Report 6: Cambralart Financials, Interview 1: Tania Beakman
I’ve had something of an extended break from work on the Shrink Act Files after my previous cases in order to help discourage the prying eyes of my superiors before tackling this particular one. My work began today at seven a.m. sharp in the pristine and echo-rebounding lobby of Cambralart Financials among a crowded flurry of workers scuttling over the hexagonal tile. Coming from the Techilogic Corporation, I’m generally not intimidated by grandiose presentation, but even I had to be impressed by my first view of the place. I was put in mind of a beehive after waiting patiently on one of the black leather couches for an aid to take me up to the top floor of the twenty-seven story building.
Cambralart Financials is a subsidiary of one of Techilogic’s sister companies that it took the reins on nineteen years ago at the first peak of its success. One of the largest in the nation, it’s essentially a personal banker to a who’s who list of multi-billion dollar conglomerates and Fortune 500 companies, most of which have vast international connections and sister corporations of their own.
Ms. Tania Beakman is the current executive of the Chicago branch of Cambralart. With twenty-four years of experience in the organization since she began as an intern from Yale University at age twenty, her name probably won’t be unfamiliar to anyone with even a passing connection to the world of economics, not only for her power in the company, but the strides she’s been making in expanding it to fit the rapidly changing world. Her reputation for efficient, forward-moving works precedes her in just about any venture the company becomes involved in.
Among these expansions she’s brought for the company, ironically, is the partial integration of the Shrink Act into the business in a way much less obvious to the public eye than at, say, South Hanenrow University, but no less worthwhile to study for the anomaly of professional relationships it presents. The program’s use is actually relatively simple, and much like the aforementioned University from my second case, is entirely optional to participants, in that they are free to refuse employment when signing their contract, wherein the program’s utilization is expounded on.
The program operates as follows: new employees must sign a waiver as well as participate in a brief informational seminar on the Shrink Act’s integration into the company as a way to ensure workflow is kept at a pace adequate to keep up in the global market. The standard of work expected of all employees from the managers just under Ms. Beakman down to the lowest intern is at a highly elevated level; it’s how the company has managed to keep up with the number of major clients it does and still pay all of its employees a salary that makes it a tremendously desirable destination for the fiscally-minded professional.
What this means for employees, then, is that if their assigned work isn’t completed in the reportedly demanding time frame given, they will enter a shrunken session with one of the managers, or even Ms. Beakman herself, whom I’ve been told has a particular predilection for handling these matters personally, in order to both make up their work through alternate methods as well as receive additional encouragement to keep up with the workflow in the future.
An aid arrived after twenty minutes with tablet in hand to bring me to Ms. Beakman’s office on the top floor of the building. The elevator ride up was striking for the glass wall that faced the exterior, allowing a view of the courtyard far below. When we arrived on the top floor, there was only one office on the long stretch of immaculately polished linoleum, of course belonging to Ms. Beakman. We still had to wait to be buzzed into the office for another five minutes in a pair of armchairs by a sitting area outside while she finished a conference call, at which point I was taken in and introduced to the Cambralart Financials Chicago branch executive.
Ms. Beakman’s appearance was a surprise to me, given what I’d heard of her cutthroat prowess in the financial world and generally intimidating nature in personal meetings. Her office, though still roomy and decorated with all the latest high-class fixings, felt homey as well, and although she wore a freshly pressed business suit and held herself still as a statue when standing to greet me, her hair was let down to frame a warm smile that I hadn’t been expecting.
TC: I so appreciate you agreeing to this interview, Ms. Beakman.
Tania: Don’t mention it. Sorry for the wait. Long day at the office and it’s not even eight a.m. Now, I do only have twenty minutes before I’ve got another appointment to make. I hope that’ll be enough for you?
TC: That should be plenty. Let’s get started, then, if that’s all right.
Tania: Of course.
TC: Before I get into the main subject of this meeting, I was curious if you had any comment to make on the events a few months ago surrounding-
Tania: (cutting in) You’re referring to that whole Stevens business, I take it?
TC: Yes.
Tania: You’ll find the company stance in any given news report from the last few months. I have no additional commentary to make besides the fact that we here at Cambralart Financials won’t rest until full justice is served, meaning every last dollar is returned to our customers and Thomas Stevens is reprimanded to the full extent of the law.
I had been hoping to open up a line of questioning regarding the Stevens family’s connections with Techilogic, Cambralart, and the Shrink Act itself, especially in light of Judy Stevens’ confirmed bid for a Senate seat, but as it seemed that door had been definitively shut in my face, I pressed on.
Note that a sampling of news reports regarding Thomas Stevens and his crimes involving Cambralart will be included as an addendum along with any other pertinent periodicals.
TC: Fair enough. Moving on, then. Could you describe the significance of the Shrink Act to the business?
Tania: Gladly. Cambralart is among the world leaders in personal banking for the largest and most successful corporations in the world, and as such, we hold a strict standard of sheer excellence for everyone on our payroll. Workflow must remain up in order to keep the well-oiled machine of this company moving. When it breaks down because employees have slacked, everyone suffers. The Shrink Act’s use, then, is a way to ensure our machine remains primed for action in the international marketplace.
TC: Meaning employees are placed in shrunken discipline?
Tania: Discipline isn’t the right word. We actually refer to it as a seminar to expand an employee’s understanding of how Cambralart has been as successful as it is, albeit with a more hands-on approach. That’s the best way to learn and adapt to the business world, I’ve found.
TC: And this is, of course, the employee’s decision to participate?
Tania: Employees are given the choice to participate when they are hired. They are fully informed of the obligation of all our employees to participate before they sign a single document or become eligible for our shrunken seminars.
TC: How do these shrunken seminars work? Are employees who’ve fallen behind automatically assigned a caretaker?
Tania: Essentially, yes. Those who don’t keep up with their projects for longer than a week go on a probationary list, which is viewable by all employees for added motivation to improve. If they haven’t caught up their work in another week, they go to list requiring assignment to a manager. At that point, they go into the custody of their assigned caretaker for a four-hour session to both make up work and participate in the motivational seminar to improve in the future.
TC: Fascinating. I wouldn’t have thought such a thing would be possible in a corporation, even of this size and influence, just for what I assume were a mélange of legal hurdles that had to be passed.
Tania: Many employees are surprised by it too. It wasn’t exactly simple, but as you probably know, your employers have been very good to us over the years due to their funding and uncompromising support, so the process was easier than I would assume it to be at companies unconnected with the Techilogic Corporation. Perhaps in the future, though, it will become easier for any company to integrate the Shrink Act into their system. I’m sure once they get a good look at the results we’ve gotten from it, they’ll all feel the same.
TC: So, overall, you’d say the Shrink Act has been a beneficial addition to the inner workings of your company?
Tania: I can’t sing its praises enough. After we began using it six months ago, our productivity has already risen by 25%, and it’s still on the rise, as are our profits. It had to be seen to be believed, but the proof is in the pudding. It’s worked wonders for us.
TC: That’s very impressive. Now, if possible, I’d like to go a bit deeper into these shrunken seminars, as you call them. Give me a for instance if you were put in charge of a group of employees.
Tania: Well, all right. I’ll say what I can. We begin by having the employees arrive at my office here around four-thirty the day of their assignment to the list so that I can shrink them. I generally will get assigned to supervise anywhere from eight to fifteen at a time. We employ a large quantity of workers, after all. The sessions usually take place at night, so it’s easiest to just take the employees home with me and hold the session there, where we can have a little more privacy.
TC: Interesting. That makes sense. Now, there’s something else I’m very curious about. Obviously, you’re among the most successful financial executives in the nation. You must have a huge amount on your plate day-to-day. I wonder why it is, then, that someone as important as you feels the need to bother with the more menial work like seminars for underachieving employees. I’m sure it means having to sacrifice time that could’ve been spent on work more your speed for the benefit of the company. What’s the interest for you?
There was a brief pause as Tania considered me carefully, obviously not expecting to have that asked. When she finally spoke, her answer came out smoothly prepared like an automatic response.
Tania: Despite the size of our corporation, it’s my greatest fear that we lose sight of the fact that it is human beings running the show, and one of the ways I like to remember that is by establishing and strengthening professional relationships as personally as possible, no matter how many pay grades they happen to sit below me. We’re all family here, really.
TC: I see. And what can they be expected to do while under your supervision?
Tania: Nothing terribly taxing, if that’s what you’re wondering. As some of the work they’ve missed has to be made up, I’ll have them do some additional jobs on tablets, still at their smaller sizes, to make up lost time. Then afterward there are a few activities we participate in together for team-building, though I prefer to keep those specific methods out of my answer, if that’s all right. No sense giving away the content of the company’s single most successful seminar, after all, in case any of our competitors want a piece of the pie.
TC: Fair enough. How small can employees generally expect to be made during these seminars?
Tania: It all depends, though I have a preference for three inches.
TC: Wow. That’s a very small size for so many you’re responsible for.
Tania: I suppose you could take that view. Really, though, it just makes it easier on me to watch over them. I’m sure you know this already, as the program wouldn’t have been as successful, but no employees have ever seen anything but improvement after their seminars, nor have they ever come close to being at risk or placed in harm’s way. They work so effectively, the other branches are already in talks to adopt it.
TC: I see. So after a single session, they’re motivated to keep up with the workflow of the company?
Tania: Like clockwork. It’s astounding. A real miracle of the workplace, I’d have to say, given the state of some of our cases a few months ago when we were rebuilding from the ground up.
TC: That’s quite the seminar.
Tania: Well, like I said. It’s a part of the standard we hold to at Cambralart. Everyone is on the same page when it comes to personal improvement.
TC: This, I think, begs another question. I can’t really speculate, of course, as I don’t know the precise nature of these seminars, but some of my previous cases of study have given the impression that improvements in behavior they displayed during shrunken sessions were basely primarily on a desire to placate their caretaker and bring a swifter end to the session, and less on actual improvement of their personal philosophy of productivity. What would you say to that possibility?
The question was bold, and I was perfectly aware of that. At this point, Tania leaned forward across her glass-surfaced desk toward me, arms crossed. I got the impression I had irked her somewhat.
Tania: What do you mean by that?
TC: I simply mean it seemed worth at least weighing the possibility of those undergoing shrunken sessions deciding to cut their losses and accept the consequences as quickly as possible. It’s a way of playing the people, given the style of discipline’s novelty in a workplace. Surely it’s not something we can really say definitively is a process of improvement?
Tania: I believe I said already it’s not a disciplinary system. It’s a motivational seminar to aid workflow and employee output, which in turn increases the company’s revenue and opens up new positions for those seeking to join our group. I’d call that improvement enough.
TC: So would you say, then, you would not accept the possibility that employees aren’t really improving their behavior for the sake of it, and rather just out of intimidation?
There was another pause here. I briefly considered the probability that she was going to declare the meeting over at this point.
Tania: I’m not saying anything of the sort. I’m simply saying employees are showing improvement in their work, Mister… I’m sorry, remind me of your name?
TC: Howard Taylor.
Tania: Howard. Right. I hope you’re listening closely to this next point, Howard, because it’s important. We are a highly successful corporation, not a school of ethics. The bottom line here is that employees have signed a waiver, granting their full and educated consent to our measures here, because they know us to be a reliable source of income and professionalism. They are paid for a standard of stellar performances, and as a result the company has seen improvement all under completely legal and well-maintained means. What they are not paid for is becoming kinder people. That’s something they can do off in a church somewhere if they want, not on company time.
The longer Tania spoke, the more I could see her reputation cutting through her more contented exterior.
TC: I see. I think I understand now.
Tania: I hope so.
TC: So you’d say that it is entirely up to the employees how they participate? There is no coercive persuasion of any type?
At this, Tania let out a deep sigh and seemed to lower herself more deeply into her chair.
Tania: Yes, of course it is entirely up to them. I could show you the waivers they signed at the time of their hiring if I was feeling inclined, as they’ve all been checked, double-checked, and stored in our secure files for ease of access should an employee momentarily forget their legal obligation.
TC: That’s all well and good, and I have full confidence in the integrity of those files. I was actually referring, simply, more to the seminars themselves, once employees are out of chances to change the road they’re on. I assume they are not told of the precise nature of the seminars, whatever they may be, prior to being hired?
Tania: No, they are not, but it’s irrelevant. The waiver describes the fundamental lessons of the seminar, and they are aware that they will be personally shrunken by a PMRD for the session, as well as the legal ramifications and protections they are entitled to. The specifics are just semantics.
TC: Are they really?
Tania: Yes, Howard. They are.
TC: I was hoping, then, I might humbly request a final time for just some ancillary information on the nature of these seminars. A brief description of what, exactly, the employees are put through during the sessions without any company supervision other than your own. Just for my own reassurance, and the reassurance of those reading my study.
There was yet another long pause. Tania sat up higher in her chair again this time, her fingers steepled tightly together, her lips pursed and pale. She was unquestionably irritated with my continued presence in her office. I was still wondering how I’d managed to stay this long.
Tania: I’m afraid not, Howard. Sorry. Company policy. I’m loyal to my employees and their interests over post-grad psychology experiments like this one.
TC: If that’s your final position…
Tania: (cutting in) It is.
TC: Very well. I can respect that. All I would say as a reminder is that I do intend to find out every piece of helpful information to the study and to my subjects, regardless of where the information must emerge from. If said information were provided from you directly, you would have the benefit of presenting it in your personal viewpoint, with as much qualifying explanation as you care to provide. That will not be the case otherwise, and that may ultimately reflect poorly on certain third parties.
Ms. Beakman pressed a button on the side of her desk, then picked up a tablet pen and began to twirl it between her fingertips.
Tania: Howard. Really, now. That sounds suspiciously like a threat.
TC: Not at all, Ms. Beakman. I’m simply stating the facts. I prefer that the subjects of my studies have all the chances in the world to speak their minds.
Tania: And frankly, I’d have preferred an interview about a very successful policy our company has implemented to the benefit of everyone on our payroll, and yet I find myself in the middle of an attack on the integrity of that very policy. We can’t always get what we want.
TC: No. No, we cannot.
Tania: I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave a little prematurely, and to remove our discussion entirely out of your little study.
TC: If that’s what you want.
I rose from my chair just as a security guard appeared in the doorway.
Guard: Problem, Ms. Beakman?
Tania: I don’t know. (to me) Problem, Howard?
TC: Not in the least. I appreciate your time, Ms. Beakman.
Tania: The pleasure was all mine. (to the guard) Please help my dear friend here find his way back downstairs.