We peer inside the notion that small firm employment relations are a matter of mutual adjustment to conceptualise a key relation subject to negotiation as space–time–energy rhythms. Businesses must offer their goods and services in line with the rhythms of their marketplace and they do so by developing their own rhythms in the form of organisational roles and routines. Staff are only available to fulfil roles if they can synchronise work rhythms with those of their bodies, the people they care for, family members and care services. Mutual adjustment relies on synchronising organisational and market rhythms with non-business rhythms. This demands ‘rhythm intelligence’, practised by managers, workers and teams and, ideally, embedded as an organisational capability. Through empirical exploration of a typical point of negotiation – return from maternity leave – we propose a framework of practices and conditions that constitute rhythm intelligence and outline implications for managers and research.

我们认为，小公司的雇佣关系是相互调整的问题，可以将需要谈判的关键关系概念化为时空能量节律。企业必须根据市场节奏提供商品和服务，并且通过以组织角色和例行程序的形式发展自己的节奏来做到这一点。员工只有在能够使工作节奏与身体，所照顾的人，家庭成员和护理服务保持同步的情况下，才能发挥作用。相互调整依赖于将组织和市场节奏与非业务节奏同步。这需要经理，工人和团队，并且最好将其嵌入组织能力中。通过对典型谈判点（从产假中获得回报）的经验探索，我们提出了构成节奏智能的实践和条件框架，并概述了对管理者和研究的影响。