

Like many freelancers whose work

has dried up because of the pandemic,

the 33-year-old from Essex, south-east

England, finds himself without a finan-

cial buffer. Unlike employees, he is not

entitled to redundancy money. For all

the freedom and flexibility that self-em-

ployment offers, for those like Mr Cairns

it has turned out to be insecure.

The crisis has illuminated stark dif-

ferences between the employed and

freelancers. “One of the trends of the

past 20 to 30 years is the transfer of risk

from organisations under the banner of

freedom. A crisis like this exposes the

positive spin of the freedom of inde-

pendence of the gig economy,” says

Gianpiero Petriglieri, associate profes-

sor of organisational behaviour at

Insead, the French business school.

“You have to be very hopeful [and

hope] the coronavirus will make people

think how sustainable [freelancing] is.”

On Friday, UK Chancellor Rishi

Sunak announced emergency measures

to enable the self-employed to claim

universal credit at £94.25 per week, far

below the protection offered to employ-

ees. The government has said it is look-

ing into further measures. But that has

not reassured Mr Cairns. “I feel that self-

employed people are being massively

overlooked.”

Andy Chamberlain, director of policy

at the Association of Independent Pro-

fessionals and the Self-Employed, says

the government has still left the self-

employed “trailing far behind”. “In fact,

instead of supporting freelancers to

help them keep their businesses going,

it is pushing the self-employed into the

benefits system. Worse, in the benefits

system, the amount of money available

will simply not be enough to cover many

freelancers’ costs.”

Fiona Scott Lockyer, a production

manager in live events says only free-

lancing has ever been available in her

sector. “It sucks but it is the way it is.”

More than one in seven (15 per cent)

of all people in employment in the

OECD group of developed nations were

self-employed in 2019. Thirty-four per

cent of Greece’s workforce are self-em-

ployed, while in Italy they account for 23

per cent, Spain, 16 per cent, the UK 15

per cent and in the US, 6 per cent.

In the UK, a survey of creatives in the-

atre, television production and live

events, by Bectu, a trade union, found

that 71 per cent of freelancers are con-

cerned they will be unable to pay their

bills. Philippa Childs, the union’s head,

says that the crisis “has exposed the vul-

nerability of people in precarious types

of employment”.

In the US, Rafael Espinal, executive

director of the Freelancers Union, says

that many of its 500,000 members are

worried they will receive less work or

none at all due to coronavirus. “We’re

hearing a lot from creatives who depend

on venues, film production to do shoots.

They don’t have the flexibility to work

from home. Independent contractors

don’t broadly qualify for unemploy-

ment benefits available to employees.”

The Freelancers Union is recom-

mending that the US makes zero-in-

terest loans available to the self-em-

ployed, as well as an expansion of

unemployment insurance to cover the

self-employed and a tax break.

“Every worker should have some

kind of security,” Mr Espinal says.

“This is an opportune time to revisit

policies to tackle the workforce that

[will be] the future of work. This is the

greatest financial crisis that freelanc-

ers have faced in modern history.”

Tech platforms such as Uber and

Deliveroo have said they will financially

help gig workers forced to stay at home

because of the virus. Yet some workers

complain this help is hard to access.

Greg Howard, a Deliveroo rider and

secretary of the Independent Worker’s

Union of Great Britain’s couriers and

logistics branch, self-isolated after a

fever and cough forced him off work. “I

couldn’t access the fund as I couldn’t get

medical proof [due to the UK’s National

Health Service not testing those with

symptoms of coronavirus]. They’re just

giving us breadcrumbs.”

Adding to his frustration, he was una-

The self-employed and gig

economy workers have

seen their incomes

plummet. Emma Jacobs

and Andrew Hill report

Gig workers:

Uber and

Deliveroo said

they will

support them,

but one rider

said accessing

financial help

was difficult

Getty Images

ble to speak to a Deliveroo manager.

“Being managed by a tech platform is

hard. There’s no phone support. You

have to log an online query.”

Many countries are grappling with

how to deal with their self-employed

workforces losing income. In Greece,

one-off payments of €800 will be

issued, as well as tax holidays. The Nor-

wegian government is proposing to

compensate self-employed workers for

lost earnings up to 80 per cent of their

salaries, while the Danes will receive up

to 75 per cent.

Julie Marie Nielsen, a freelance food

writer based in Copenhagen who has no

dependants, believes the Danish gov-

ernment “has handled the coronavirus

really well under the circumstances”.

Some freelancers call for new strate-

gies, such as universal basic income, in

which all adults receive a flat payment.

Fabian Wallace Stephens, senior

researcher at the Future Work Centre at

the Royal Society for the encourage-

ment of Arts, Manufactures and Com-

merce, says the pandemic will make

governments and workers consider new

welfare safety nets, such as portable

benefits that can be carried by the self-

employed between employers, or uni-

versal basic income. “Current benefit

systems are not designed around com-

plex employment patterns,” he says.

Some employees who have lost their

jobs or been forced to take unpaid leave

are turning to freelancing. PeoplePer-

Hour, a platform for freelancers, reports

a year-on-year increase in new sign-ons

of 513 per cent in Japan, 329 per cent in

Spain and 300 per cent in the UK.

In some ways, the self-employed are

‘Current benefit

systems are not designed

around complex

employment patterns’

best-placed to deal with the anxiety

triggered by the global pandemic,

according to Prof Petriglieri. “Those

who have been successful will have

experienced dealing with economic

uncertainty, and learnt to deal with the

lack of structure of permanent employ-

ment and office life.”

Vicky Grinnell-Wright has worked

almost entirely independently, often

from her home in the Welsh hills, since

2001, as a coach and consultant, special-

ising in sustainable business. “I’ve

learnt how to manage my emotional,

mental and financial expectations”

through disruption, she says, in the

process building up a high degree of

resilience that she thinks will stand her

in good stead.

In part, she expects to be able to offer

her experience of long term home work-

ing to companies and individuals. As she

points out, though, the coronavirus

restrictions are not an experiment in

mass flexible working but in companies

and individuals who experiment in

“very, very inflexible working”.

Frances Mann, 59, an independent

management consultant since 2002,

says she is personally well placed to sur-

vive a drought. It is possible, she says,

that customers will seek ad hoc advice

from independent consultants on how

to handle short-term disruption and

necessary changes that were previously

deferred. Though, she notes that after

the financial crisis, it was “not until 2011

that we started seeing people coming

out from the bunker”.

Independent consultants are com-

fortable with the practicalities of remote

working but this is not the case for all

her clients. “I’ve got clients who still

don’t like doing things on email let alone

on a conference call,” Ms Mann says.

“The real uncertainty is about new

work”. She is worried about “the pros-

pect of starting a new project that could

end up being done completely remotely

— unless you already know that client

very well, you’re going to struggle”.

Freelancers seek out support

for the hard months ahead

Working lives

This week’s problem

I have a BA in Arabic and

Chinese and six years’ work

experience. Most of my roles,

which focus on international

relations in the public and

private sector, have been

entry level and fixed term,

providing little chance to

develop management skills. I

feel overqualified for entry-

level positions but, when

applying for mid-level roles, I

am offered entry-level jobs.

Am I destined to be a

perpetual intern? Male, 30s

Jonathan’s answer

You have a strong objective of

a career in international

relations, some useful work

experience in a range of

organisations, a good

employment record, and a

drive to progress into

management. While you may

feel your preordained destiny

is to be locked into perpetual

internships, just asking the

question suggests you are

trying to take control of your

career.

Your underlying ambition is

to progress in an organisation

which you see as going hand

in hand with rising up a

management path. It is a

common feature of traditional

organisations that extra pay

and responsibility goes along

with managing people. This

can be counterproductive:

people with excellent

technical skills feel they have

to take more senior roles,

even though they no longer

use their skills and are asked

to develop management skills

that may not suit them.

Progressive organisations,

however, are moving away

from command and control

structures towards flatter

hierarchies and a culture of

collaboration. As a result,

success in management

requires skills of teamwork,

communication and inspiring

leadership. Can you develop

and demonstrate these skills

in your current work, or in

activities outside work, for

example volunteering or

board membership of

charities or schools?

Are there particular

industry sectors that fit your

objectives and use more of

your skills and experience?

With your languages,

international roles and work

experience, could you

consider entry-level roles in

logistics or finance? Perhaps

international charities and

disaster aid relief could be a

worthwhile direction to

explore. Other options might

include the intelligence

services and think-tanks.

To give yourself the space

and opportunity to

demonstrate your skills, try to

avoid fixed-term roles. Do not

worry if they appear to be

entry-level, as you will then be

in the organisation and able

to explore other roles.

A next practical step could

be some desk research,

followed by targeted

information interviewing,

learn if the mid-level jobs you

seek need a higher degree or

different skills. You may find

that to get on you will need a

masters or doctorate, or learn

some other skills from online

courses.

In Shakespeare’s Julius

Caesar, Cassius observes,

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not

in our stars, But in ourselves,

that we are underlings.” It is

not written in the stars that

you have to be a perpetual

intern, but you must try

different routes to write your

own destiny.

Readers’ advice

Why aren’t the companies

you work for offering you

permanent positions at the

end of your contract?

If you can get honest

feedback there, it will help.

skeptic

Get a permanent job at

whatever level, stay in that

company and work your way

up. If you are literate in

Mandarin, there are a tonne of

commercial opportunities

where you can build up some

seniority. Osiris

When you interview explain

your ambition that you are

looking for a company to help

develop you. Ask for

examples of where other

recruits who have held this

position have ended up.

Dismiss any offers from those

that cannot provide these.

NobodyCaresMate

The next problem

I have been driving a cab for

26 years and now want to

stop and study and learn new

skills. In the short-term I am

doing some IT courses so I

can get a new job quickly. But

in the long term, I want to

study chemistry and be a

chemist for a pharmaceutical

company. By the time I

complete my degree I will be

60. Would I be able to get a
    job? Male 50s

Jonathan Black is director

of the Careers Service at

the University of Oxford.

Every fortnight he answers

your questions on personal

and career development

and working life. Do you

have a question for

Jonathan? Email him at

[email protected]

Dear Jonathan

Your question for our expert — and readers’ advice

I am offered

only entry-

level jobs —

can I break

the cycle?

MARCH 23 2020 Section:Features Time: 22/3/2020 - 18:11 User: neil.way Page Name: CAREERS1, Part,Page,Edition: USA, 12, 1