A Culture of Presenteeism
28/09/2010, Author: Sarah Deadman
It’s 5.29. You’re at your desk, typing the last sentence of your day. Congratulating yourself on your stellar productivity, you fake a yawn and, mid-stretch, scan your surroundings. The option to work from home has left your office virtually empty this afternoon, and you relax, ready to call it a day, until you notice movement in your peripheral vision. Drat! That pesky what’s-her-name is still sitting in the corner and her eyes are on you, that don’t-you-dare-leave stare is pronouncing judgement – if she’s staying, you are staying. The tangible dream of Merlot and…more Merlot, fades in an instant.
Wine-related dreams aside, it is interesting to consider how many of us are staying at work late purely because our colleague is staying late - when actually they are staying late because they think you are staying late….? Have we become slaves to presenteeism; being at work to show our faces when actually we do not have the work to justify our presence?
A very poignant issue for my friends, new to full time work, is that in their appraisals a topic of conversation has often been how ‘keen’ they are to leave at 5:30. If you have completed your work and you have an extra-curricular activity to arrive home to, who isn’t keen to leave? The sad thing is that the appraiser is probably just as keen to leave but they feel that they can’t because their manager is staying late…etc etc
So what is the result of this? Well one of my graduate friends who is performing incredibly well at work, now sits at her desk until, I quote; ‘5:34’ until she begins to pack up her stuff to leave. Of course this means she misses her 5:54 train home and her Pilates class at 7….what a depressing message for this organisation to portray.
Granted, there is quite often a need to remain in the office until a specific time to man the phones or complete an urgent deadline. Obviously some workers, such as those in the medical profession, need to remain in their roles until the exact minute that their shift ends to avoid the world becoming just plain dangerous. However, discussed here are those occasions when needs to stay behind don’t exist.
Maybe there is a fear that employees will take advantage and randomly get up and leave in the middle of the day or just not come back from lunch (tempting…). On the contrary, I pose that the effect of letting employees leave on time without feeling guilty means that they will be more willing to work hard without complaining.
If your employees can enjoy themselves, spending evenings doing what they love, then they will be in a fresher state of mind when they arrive at work the next morning. This will result in a much more productive workforce. Plus, if you have ever been encouraged to go home a few minutes early when the office is quiet then you will remember thinking that actually, that manager isn’t so bad after all!
My final point is that being ‘picky’ about an employee’s time-keeping will only lead them to be less generous with their time when you so desperately need them to complete a tender deadline without moaning.
So the question I pose to you as managers is; as long as your employee gets the work done and done well, does it really matter if it’s 5:25? Don’t measure performance on the amount of hours put in.
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Comments
06/10/2010 by Dani, http://
I think this very well-written blog raises a very valid point. It is often a sign of efficiency if somebody feels they are able to leave on time and I believe this culture aids productivity and should be encouraged.
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