This emphasizes the need for organizations to shift toward a project based mentality. If salaried employees were judged solely based on their ability to finish projects and/or tasks, regardless of the time it took to do so, the concern over when and how that work got done would become secondary. Employees could choose to spend an hour or more (sometimes much more) wasting time during the day, as long as they were held accountable for having completed (and with good quality) their work by the end of the day/week/month or whatever.
I agree…I’ve felt the frustration of being in a knowledge generating role “on campus” of a major tech company while living in Silicon Valley. I approached my supervisor about dividing my time between home and being physically on site, and was resisted immediately! Her reasoning was the need for me to be immersed in the culture, a valid concern for someone in a leadership position, but not for me (a temporary research analyst role)!
I had a faster internet connection at home, and could’ve avoided a horrible 90-minute commute, to accomplish the same work; plus I even tried arguing that the quality and quantity of my work would be better (as I’ve done a lot of project-based, telecommuter work in the past). Also, my levels of engagement and satisfaction would probably have improved from not having to endure the above-mentioned stressors. For a research position with minimal on-site meetings, it was difficult to see the end results being any better for myself or the organization by my supervisor’s insisting that I be on site every day!
The sad thing is that this happened in a so-called “innovative and hip”, multinational, billion-dollar company, HQ’d in Silicon Valley! Their refusing to budge on that request was one of several factors that diminished any “buy in” I had remaining at that point!
I can say that there were plenty of other colleagues who were in agreement with me, and I eventually embarked on a great consulting contract with a someone whom I now consider a mentor- so I’m mainly complaining about one person!
Just goes to show though, how a lack of managerial support can outweigh many other workplace factors in determining an employee’s engagement!
Thanks for commenting Trevor, and I look forward to following your WordPress!
Michael Cilla 
I just wasted a few minutes at work reading this infograph, lol.
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This emphasizes the need for organizations to shift toward a project based mentality. If salaried employees were judged solely based on their ability to finish projects and/or tasks, regardless of the time it took to do so, the concern over when and how that work got done would become secondary. Employees could choose to spend an hour or more (sometimes much more) wasting time during the day, as long as they were held accountable for having completed (and with good quality) their work by the end of the day/week/month or whatever.
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Hi Trevor,
I agree…I’ve felt the frustration of being in a knowledge generating role “on campus” of a major tech company while living in Silicon Valley. I approached my supervisor about dividing my time between home and being physically on site, and was resisted immediately! Her reasoning was the need for me to be immersed in the culture, a valid concern for someone in a leadership position, but not for me (a temporary research analyst role)!
I had a faster internet connection at home, and could’ve avoided a horrible 90-minute commute, to accomplish the same work; plus I even tried arguing that the quality and quantity of my work would be better (as I’ve done a lot of project-based, telecommuter work in the past). Also, my levels of engagement and satisfaction would probably have improved from not having to endure the above-mentioned stressors. For a research position with minimal on-site meetings, it was difficult to see the end results being any better for myself or the organization by my supervisor’s insisting that I be on site every day!
The sad thing is that this happened in a so-called “innovative and hip”, multinational, billion-dollar company, HQ’d in Silicon Valley! Their refusing to budge on that request was one of several factors that diminished any “buy in” I had remaining at that point!
I can say that there were plenty of other colleagues who were in agreement with me, and I eventually embarked on a great consulting contract with a someone whom I now consider a mentor- so I’m mainly complaining about one person!
Just goes to show though, how a lack of managerial support can outweigh many other workplace factors in determining an employee’s engagement!
Thanks for commenting Trevor, and I look forward to following your WordPress!
-Mike
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