The world has grown into a global
village now. Thanks to computers and internet. But it’s not just our loved ones
that the internet has been able to connect. It’s even the workers in
organizations. Yet the benefits of this technology are not being utilized for
purposes other than posting photos in Facebook. With the advent of the computer
generation, change in work schedules and organizational structure has been
possible. Yet at this part of the world, I don’t see these changes being
adapted.
I work at an organization where
one of my key works involves designing courses to be taught to school children.
Now this work involves some thinking, some internet research and some book and
article references. For this, I don’t need to be present at my workplace. I can
do the work at home and submit the output with the click of a mouse. How much
time does working from home save me? Two hours at least! These two hours is
just the time for commute. There is also added time I need for rest due to the
physical exhaustion I have to experience as a result of being a part of packed
buses and be stuck for hours in traffic jams. Yet my workplace would consider
me as working only if I am present at the workplace during office hours. What
matters is that I remain within the office (even if I spend time in gossip) and
not that I produce something worthwhile at my own time. Where are we heading
with this mentality? Nowhere, I suppose because the focus is on whether the
employees are giving their time to the organization or not for the salary they
are paid each month. Zero focus is placed on productivity or output.
I know the justification for this
could be the matter of trust of whether employees would honestly work from home
or not. But if the work is made deadline based and result-oriented, then why
does it matter at what time the employees work and at what time they choose to
rest?
I believe that organizations need
to trust their employees and make them more driven by focusing on results. I
don’t think “The employees must give their time for the organization, even if
they are idle, because we are paying them” is a positive attitude in part of
organizations. Why not buy results or outputs from employees rather than their
time?
There are jobs like that of
administration, customer service or accounting that requires employees to
remain at their work desk. That’s fine. But there are other kinds of work that
may or may not require the employee to be within the periphery of the office
all the time. And if social interactions are required, then what about a weekly
get-together?
As an aid, why not make telecommuting
a new basis of work design if the work is such that it can be performed from
home? This way an organization is not just buying output but also granting the
employees freedom to use their time at their will and showing trust upon their
work commitments and capabilities.
