I’ve been trying to think of something to write about in this edition for the last few days, and quite frankly, couldn’t come up with anything that I thought would be interesting to me or the readers…till now. I don’t know how interesting this will be for everyone else, but this topic is something that gets my back up so here we go.
I participate in a couple of online forums related to what I do for a living. These are mostly “question and answer” type forums. The “how-to” and “why did this happen” type stuff. One user posted a question about productivity measurement, and got a variety of answers over a couple of days, most of which seemed ok to me. Then one guy mentioned what he called “sneaky monitoring software” that the workstation user wouldn’t know was in use. This stuff records keystrokes, or in the case of some of software, the commands issued. Having been in management positions at different levels, I know that you have to keep the people working on what needs done, and some folks need more prodding than others. But come on folks…is it really necessary to be sneaky? If you are having a problem with employees on a department wide scale screwing off, then you need to look at yourself first. Why are they doing that? Go sit among them while they work for a couple days. Compare those days to output when you are not there, and then try to figure out why it’s different. Does output go up when you are physically present, walking around observing, or does that cause it to go down? Take a look at your rules and guidelines. Do they make sense; are they practical for real life? One of my previous employers actually had in his employee handbook that “there is no excuse whatsoever for being late to work”. Ok, but if that’s the case, then why was there another section that said “employees are not to arrive on company property more than 15 minutes before the start of their shift, nor remain on the property for more than 15 minutes after their shift ends.” Not everyone can change a flat tire with the speed of an indy car pit crew, so what are you supposed to do if this happens, call in and take the day off? Traffic accidents are a real possibility and whether it was your fault or not, you are going to miss that 15 minute window if you’re involved in one. I guess everyone was supposed to leave an hour and a half early, and park down the street till the allotted time came to arrive.
I don’t know if companies that do this sort of stuff think they are being realistic, or if these things get written by upper level managers that have forgotten (or worse yet, never knew in the first place) what it’s like to punch a clock or actually live by the rules they are setting down. I have suspected at times that they try to come up with these impossible situations simply to have something to hammer the employees with. Take for example an incident that happened at a different employer than the one mentioned above. The department manager called all of us into the conference room one day for a collective butt-chewing session on telephone and internet usage. He read aloud the vaguely written internet policy, as well as the telephone usage policy, and then set off on a rant that ran for the better part of two hours. I should tell you that there were more than 20 people in the room, and his favorite term during this rant was “wasted man-hours”. As I said, this had gone on for two hours, times 20 people, so he’d wasted a week’s labor for one person on this meeting. Out of this crowd there was one guy who consistently abused the telephone privileges and another who would break the internet policy by streaming music which he’d listen to with earphones. At any rate the boss in this fiasco finally got to the end of his rant and asked the whole group if they understood and if not then “by God, the phones and internet would go away. You guys don’t need this to do your jobs and it can be removed!” Well, here’s the thing…if I don’t need the internet or a phone to do my job, why did you go to the considerable expense of providing me with them? I didn’t ask for it, it was there when I hired on, so why put it there and then tell me not to use it? Just so you could make speeches that make you look stupid? If the people in your department occasionally need to access the internet in the line of duty, put a couple of extra workstations in the room that are labeled “research stations” and allow them to have access, and cut the rest of the room off. Have your people sign up for time on them. Problem solved. The extra workstations will pay for themselves in a single day with the time they save if you have this big a problem. Same with the phones…if no one needs to be on the phone, why have one on every desk? Share a couple of wireless extensions for those rare exceptions when someone needs to make a call.
Now I know that there are certain high security operations where contact with the outside world has to be restricted and monitored. In those cases, I understand that certain steps are necessarily taken, but if you’re not doing that sort of stuff, and all you are doing is looking for something to brow beat your employees for, then you need to find a new line of work.
You might be amazed at just how profitable your company would become if you’d surround yourself with capable people, give them the tools they need to do the job you are asking them to do, provide them with a direction and then get out of their way and let them work. Provide an atmosphere of trust, inspire loyalty and encourage those who may struggle at times. Find out what the obstacles are and make an honest effort at removing them. Be eager to reward success. It doesn’t have to be much, kind words and a little recognition go a long way. By the same token, if that trust is broken through carelessness or deliberate action, be consistent and fair in applying penalties. The boss’s nephew has to live by the same rules as the guy that just walked in off the street. If someone just isn’t cutting it, weed him out. Honest mistakes will happen, so make an effort to find out what caused it. Cure it and move on. Lead your employees instead of driving them. If the only tools you have are threats and intimidation, you either need to sell your business and retire, or replace your employees.
Finally, if you find it necessary to spy on your employees activities through the use of monitoring software, tell them that you intend to do so. How can you expect honesty from your employees if you come off looking like a sneak who’s only looking for an excuse to can somebody?
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