One thing that has always perplexed and saddened me is the person who brags about how many hours they work or how hard they work. "I put in 80 hour workweeks regularly" or "I'm the hardest worker in the whole company, just ask me." Besides taking these types of claims with a huge grain of salt (the true hard workers don't have to tell you how hard or long they work), I am left to wonder who could work at full pace and capacity that many hours for an extended period of time. My belief, only Superman. Sometimes extra-long hours are required, yes, and longer than forty-hour weeks are common and expected whether that promotes optimum efficiency or not, but can anyone maintain a workweek with time for only a few hours sleep per night for an indefinite period of time? When you are tired, the law of diminishing returns applies. An unasked question in my head is "what did you accomplish in all that supposed extra time?" Another question, "how high was the quality of work performed?" There would also have to be a pacing strategy to consistently work superhuman hours. I have witnessed folks who could have had more normal work hours if only they had been organized, efficient, had prioritized tasks, not started the project at the eleventh hour, and worked with stronger intensity. Being bad at time-management is nothing to brag about, in my opinion.
The other side of this is the question of what kind of employer demands all of its employees' time? And in demanding everything, are they really winning? Burnout, fatigue, and the law of diminishing returns all come into play. Abusive workplaces don't breed efficiency and the best work product over time. Employees of such places jettison the employer at the earliest opportunity. Creativity and innovation don't happen when your employees are dog-tired. We need a better metric of success than how many hours were spent warming the chair at work.
I don't want to be the patient of the surgeon who has been at work for three days straight with no rest, do you? Let's reward the folks who produce high quality work on a consistent basis, not those who were simply physically there the longest unless they truly have the work product to show for it. What did you accomplish today and was it done with appropriate speed for the task, of highest quality, done efficiently and cost-effectively for your customer? What was the result of the time, however much or little that might have been spent on the task, and did it meet or, better yet, exceed the customer's expectations? Did you do whatever was required to get the job done well and give a good day's work for the pay? Those are the important questions to me. The rest is a dubious bragging contest. http://www.employmentlawman.com/monday-morning-musings.html
The other side of this is the question of what kind of employer demands all of its employees' time? And in demanding everything, are they really winning? Burnout, fatigue, and the law of diminishing returns all come into play. Abusive workplaces don't breed efficiency and the best work product over time. Employees of such places jettison the employer at the earliest opportunity. Creativity and innovation don't happen when your employees are dog-tired. We need a better metric of success than how many hours were spent warming the chair at work.
I don't want to be the patient of the surgeon who has been at work for three days straight with no rest, do you? Let's reward the folks who produce high quality work on a consistent basis, not those who were simply physically there the longest unless they truly have the work product to show for it. What did you accomplish today and was it done with appropriate speed for the task, of highest quality, done efficiently and cost-effectively for your customer? What was the result of the time, however much or little that might have been spent on the task, and did it meet or, better yet, exceed the customer's expectations? Did you do whatever was required to get the job done well and give a good day's work for the pay? Those are the important questions to me. The rest is a dubious bragging contest. http://www.employmentlawman.com/monday-morning-musings.html
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