There are two facts about Cary Cooper that you might reasonably assume to be in conflict. First, he’s spent a lifetime extolling the virtues of a decent work-life balance. Second, he has written or edited more than 200 books.
But there’s no contradiction, he insists. “I just write fast”. He says that he works from only nine to five and takes the weekends off – to spend with his wife, four kids and six grandchildren.
Admittedly, he’s had a few decades to build his oeuvre. Now an octogenarian, Cary Cooper is the doyen of organisational psychology. If there’s an overarching focus to his work, it’s how companies should be run to make their staff happier. And, he argues, a happy staff is a productive staff.
Britain comes low down on national lists of productivity. Most major European nations are above us. Why?
Professor Cooper says it’s in part at least because we’ve imported the American business model – long hours, tough-management culture, inflexible working practices, more stick than carrot. The trend, he says, set in with Margaret Thatcher, but has continued through each succeeding government. We now have a major problem with “presenteeism,” where people turn up to work but add nothing of value. We also have a problem with absenteeism. More than half of all absence from UK business is due to stress, anxiety and depression. Many jobs are insecure, and employees are treated “like disposable assets” which has created what Cary Cooper calls an “epidemic” of mental health problems.
Articulate, funny and engaging, Cary Cooper has long been a favourite of the broadcasters. But since the pandemic, this Manchester-based professor has been in more demand than ever. The pandemic has “rebooted our value system”, he says, forcing us to adopt practices he’s long advocated. Many more people are working from home, and thus are spared long commutes and able to spend more time with their families.
Over the years, Cary Cooper has conducted huge psychometric studies of various professions —including doctors and teachers. He’s drawn up models to predict when they will get ill. Along with flexitime, he’s been pushing other organisational changes — he’s no fan of office meetings (who is?), and he thinks ways need to be found to dam the email deluge. To ensure that no work is done after hours, he’s even floated the idea of having the office computer server shut down at night. As for management, they need to be trained to nurture and encourage and to offer more autonomy to those who report to them. We tend to be happier when we have control over our destiny. At present, most “line managers damage your health”.
Cary Cooper — Professor Sir Cary Cooper, CBE — has risen to the pinnacle of the academic establishment, and very far from his roots. He was raised in a working-class Jewish family on the poor east side of Los Angeles. His mother was born in Romania, his father (Harry Cooperman) in Ukraine/Russia, making his way to the US via Canada. Completely uneducated, he made his legal living as a hairdresser, but at the back of the salon ran a lucrative and illegal bookie business. It was the flutters rather than the fringes that allowed the family to move to the more prosperous west side.
A year spent working with the homeless and the Black community in south central LA, during his studies, shaped his political and ethical outlook. A secular Jew, he nonetheless credits his Jewish values for directing his academic interest in mental health. “Jews should be concerned about other people. We need to make a contribution”.
Cary Cooper moved to the UK in 1964 to further his studies, initially at the University of Leeds. He planned to be here for just a year. He took British citizenship in 1993.
He’s still writing, still editing. In the time I’ve taken to write this article, he’s probably written another book.
David Edmonds’ latest book is a children’s novel, Undercover Robot @DavidEdmonds100
