(NOTE: I wrote this one for The Tlog, but I think it also fits in WotM.)
I don’t know if I’ve been unlucky in most of the jobs I had, or if it’s like this everywhere, but, if you work in IT, does it look to you as if your boss doesn’t really care about your achieving objectives, being productive, having everything working smoothly, tasks being done quickly and efficiently, etc. - he only cares about whether you’re busy all the time or not?
Or, to put it in another way: were you hired, and are you being paid to do your job, perform your assigned tasks efficiently, keep everything running smoothly, anticipate problems and make sure they don’t happen, optimize what can be optimized, solve problems as they appear, help users with problems, and so on… or were you hired to be busy 7-8 hours a day?
And if you, for some reason aren’t busy for all those hours (because you already did your tasks, because you work quickly due to your experience (a problem you’ve seen before is usually solved much faster than a new one), because you’re good at anticipating problems, and so made sure, long ago, that most of them simply don’t happen, because you refuse to do what everyone else seems to do (act busy, or “extend” their tasks so they take all your available time, or simply pretend to work)… does your boss treat you as a bad worker? As if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do?
In what strange way does having employees busy (or looking busy) all the time benefit a company? None, I believe. So why do bosses, managers, even CEOs insist on it so much? Why do they judge employees by it, instead of by the work they actually do?
If an employee works faster than most, he or she shouldn’t be punished for it by. Neither should they be punished for being honest.
What are your experiences on this? I’d really want to know if I’ve just been unlucky in about half a dozen different jobs, or if it’s like this everywhere.
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“So why do bosses, managers, even CEOs insist on it so much? Why do they judge employees by it, instead of by the work they actually do?”
It makes their job easier: they don’t have to know if you’re doing anything, they just want to show they’re keeping their team working actively to the people above them. Ambition, really. Wrong means, but right end.
A little letter to his superior wouldn’t hurt, now would it?
“Mr/Ms/Mrs. xxxx, your subordinate and my boss, mr/ms/mrs xxxxx, punishes us for working fast. The other day, I finished what would take 3 hours in an hour and a half and as soon as I stopped looking busy, he came in and asked me why I was slacking off. I told him/her I had finished my task. He looked mad at me for an instant, but then proceeded to reprehend me for not being busy! (the whole idea is so ludicrous I’m actually having a hard time writing it in a believable way) He didn’t give me anything new to do, which surprised me even more, actually. In fact, some of my colleagues bring some random sheets of paper to work everyday, just fumble them all day, sometimes “reading them”, sometimes writing on them, just as long as they look busy… Now, would you call this productive? Yours truly, yxyx xxxxyxyyy”
Something like this, slighty less informal and slightly more serious
Funny letter.
But it wouldn’t work, because bosses’ superiors are exactly the same.
But thanks for the support.