My wife recently found a new job. She is going to become a techy now herself. I must say that I had my reservations about this but she loves it so far and that makes me happy. She has been telling me about all the cool things that she gets to do at her job such as build computers, travel throughout the country to install her company’s software, and get great deals on computer hardware. All of which she has been rubbing in my face.
I asked her the other day if she has been told what her email address will be and when she might be sitting at her computer so I can chat with her via Gchat. She told me that two years ago her company found that no one would answer the phone if they had the ability to surf the internet, send emails, play video games, and etc. Her email is internal only and her computer is not connected to the internet. I told her that sucks and that I would know how she feels when the day comes that my company takes away my video game, internet, email, and chatting priviledges and tells me I can no longer have my Netflix account mailed to me at the office anymore.
All she could say to that is…”at least I get to travel!” My response was that I travel every time I get a new movie in the mail.
Since working for Apple I’ve felt strongly about this: rules dictating what workers can or can’t do are completely ridiculous, especially when the worker’s actions wouldn’t be disturbing someone else. Am I going to keep someone else from getting work done by looking at a web page? Heck no!
Here’s the deal at Apple: get your work done, and make it good, or you’re fired. That’s all. And that’s all the motivation I need. If I want to browse the web, that’s fine. If I want to chat with my wife while I’m at work, that’s fine. If I don’t get my work done, they’ll have someone else in there who is just as capable as I am in two weeks, and that’s all there is to it. Why is this hard for employers to figure out? Dressing nicely and acting like you’re a good employee doesn’t make you a good employee. Being results-focused makes you a good employee.