Create a Culture Where People Want to Work Late? No Thanks.
I've seen several posts and articles recently saying things like, "If your team members are just putting in 40 hours, you're not motivating them!" and "If your team members WANT to go home early on Friday, you need to examine your corporate culture!"
Ahem. No.
I get the thought behind this, I really do. It goes something like this: You want to create a culture where team members are so motivated, so all-in on the products they're building or the goals they're striving toward that they WANT to work late, they want to do whatever it takes to make their goals happen. The idea is that you shouldn't ASK your team members to work late - they should WANT to work late, all on their own.
Why does this sound familiar? What does this remind me of.....hmmmmm.....
Oh yeah! It reminds me of the movie Office Space! Specifically, the part where Jennifer Anniston's character, Joanna, who is a server at a restaurant called Chotchkie's, is scolded by her boss for not wearing enough "flair" in the weirdest, most messing-with-her-mind way humanly possible. I won't link to the scene here so as not to run afoul of LinkedIn's rules and copyrights, but I do invite you to Google "Office Space Flair" and check it out. But basically it goes something like this:
Boss: "We need to talk about your flair."
Joanna: "Really? I have 15 pieces on."
Boss: "Well, 15 is the minimum, okay? Now, it's up to you if you want to just do the bare minimum, or, like, well, Brian, for example, has 37 pieces of flair, and a terrific smile."
Joanna: "Oh, okay, so you want me to wear more?"
....
Boss: "....If you want to do the bare minimum, that's up to you, but some people choose to do more, and we encourage that, okay?"
The point is, he doesn't want to outright say, "Wear more flair!" He wants her to WANT TO wear more flair. It's maddening!
And this is how I feel about wanting to build a culture where people WANT to work late. I feel like those leaders are saying, "No, Bob, you don't HAVE to work late, but you know, Joey over there, he worked 97 hours last week, and we encourage that." To which Bob responds, "So you want me to work late?" And the boss replies, "No, we want you to WANT TO work late." Gahhhhh!!!!
I've seen this in action in real-life. When I first started me career, the company I was with at the time let team members go home early on Friday. It was corporate policy, and HR touted "half-day Fridays" as a big benefit of working there. But there was one manager who refused to take advantage of it. Not only that, he made sure his team members KNEW he wasn't taking advantage of it, saying things like, "Well, if anything comes up, I'll be here." What do you think the result of this particular behavior modeling was? If you guessed that his team members rarely took their half-day Fridays, ding-ding-ding, you are correct. And that's just wrong. And who knows? Maybe he really intended on being a martyr for his team, to let them enjoy their half days. But even if that was the case, his team members saw his behavior and modeled theirs after it - another reason why it's so critical for leaders to be careful what they're modeling.
So no, I don't want to build a culture where people want to work late. I don't want to build a culture where people want to spend more time with ME than with their families. Because life is all about balance. And at the end of the day, well, I want it to be the END OF THE DAY for my team members. I want them to go home and throw the football with their kids. I want them to get trounced in Super Smash Brothers by their seven years olds (maaaaybe speaking from experience here). I want them to go to school plays and recitals. I want them to go to the zoo with their families (yes, even (gasp!) on Friday afternoons when others may want them to want to work!) and watch their kids be amazed by the gorillas! I want my team members to (caution: incoming cliche) work to live, NOT live to work.
And of course it's important to be passionate about your job, but my argument is that it's even more important to be passionate about your family, about your home life, about taking care of you and those you care about.
So no, I don't want you to want to work late.