Grant Thornton Australia CEO Greg Keith unleashes about workers’ bad habit

The boss of a prestigious accounting firm has admitted he hates it when his staff go out for coffee while they are clocked in, especially as he has extended their weekends.

Greg Keith, CEO 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 nine days’ work for two weeks, giving them a long weekend every fortnight.

Despite the generous opening hours, Keith says some Grant Thornton employees 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 have a coffee and seeing 15 people from one of the teams queuing, waiting for the 15th person to get their coffee before they all go back up.

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

He said the introduction of a shorter working day has made him aware that time in the office counts.

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

Mr Keith explained that groups of 15 workers ‘take 30 minutes or 40 minutes to get coffee’

‘We’ve discussed all that kind of behavior.

“We said, how much time do you spend on your phone and on your socials, and how much time do you spend just walking downstairs, grabbing a coffee, etc.?

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

While the company is still figuring out how best to work with the nine-day window, Keith says its “huge” benefits are already apparent.

“Our retention rates are the highest they’ve ever been. The mental well-being of our people is the best it has ever been. Our engagement scores are the best ever, 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 trial period, he said the company would consider reducing it to just eight (four-day working weeks) if it was ‘extremely successful’.

Mr Keith made headlines last March for offering his employees a nine-day working week, giving them a long weekend every two weeks.

“With so many professional services workers reporting increased stress and health problems, we remain convinced that the current system is broken,” Keith said at the time.

“We will courageously try something different because we want a better outcome for our people and our customers. We see an irresistible opportunity to improve quality, customer service and the well-being of our people.

“While this trial prioritizes our customers and their expectations, our people will also benefit from additional time to recharge.

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