Are you listening?

The car park I use at the office (when I am not riding my Giant Halfway) has a little booth / office at the entrance.

It is manned by one attendant Monday to Wednesday and another the rest of the week - and recently it has been broken into several times overnight.

To break in the thieves have to lever off a steel shutter and smash a large glass window. And the booty? A basic Nokia mobile phone and charger which is kept in the office overnight.

After the last break-in I asked why this kept happening. The answer? The attendants are provided with the mobile phone by the car park company... and it has to be left overnight so that it can be used by the other attendant when they change over shifts.

The attendants have suggested to management that they buy an extra phone so that they can take them home at night (likely cost from about £4.95), but so far they have refused. 

Now, I don't know how much it costs to repair the shutter and replace the glass each time... but I am willing to bet that they could have bought a hundred basic Nokia phones so far for the same price.

My first question was why the management have ignored the obvious solution their employees put forward... is it arrogance, inflexibility or maybe lack of trust? Whatever the reason it seems to be costing them (or their insurers) dear.

More generally, I wonder whether a lot of organisations are doing this? Does everyone in the company feel they can suggest better ways of doing things... and do you listen to them if they do?

In my experience it is worth doing so... as in this case, they are often right!