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Not working on the clock
Sep. 20th, 2011 07:07 amIt occurs to me that there is a different view of reality between new/younger and experienced/older workers regarding work on the clock. Simply put, each thinks the other is goofing off while not realizing how much they are not producing. However, so what.
The old guard are constantly shutting down electronic ways of goofing off or as some say keeping in touch with their friends and family. Internet blocks, bans on music, keycard logs, and computer monitoring are all used to micro-manage kids to prevent them from playing on the internet while being paid to work. In response everyone got an iphone and goofs off untracked.
This week alone I've seen high ranking folks reading newspapers, making coffee, getting food 2-4 times a day, eating breakfast/lunch/snacks, and of course smoking - all on the clock. People may spend 1-3 hours reading the newspaper cover to cover, yet think that's acceptable during work hours while trolling facebook is not.
Perhaps this is merely an artifact of the ability to track work. Any time you come in to someone's office and see them reading, they may say they just started or it was only a moment. They may believe this when they tell you, not having tracked the time. Unless you make video recordings of them, there is no log to prove otherwise. The internet through a work network is easily tracked. However people are in and out of the building all the time yet it's rare to use the keycards to determine if someone is out so much they aren't paid.
I probably wrote this in less time than a coworker took to get his coffee, egg-cheese-sausage biscuit breakfast (including haggling to try and get a lower price), or the exec to read his examiner. However, nobody micro-manages my time as long as my work is done so I'm just mentioning this as a general theory.
If I really wanted to drive the point home I'd bring up the cell phone noises and used newspapers in the mens room...do people fake shitting, or is morale so low that people only poop on the clock?
The old guard are constantly shutting down electronic ways of goofing off or as some say keeping in touch with their friends and family. Internet blocks, bans on music, keycard logs, and computer monitoring are all used to micro-manage kids to prevent them from playing on the internet while being paid to work. In response everyone got an iphone and goofs off untracked.
This week alone I've seen high ranking folks reading newspapers, making coffee, getting food 2-4 times a day, eating breakfast/lunch/snacks, and of course smoking - all on the clock. People may spend 1-3 hours reading the newspaper cover to cover, yet think that's acceptable during work hours while trolling facebook is not.
Perhaps this is merely an artifact of the ability to track work. Any time you come in to someone's office and see them reading, they may say they just started or it was only a moment. They may believe this when they tell you, not having tracked the time. Unless you make video recordings of them, there is no log to prove otherwise. The internet through a work network is easily tracked. However people are in and out of the building all the time yet it's rare to use the keycards to determine if someone is out so much they aren't paid.
I probably wrote this in less time than a coworker took to get his coffee, egg-cheese-sausage biscuit breakfast (including haggling to try and get a lower price), or the exec to read his examiner. However, nobody micro-manages my time as long as my work is done so I'm just mentioning this as a general theory.
If I really wanted to drive the point home I'd bring up the cell phone noises and used newspapers in the mens room...do people fake shitting, or is morale so low that people only poop on the clock?
