I SPENT the first one year of my working life in Nigeria.  The other twenty three have been spent in the UK.  I was pretty young when I worked in Nigeria, and it was so brief, it did not leave any lasting impressions.  I have been spending a fair bit of time in Nigeria lately, and have been amazed at the stark difference in the work culture between Nigeria and the UK.

In Nigeria, it is common to walk into an office and find the receptionist with her head on the table, sleeping.  This is unheard of in the UK.  The receptionist would face serious consequences if that was to happen.  This is not to say that people do not feel sleepy at work.  Of course they do, but you do not indulge it, instead you down as many cups of coffee as is necessary to keep you awake or you step outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air.  Under no circumstances, would a member of staff openly take siesta at work.  Of course, I realise the hot weather does not help.  But this is the more reason why people should eat light meals at work.  It never ceases to amaze me the sort of meals and portions Nigerians have for lunch at work.  People eat things like a massive plate of pounded yam, huge plate of rice and beans etc. for lunch!  How on earth would one function effectively at work after such a heavy meal.  On the other hand in the UK, most people eat very light lunches, like a salad or a sandwich.  For the ones that eat cooked meals, portions are generally a fraction of what people would eat in Nigeria.

Attitudes in the work place are generally different from the UK. I once visited an organisation in Nigeria where there were a few people waiting in reception area.  One or two of the people waiting were so relaxed that they sat comfortably back on the sofas and proceeded to sleep like they were in their houses.  Nobody seemed to bat an eyelid as it seemed to be a normal occurrence.  You would never find that in any organisation in the UK, except of course you were in a bus garage or a similar set up!  It is socially unacceptable.  The receptionist in this same organisation was busy having very personal and loud conversations on her mobile phone, pacing up and down the reception and did not seem to care who was listening.  When she was not on the phone, she was chatting noisily with some of the waiting visitors and was generally generating a lot of noise.  Again, if this was in the UK,her job would definitely be on the line.  It’s just not a done thing.

The other great difference in work culture is time keeping.  In the UK, if a meeting is scheduled for a 9 o’clock start, every participant knows it means the meeting absolutely starts at 9 o’clock.  Likewise, if one has a 9 o’clock appointment, you know it means nothing but 9 o’clock.  However, I have come to learn that a 9 o’clock meeting in Nigeria, means anytime from 9 o’clock!  How is one expected to plan their day under such circumstances?    I have known people book meetings for the same time for different individuals, because they know fully well none of them is likely to turn up at 9 o’clock, that is, if they turn up at all.  I personally do not see how anyone can effectively manage their time when you are unable to effectively allocate time slots.  I once booked an appointment with a hairdresser in Nigeria for 11 o’clock.  I worked out how long I was likely to be at hers, seeing that I had secured my time slot.  On that basis, I booked my appointment for a very important meeting later.  Half an hour prior, I called her up to let her know I was in her area and to find out if 11 o’clock was still viable, as I do not have the patience to sit around and wait.  She assured me she would be in the salon at 11 o’clock.  Come 11 ’clock, I confidently walk into the salon, only to find out the lady was nowhere in sight.  I called her up and she assured me she was round the corner and would be with me in no time.  I took this to mean she was literally round the corner and expected her to turn up in about 5 minutes or less.  Ten minutes later, there was no sign of this lady.  Being mindful of my next appointment and at this time beginning to suspect she might be giving me a taste of Nigerian time keeping, I called her again and asked her bluntly how much longer she would be.  To my utter consternation, she told me she was still a long way away, as traffic was heavy, and she expected to be at the salon in about 45 minutes.  I was shocked.  I asked her why she could not have told me that earlier rather than give me the impression she was a few blocks away.  What stunned me the most was the fact it did not cross this lady’s mind that I might have had other things planned for the day, and might appreciate some warning, effectively allowing me the opportunity to reschedule my plans if she was unable to make the appointment.  The fact that I might have other plans seemed totally lost on her.

Needless to say, I did not wait around for that appointment and have never been back.  If I had called up the hairdresser in England and she was running late, she would actually tell me so, thus, giving me the option to wait or reschedule. The issue is, this lack of appreciation of the need for people to manage their time is very common in all walks of life in Nigeria.  I wonder if this is down to the lack of awareness of time management skills.  And on my part, I realise that if I keep up the habit of not returning to an establishment when they mismanage my time, I will very quickly run out of places to go.

The other work culture I find difficult to cope with in Nigeria is the dress code.  I find the fact that some employers determines how you dress weird, assuming it’s not a job that requires uniforms.  I understand the need for people to dress smartly and decently, which also applies in the UK, but for the employer to give stipulations on the length of the outfit, type of outfit, i.e. trousers or skirts and styles , e.g. short sleeves, long sleeves etc., I find pretty strange.  I once went to an organisation in Nigeria, and after signing in, the security man pulled me to one side and told me my knee length dress was too short.  He went on to describe the acceptable length to me.  I was flabbergasted.  I told him I did not own any such outfits and would not invest in a new wardrobe for the sole purpose of visiting their establishment.  He duly informed me, I would not be allowed in next time I visited.  I did not believe what I was hearing.  I later made a complaint to my contact, who informed me no such dress code existed.  The security guard was simply expressing his personal dislike to my style of dressing!  This is simply wrong.  The fact that the security guy was quite happy and felt able to tell a visitor off, knowing fully well it was not policy is totally unacceptable.  Even if it was policy, should it be down to the security guy to enforce it?  This sort of behaviour is unfathomable in the UK.  It could never and I repeat never happen.  So what is wrong with our system, where this is allowed to happen?

One of the great perks we enjoy at work in the UK, is flexible working.  Now, I realise some companies in Nigeria do this, but it is not widespread.  Flexible working schemes go a long way to reducing the incidence of absenteeism amongst employees. It is a well known fact that some employees call in sick, when all they need is a little extra time for one reason or the other.  If most employees realise that they can work from home on a day when they cannot for various reasons make the journey into work, there will be no reason to play truant.  This perk is obviously open to abuse, but the way to combat this would be to set clear tasks for the employees to do whilst working from home.  Another great aspect of a flexible working scheme is flexi-time.  Flexi-time system works really well and also helps combat absenteeism.  However, there has to be a system of recording and monitoring the hours the employees work on a weekly basis.  Under flextime, there is typically a period when employees are expected to be at work.  This is called Core time.  For instance, employees might be expected to be at work between the hours of 11am and 3.30pm. They can then work flexi-time within the other periods, subject to achieving the required total weekly or monthly hours as stipulated in their contracts, typically 37 hours a week in the UK. Where they have worked longer than the stipulated hours, they are allowed that as a credit towards another day, or if they have enough extra hours, can take a day or half a day off in lieu.  Staff can also skip their lunch break and use this to count towards the hours worked.. A flextime policy allows staff to determine when they will work to fit in with their domestic and other issues.  This could be a way forward for a lot of organisations in Nigeria, especially the public sector as this system helps improve motivation in staff thereby leading to increased productivity.

I have also noticed that in Nigeria, employees can leave the office and essentially go off to do their own things without their colleagues knowing where they are.  In the UK, it is the culture to let your colleagues know where you are going whenever you leave your desk. This makes it impossible for people to disappear for any length of time to do their private business. In fact, you cannot go on a lunch break without your colleagues knowing.  This is because, lunch breaks are coordinated, so that at any point in time, there is someone in the office.  Lunch breaks are typically 30 minutes to an hour and people adhere religiously to this, knowing that if you overstay your lunch break, you would be eating into someone else’s time.

Another aspect of work place culture in Nigeria that absolutely shocks me is work place bullying.  The way some managers and supervisors speak to their subordinate staff, amounts to nothing but bullying in any culture except maybe the Nigerian culture.  I have witnessed a manager in a sizeable organisation in Nigeria throw personal abuses at her staff, on the shop floor.  Her crime was the fact that she turned up late for work.  Being late is not acceptable, but surely there are procedures to deal with this.  The manager did not think twice about publicly humiliating this member of staff and insulting her person.  She did not even seem to understand that her behaviour was totally unacceptable.  If this were to happen in the UK (which it wouldn’t), the only person with a query to answer here would be the manager.  There are rules and regulations governing work place bullying in the UK and people take them seriously. The Health and Safety at work act 1974 takes care of this. Here employers have a duty of care to protect employees’ health, safety and welfare at work. A breach could result in serious consequences for the employer.  I wonder if any such legislation exists in Nigeria and if it does, is it enforced?  Except it is an enforceable legislation, employers will not take notice and employees will continue to suffer abuse at work, which in turn impacts upon their productivity.

Another culture which I am finding difficult to grasp is the formality of the work place environment.  In the UK, every staff member is called by their first name, no matter their position in the hierarchy.  Hence whenever I am asked my name at reception when I visit offices in Nigeria, I give them my first name without any salutations.  I feel pretty awkward when I ask people their names and they tell me Mrs or Mr so and so.  I find it a bit of a tongue twister having to address people with salutations.  Most times, I end up chatting to people without using their names as I tend to forget the surnames anyway.  I think when you are able to relate to clients and customers on a first name basis, it removes a barrier and facilitates communication.  Moreover, first names are much easier to remember, especially with the sort of last names we have in Nigeria!  I quite realise this is one aspect of the culture I need to get to grips with quite quickly.

Work place culture is part and parcel of the culture of the organisation and as such has an impact on the performance of the organisation as a whole.  According to an article on Organisational Culture by Orla O’Donnell and Richard Boyle (published in 2008 by the Institute of Public Administration), ‘culture affects the performance of organisations.  In the private sector organisations studied, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporations and 3M – there is a clear and explicit link between culture change and performance.  But this can also be the case in the public sector despite the absence of a ‘bottom line.’’  They further go on to say that, ‘ it is particularly important for managers to pay attention to culture when reacting to or planning major organisational change.

In conclusion, whereas most employees as well as managers may not pay any attention to workplace culture, the extent to which it can impact upon the performance and effectiveness of staff, and therefore, the bottom line of the organistaion cannot be under estimated.  It is time to sit up and take note.

Helen Azodoh is a Human Resources Consultant resident in the UK.  She provides Human Resources training to organisations in Nigeria, with a special emphasis on Customer Services/People Skills.

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