Coming off of another interview with a senior executive today and he said something that struck me.
“We are encouraging our employees to examine the balance they have between work and the rest of their lives”, he said.
Back in 1991 I was interviewing for a job with OppenheimerFunds as a wholesaler in the 8 Western states. The then Senior Vice President of the distributor, Jim, met me at a hotel in Marina Del Rey, CA. He asked me if I was ready for the commitment that it takes to be a wholesaler for the company.
“Yes”, I eagerly replied, “I am”.
Jim then said something that has stuck with me since he asked it: “You know that we own you Monday through Friday, right?” he verified.
In retrospect, and having repeated that story many times over the years, I am grateful for his candor. He did paint an accurate picture of the time and energy required for that profession.
He left out the part that the job also owned you on Saturday and Sunday.
Of course none of us are indentured servants to our employers. It is true however that Type A folks tend to go overboard on the commitment to work thing.
Could it be that one of the outcomes of the Great Meltdown of 2008 (GM2008) is that we are allowed to get our lives back? Said another way, will we still feel guilty for doing some of the things that ‘normal’ 9-5 folks do?
Simple, important things like go to the kids soccer match, take the wife to a movie during the week or see non work friends on a weekday night?
If this is one of the outcomes of GM2008, I’m all in.
If our employers are on board, hot damn – even better!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t tell anyone – but it used to be a lot easier to escape that ownership thing. Before cell phones, pages and computers. Just think – I used to be able to do exactly what I wanted and read exactly what I wanted (novels instead of computer print-outs) – without my boss ever knowing.
I pity the corporate minions of today – soon their location will even be tracked. Sometimes, there are unintended consequences of technology – in this case a human cost. I think corporate workers especially are subject to way too much technological connection with their employers.
@Michael
I won’t tell a sole.
You made me think of the first cell phone I did have. It was the latest, top of the line model – courtesy of the T&E from the folks at the firm I referenced above, Oppenheimer. It was about 12 inches square, weighed less than 3 POUNDS and secured neatly in the trunk of the car – with the hand set anchored to a holder in the passenger compartment. Of course when you wanted to go somewhere other than the car “all” you had to do was take the unit out of the trunk, plug the handset from the holder into the unit, take a Tylenol for the soon to be ensuing pain in the arm/butt and away you went!
As for your thought re location tracking, I searched ’salesman location tracking’ found this: Traveling Salesman Mobility Model, got really frightened, and immediately closed the browser tab.