Omar Little, S2, E6, The Wire
Okay, I admit it: I’m a fan of cult TV show The Wire. In fact, that might be fake news. I’ll start again: I’m a huge fan of David Simon’s 00s-era HBO crime drama. I’d even go as far as saying I could be the biggest fan but, for my sins, I have to spend many daylight hours working - hours, sadly, not spent watching The Wire.
The main reason I love this five-part series is that it’s just so quotable – it was, largely, written by a journalist after all. Whilst I’m noticeably awful at remembering song lyrics – I was that guy who duplicitously exaggerated his mouth movements when it came to singing along in nightclubs to songs we supposedly all knew – there are entire scenes from Simon's magnum opus imprinted on my mind. The opening quote from Omar is especially resonant to me; a line, which in its entirety, reads: “I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase. It’s all in the game though, right?”
I’ve always interpreted their words, volleyed back in response to lawyerly questioning in a courtroom, to mean that whilst there are multiple ways of chasing a goal the differences between them are merely superficial. When it comes to engaging employees, Omar might have a point.
Whilst all earnest HR practitioners would agree that better engagement and productivity is their goal, the ways of getting there are different: increased wages; better benefits; even games. Which lends nicely onto Travelex. Whilst its not quite shotguns and briefcases, in this issue we speak to Travelex who are gamifying their way to better engagement by, well, making work a massive game. We also speak to Addison Lee’s HRD and quiz Glassdoor on how employers can learn from bad reviews. Enjoy.
