I have a fascination with security identity tags. I can’t lay claim to being the owner of one of these because I have no need to pass through any security system to be allowed access to the back room off the kitchen which is my office base. As long as I can make it past the fridge, I can get to my desk without so much as a swipe of a duster.
But, on our way to a meeting room with a client, I noted that he stopped at a closed door, genuflected while simultaneously swiping the security tag securely placed in his top pocket to gain access to the office on the other side. It was somewhat comic from where I was standing behind him, like a sort of Elizabethan court gesture to the queen. It occurred to me that ID tag owners have to perform certain actions in certain ways when they work for a large employer. (Forget the genuflection, think more the metaphorical bowing and scraping your way to promotion.) An ID tag might as well contain invisible protocols which employees must adhere to to be able to carry out their roles.
And of course your ID tag is the first thing you receive when you start working for a new company. It’s the opening to the induction training package which your new employer offers. This is in itself can be a bit of a lottery. How much do you want to know about your new employer - you need a bit more than access to the secure photocopier. You want to know the ethos of the company, its culture, how it communicates with staff. You really don’t want to be faced with mountains of paperwork, when you move to a new job, even if it entails a move to a fab new location. How about harnessing technology to communicate information to new employees? A little while back two hospitals in my home town, Glasgow began using ipods to assist induction training. We shouldn’t be afraid of approaching communication in creative ways to improve our employees’ efficiency.
Perhaps we should have a scanner at the entrance to Net.Mentor’s offices which, when you scan your ID card, reads “Everything communicates, so take care….!” I’d take a swipe at that.
Tags: communication, induction, security, training