All In!

Are you a better employee if you put in super long hours and spend most of your waking moments at the office?  Is this the best measure of your worth and your engagement?

One of my mentors early in my career was always the first in the office in the morning and the last to leave each night.  Worked EVERY Saturday and some Sundays.  This put incredible stress on me to try to work what would appear to be reasonable hours in comparison to this guy who was a freak and also my boss.  I lived about 45 minutes to an hour from the office depending on traffic which added additional stress to the equation. He was only 15 minutes to his house.  I was not adverse to putting in the hours (clarify salary position) but I always felt that it was never enough.  I came from an hourly tradesman position working outside and I worked nearly every Saturday in order to make up for rain days or short days.  I needed to get a full paycheck.  I had a family and bills.  I was conditioned to work the hours and “pay my dues” as folks like to call it.

Shortly after leaving the company I found out that my mentor was getting a divorce.  I’m sure there was a story to this with lots of moving parts but I know that his work hours were a big contributor to this outcome.  He was an absent husband and father.  He poured his entire life into his work and spent nearly all of his waking hours in the office.

After this event he abruptly changed his work hours.  Too late for his marriage, however, he began to work more normal hours and abandoned the “all in” appearance that had defined his past work history.

So what does “all in”  look like to you?

Are you judged in a large part by the hours that you put in?

Do you think hours are a true measure of your performance or engagement?

Can you be “all in” and still work normal work hours?

I’ve witnessed a variety of viewpoints on this subject.  Some folks use work hours to measure value, commitment and engagement to an organization.   It’s an easy measurement.  Either you are sitting at your desk or your not.  I had a report years ago who never showed up on Saturday and my boss was convinced that they were not engaged and lacked future value based on the lack of Saturday attendance.  I approached this employee and suggested that they begin to come in on Saturdays and make sure that they were seen by the boss in order to get “attendance credit”.  Almost immediately there was a change in attitude by the boss.  He felt that there was a big change when it was simply window dressing.

Then I have seen employees who lay down the law early and makes sure that everyone knows what comes first in their lives- family, kids, church, charity work, hobbies, etc.  It seems like they can get a pass if they make it clear early on and stand firm.  They can be successful in the organization and still leave at 5:01 every day.  In a very strange way it doesn’t seem fair- does it?

So what’s the point here?  I don’t believe you should rate your employees performance or engagement based on work hours.  Base your judgement on the production of quality work product- period.  If they are able to produce in standard work hours then be content and happy for them.  They will have a better life and work balance will make them a better employee in the long run.  Putting pressure on them to work longer hours and take on an unrealistic amount of work will eventually lead to burn out.  And probably an empty seat.  My instruction to employees who work a ridiculous amount of hours is:  GO HOME!  See your family.  Have fun.  Unwind and relax.

You are not a slave- you have a life.  The work will be there when you return.

What do you think?  Have you seen someone burn out due to crazy hours?  Do you think time at your desk is an accurate measure of worth?  Click on “leave a comment” and let me know what you think!