I think the biggest problem is that employers used to require that we do all the work we can do. The easiest way to achieve that is to observe that no one is slacking off. With Home Office there is suddenly a need to find out what is a reasonable workload. They seem to fear that they don’t get occupy the employees 100% of the time and as usual on capitalism it is not enough when you produce enough bit when you produce all you can.
I find it odd and oppressive how important this detailed oversight and control seems to be to employers.
Home Office compatible jobs are mostly computer and thus “brain work”, and here productivity never has related linearly correlated with “time staring at monitor”. In office there would be plenty of smell talk, coffee breaks, diddling with smartphones and other ways to relax in between. These breaks are an important part of the productivity cycle, giving the mind a chance to process ideas and problems.
In other countries/cultures there’s more reliance on the concept of good faith: I work at a company that uses home office contracts by default. I can go to the office if I want, but I don’t have to. Last time I’ve been there is five years ago, long before COVID. The company does not track our computer activity ( illegal here anyway) or working hours at all. Obviously it is still my duty to task the hours I spent working for clients for billing reasons, but that’s it.
The bosses expect that we spend our time in a manner that is beneficial to the company. If one runs out of work, it is expected to notify one’s boss so be take can be found and assigned. Of course they still keep an eye out for slackers, but the metric never is working hours or office hours, it’s “what have you spent your time on and how has it benefitted the company?”
This approach leads to us employees reciprocating the trust shown. This is the first job I never minded putting in extra hours at critical days, because I know I’ll just plan on more off hours or even off days during calmer weeks, giving myself to balance the hours. And no, I don’t have to get approval from my employer to do that, as it is expected I schedule my time offs in a manner that is least disruptive. This means I just ask a colleague working on the same or similar projects if he’s gonna be there so clients have a point of contact in case of emergency.
I don’t think I ever can work for a conservative, controlling employer again after having enjoyed this level of mutual trust and maturity in the working environment.
It’s almost as if I’m self-employed, but with all the benefits of being salaried.
The even better part: this leads to colleagues bring similarly motivated, making teamwork a joy.
Sure, very rarely a new guy tries to exploit the trust and slacks off too much, but even with this little oversight, people notice and they get kicked swiftly. Nobody wants dead weight on their team.
I think the biggest problem is that employers used to require that we do all the work we can do. The easiest way to achieve that is to observe that no one is slacking off. With Home Office there is suddenly a need to find out what is a reasonable workload. They seem to fear that they don’t get occupy the employees 100% of the time and as usual on capitalism it is not enough when you produce enough bit when you produce all you can.
I find it odd and oppressive how important this detailed oversight and control seems to be to employers. Home Office compatible jobs are mostly computer and thus “brain work”, and here productivity never has related linearly correlated with “time staring at monitor”. In office there would be plenty of smell talk, coffee breaks, diddling with smartphones and other ways to relax in between. These breaks are an important part of the productivity cycle, giving the mind a chance to process ideas and problems. In other countries/cultures there’s more reliance on the concept of good faith: I work at a company that uses home office contracts by default. I can go to the office if I want, but I don’t have to. Last time I’ve been there is five years ago, long before COVID. The company does not track our computer activity ( illegal here anyway) or working hours at all. Obviously it is still my duty to task the hours I spent working for clients for billing reasons, but that’s it. The bosses expect that we spend our time in a manner that is beneficial to the company. If one runs out of work, it is expected to notify one’s boss so be take can be found and assigned. Of course they still keep an eye out for slackers, but the metric never is working hours or office hours, it’s “what have you spent your time on and how has it benefitted the company?” This approach leads to us employees reciprocating the trust shown. This is the first job I never minded putting in extra hours at critical days, because I know I’ll just plan on more off hours or even off days during calmer weeks, giving myself to balance the hours. And no, I don’t have to get approval from my employer to do that, as it is expected I schedule my time offs in a manner that is least disruptive. This means I just ask a colleague working on the same or similar projects if he’s gonna be there so clients have a point of contact in case of emergency. I don’t think I ever can work for a conservative, controlling employer again after having enjoyed this level of mutual trust and maturity in the working environment. It’s almost as if I’m self-employed, but with all the benefits of being salaried.
Pretty much the same for me. Treat me like an adult and I will behave like one. Treat me like an asshole… guess what.
The even better part: this leads to colleagues bring similarly motivated, making teamwork a joy.
Sure, very rarely a new guy tries to exploit the trust and slacks off too much, but even with this little oversight, people notice and they get kicked swiftly. Nobody wants dead weight on their team.
But don’t you miss the smell and all the diddling…? 😛