Offer To The CEO

Monday, continued ...

As they were relaxing on the couch Anna Jones and Hou Yi were interrupted by a knock on the door, which turned out to be Ji Feng. "Yi, Assistant Wang called me an let me know that you might want to see me."

"Thank you Uncle Feng, come in and sit down, we have a favour to ask."

Ji Feng came in and shut the door behind him. "Does this have something to do with what has occurred in the last few days, and the fact that I just saw that trouble making friend of yours Ms Chan leave here. She was not simply visiting her friend was she?"

Hou Yi paused and looked at Anna who simply nodded "It does. You read the press release, where there on Friday and saw the press conference. Anna, given everything is not coping well, and it is impacting both of us. I called Phillipa to help us, given her professional background to see if she could come up with a way that I can help Anna work through some issues, although most people will just assume she is here as a friend. Her professional recommendation is that we need intensive counselling for part of each day for most of the next three weeks."

Hou Yi paused, and then reluctantly continued "I need your help, as I will have to delegate a few matters to you in the next few weeks that will involve travel so I can remain here. I will also going to talk to my father and see if he can come in for this time, to help you and I out. Despite not being involved in the day to day running of the company for years, he does know what is happening."

"Yi, I am surprised that you are asking for some help. You would not have in the past, but Anna I have to say that you are a good influence on him. I had figured with the press release and what occurred on Friday, that the two of you had something to deal with. You know that you do not need to ask, as I will do what is needed. However, please keep me updated as I am taking a break in a month, and I will need it."

"Thank you Uncle Feng, it is a weight off my shoulders knowing that I can deal with the personal thing for the next few weeks and business is not going to suffer."

"Not a problem. I will simply leave you two, but remember we have that meeting in about 20 minutes, that you cannot get out of." Li Feng, nodded and then turned and left the office, shutting the door behind him.

Hou Yi, looked at Anna, and quietly asked "What do you want to do? You can go home, relax here or go back and do work."

"Yi, I need to keep busy, at least for the next few hours, so I will go back to work." Anna paused. "Actually, there is something that I need to talk to you about with that department. It just does not work. Everyone is shut off in offices, separated, and almost like each office is isolated. We are further separated into small groups within connection to everyone else."

"While at ANX, senior lawyers had offices, junior lawyers shared space, and assistants were available. The windows on the offices to the open space ensured that there was connection, and people when necessary could work collaboratively. I felt as the senior staff were building little empires, and it is not going to work. Before I came up, all the senior staff were attempting to have me help their little empires."

"The layout and everything needs to be restructured, from the layout to the way people work. It is going to bring the company undone eventually. The senior management after the press conference, who wanted nothing to do with me before then were all trying to impress me, inviting me to lunch and other things, all on the company time and at the company cost. They did everything to make sure that they got on my good side to impress you."

"You are certain?"

"Absolutely. Can you look to see if the department can be remodelled, to make it easier to work in. Changing the layout with meeting rooms will still mean that the various areas within the department can work together, but if there are wiser issues that can seek assistance from others."

"I'll see to it." With that Anna got up and left and went back to the legal department and got down to work. She did not realise that it was getting to the end of the day, until Hou Yi walked into her office, and said that it was time to go home.