Tolstoy wrote that, "All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
I thought about that quote today when Erich and I were talking about people who punched in their hours at work and then went home, only to come back to the office six hours later and make a big show of "staying late". Others who spent the day watching movies or surfing the Internet and still others who claimed to be working from home but actually spent the day perfecting their score in World of Warcraft.
Erich asked me,
"Why do you think people do that?"
I had to think about the various people I knew for a while, and I finally came up with this answer. I think each person who is unethical is unethical for a different reason.
Show the man! You can't do this to me! I know one who used to be a really good employee, worked hard at his job, made a real effort to do it well, spent his time when he wasn't busy with other tasks learning more so he could do his job better. His work place was pretty relaxed about hours. As long as you did your job, the boss didn't care when you came in or if you worked from home part of the time. Then, a new boss was hired who laid down the law. Everyone was to be in at 8 a.m., work at their desk and stay until 5 p.m. Our good employee, Bob, resented this very much. Since he had been in the job for years, he had a lot of sick leave. Bob started calling in sick every Monday. Sometimes he would call in sick on Tuesday, too. Other days, he would be there in the morning, go home for lunch and not come back for four hours. If anyone asked, he had "just stepped away from his desk for a minute." Bob was a really good employee and became an unethical employee out of resentment. As the years went by, this kind of behavior lost him the respect of the people who had originally valued him and thought his new boss was overly controlling. As Bob missed out on promotions, he became more resentful and his behavior worsened until he was hardly there at all.
Why work when you don't have to? Hard work is for suckers. Sam was never a good employee as long as anyone can remember. While Bob worked hard under the old boss, Sam was just the type of person the new policies were put in place to prevent. For years, his department ran pretty much on the honor system that you would do your work. Since no one was checking on him, Sam spent hours volunteering at his children's school. He proudly pointed out the playground equipment the parents had built on a project he had supervised for weeks. When a coworker asked how he had managed to do all of that during work hours, Sam just shrugged. Sam ran a small woodworking business on the side also. He frequently took off to buy wood or deliver products to customers. When new regulations came out in his field, Sam had no idea because he didn't bother to read the documents that were sent to him. He just left them on his desk for a few days and then filed them. If a client asked Sam a question he couldn't answer, he simply told the person they had called the wrong department and he didn't know what department handled their problem.
No one never taught me different. While Sam and Bob know very well that you shouldn't be charging hours at work when you are at home watching a Law & Order marathon, Rachel is a bit of a different case. She is new to the department and this is her first job on the reservation. The only other job she ever had was a part-time cashier at Wal-mart. She sees her co-workers not coming to work at all, or coming in for a few hours and leaving for six hours for personal errands. Rachel knows that is wrong. She comes into work every day at 8 a.m. and leaves at 5. She clocks out for lunch for exactly half an hour. After a year, she knows her job pretty well. She can file the forms, answer questions and usually has an extra two hours in her day. Since no one tells her anything else to do, she spends those two hours watching DVDs. She has gone through every season of Beverly HIlls 90210, The Simpsons and is now starting on Boston Legal. Why not? She is there eight hours a day, as she is supposed to be, and her computer has a DVD player, so why shouldn't she watch her favorite shows at work. Her work is getting done. If it is not always done exactly as quickly as it could be, it is done far quicker than if Bob or Sam was assigned a task, plus she is actually in the office if anyone needs her.
So, I guess it comes down to some people are born unethical workers, some people achieve unethical worker status and other people have being an unethical worker thrust upon them. That's what Bob would say, anyway, if he was here.
I thought about that quote today when Erich and I were talking about people who punched in their hours at work and then went home, only to come back to the office six hours later and make a big show of "staying late". Others who spent the day watching movies or surfing the Internet and still others who claimed to be working from home but actually spent the day perfecting their score in World of Warcraft. Erich asked me,
"Why do you think people do that?"
I had to think about the various people I knew for a while, and I finally came up with this answer. I think each person who is unethical is unethical for a different reason.
Show the man! You can't do this to me! I know one who used to be a really good employee, worked hard at his job, made a real effort to do it well, spent his time when he wasn't busy with other tasks learning more so he could do his job better. His work place was pretty relaxed about hours. As long as you did your job, the boss didn't care when you came in or if you worked from home part of the time. Then, a new boss was hired who laid down the law. Everyone was to be in at 8 a.m., work at their desk and stay until 5 p.m. Our good employee, Bob, resented this very much. Since he had been in the job for years, he had a lot of sick leave. Bob started calling in sick every Monday. Sometimes he would call in sick on Tuesday, too. Other days, he would be there in the morning, go home for lunch and not come back for four hours. If anyone asked, he had "just stepped away from his desk for a minute." Bob was a really good employee and became an unethical employee out of resentment. As the years went by, this kind of behavior lost him the respect of the people who had originally valued him and thought his new boss was overly controlling. As Bob missed out on promotions, he became more resentful and his behavior worsened until he was hardly there at all.
Why work when you don't have to? Hard work is for suckers. Sam was never a good employee as long as anyone can remember. While Bob worked hard under the old boss, Sam was just the type of person the new policies were put in place to prevent. For years, his department ran pretty much on the honor system that you would do your work. Since no one was checking on him, Sam spent hours volunteering at his children's school. He proudly pointed out the playground equipment the parents had built on a project he had supervised for weeks. When a coworker asked how he had managed to do all of that during work hours, Sam just shrugged. Sam ran a small woodworking business on the side also. He frequently took off to buy wood or deliver products to customers. When new regulations came out in his field, Sam had no idea because he didn't bother to read the documents that were sent to him. He just left them on his desk for a few days and then filed them. If a client asked Sam a question he couldn't answer, he simply told the person they had called the wrong department and he didn't know what department handled their problem.
No one never taught me different. While Sam and Bob know very well that you shouldn't be charging hours at work when you are at home watching a Law & Order marathon, Rachel is a bit of a different case. She is new to the department and this is her first job on the reservation. The only other job she ever had was a part-time cashier at Wal-mart. She sees her co-workers not coming to work at all, or coming in for a few hours and leaving for six hours for personal errands. Rachel knows that is wrong. She comes into work every day at 8 a.m. and leaves at 5. She clocks out for lunch for exactly half an hour. After a year, she knows her job pretty well. She can file the forms, answer questions and usually has an extra two hours in her day. Since no one tells her anything else to do, she spends those two hours watching DVDs. She has gone through every season of Beverly HIlls 90210, The Simpsons and is now starting on Boston Legal. Why not? She is there eight hours a day, as she is supposed to be, and her computer has a DVD player, so why shouldn't she watch her favorite shows at work. Her work is getting done. If it is not always done exactly as quickly as it could be, it is done far quicker than if Bob or Sam was assigned a task, plus she is actually in the office if anyone needs her.
So, I guess it comes down to some people are born unethical workers, some people achieve unethical worker status and other people have being an unethical worker thrust upon them. That's what Bob would say, anyway, if he was here.
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