Are you part of the "insidious trend" of time theft?
Dr. Kristen Liesch
Forbes Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazer | Co-Creator of Equity Sequence? | Teaches Equitable Innovation | Co-creates Equitable Strategic Plans | Facilitates Equitable Innovation Sprints
Are you part of the "insidious trend"? In this article, Howard A. Levitt paints a picture of staff working from home relishing in their employers' reduced ability to keep tabs on their time. Time, apparently, staff would rather spend scrolling social media and baking bread "with impunity." "Left to their own devices," he suggests, staff are shirking their "fundamental exchange of time for compensation" and this amounts to theft.
Truly, I don't know where to start...
·It's been common knowledge (and research-backed) that butts in seats don't equal productivity or value.
·Emerging research shows the workday extended by an average of 3 hours for most employees since pandemic-mandated WFH policies.
·Research shows organizational injustice and moral disengagement triggers "time theft" - in other words, if time theft is a problem in your organization, it's a canary in the coal mine!
Furthermore, lived experience paints a different picture.
What's your WFH story of "unfettered freedom"?
Working 24/7? Parent guilt? Non-existent work/life balance? Social isolation? Inability to be a homeschool parent and a full-time worker at the same time? Shucks.
My personal fave? "Sorry to interrupt your video call, mommy, but the blood is going everywhere!"
I know that many WFH employees have shared their experiences of that reality on social media, in opinion pieces and in candid cries for help, and it's anything but a picture of teems of "indolent workers."
One executive I know talked about the toll it's taking on him as he - day after day - walks around the house on work calls telling his child, "No. Sorry. Daddy can't talk to you right now."
I'm prone to honing in on the horror stories of parenting and working from home, but there are other lived experiences that I don't personally have experience with, like the mental health toll of isolation for single folks, the zoom fatigue for introverts (and all sorts of other people), the difficulty to find a "quiet" space to work for folks - disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and people of colour, as well as newcomers - who live in multi-generational households.
Levitt suggests employers "schedule employee breaks and lunches at set hours...with the expectation that they be in their quiet home office then, rather than somewhere where there might be noise in the background." Sheesh. I work from my boot room. A lot of people juggle spotty or non-existent childcare. This expectation is laughably out of touch.
Please, in the comments, I'd love to hear about what you're doing with your "unfettered freedom" that is WFH.
Organizational Development - Change Management - Coach
4 年Interesting article! I think this would be an excellent human factors topic for researchers to study. The implications of WFH on flow/productivity. That said, I think this is only another notch in the forward movement of the, hopefully, evolving work place. I think we will find that eventually a results focused culture will replace the "40 hour work week". This of course will require better role clarity, clearer expectations, and far more intentional coaching. Leaders will need to have more empathy and flexibility. From there, standards and expectations can be balanced between individual needs along with the needs of the team, organization, and external clients.