Scenes from a “Compressed” Work Week
August 22nd, 2008 by Cali & Jody
Five Minutes Late
Employee: Good morning, Boss.
Boss: You’re late.
Employee (checking watch): It’s five after.
Boss: I know! Now that we’re on a compressed work week, getting in on time is even more important.
Employee: I can see that, but—
Boss: What you need to do is build a bigger time cushion into your morning. Try leaving leave the house a half hour earlier than you do now.
Employee: But then some days I’ll be ridiculously early.
Boss: Better than being late, right?
***
End of the Day
Employee #1: What time is it?
Employee #2: You’re not going to believe this. It’s five.
Employee #1: These ten-hour days are brutal.
Employee #2: I know. I stopped working at four. There’s only so much you can do in one day.
Employee #1: I spend more time pretending to work than I do actually working. It’s exhausting.
Employee #2: Speaking of pretending, the boss is coming. You only have to look busy for another hour. Get off that shopping site and flip that spreadsheet up on your computer.
***
The Idea
Boss: What are you doing here?
Employee: Hi, Boss. I was out running some errands and I had an idea for the project we’re working on, so I just stopped in to work on it for a minute while it was still fresh in my mind.
Boss: You’re not supposed to be here today.
Employee: Like I said, I had this idea and—
Boss: I appreciate your dedication, but if you’re here on days when you’re not scheduled to be here, then it kind of defeats the purpose of having a compressed week, right? You drove here and we’re trying to help you save on gas - not to mention give you a chance to have more work/life balance.
Employee: Okay. I’ll stick to my day off.
Boss: Thanks, and try to turn off that noggin of yours when you’re not at work. We need you fresh and focused when you’re actually here, okay?
***
Something Came Up
Employee: Boss, do you have a second?
Boss: Of course - my door is always open. What can I do for you?
Employee: Well, something has come up, and next week I need to take Friday off instead of Monday.
Boss: But Monday is your designated day off. We’ve worked all of our processes around you being gone on Mondays.
Employee: I know, and usually that works out best, but next week—
Boss: Remember that you picked Monday as your day off. You didn’t pick Friday. We need some kind of order to this whole 4-day workweek thing - I don’t want it to be mass chaos. People can’t just be changing their days off every week.
Employee: Yes, but—
Boss: We gave you the freedom to choose your day off to avoid just this kind of problem. Otherwise, people would just come and go as they pleased.
Employee: Yes, but—
Boss: If it’s really important that you not be here on Friday, then just take a sick day or a personal day or a vacation day.
Employee: Yes, but—
Boss: It’s settled then. And remember: the door to my office is always open.
OK, OK, I’m screaming already…
Okay, now this post was pure torture and unnecessarily cruel, especially on a Friday
New situation:
Employee leaving 30 minutes early. Boss complains. Employee: “Well, you told me to always leave 30 minutes early to make sure I’ll be on time. I have an appointment 15 minutes from here, so I remembered your advice and am leaving now. By the way, thanks, I really appreciate how much I always learn from you!”
This experience is a true story, as it just happened to me a couple of hours ago…
Employee (Me): Hey, Supervisor, my wife and I are going to visit her country at the end of September. I don’t have enough vacation days for two of the four days I’ll be gone so I was going to bank my hours ahead. I already checked and it is doable, even though I am behind on my hours still.
Supervisor: So, you have a plan for doing this.
Me: Yeah. There’s enough time so that I’ll be at zero balance when I return.
Supervisor: Well, could you make sure to work two Saturdays so you have five consecutive days each week?
Me: Uhhh, sure. No problem.
Needless to say, never once was it discussed whether I would be able to get all my projects done or how the other team members could be utilized in case something came up. All that mattered was me in my office for five consecutive days (Saturday to Monday is consecutive, as Sunday the office is ‘not open’, per se). Never mind that I won’t be working a full nine hour day on those Saturdays, as I’m already busy those days with my life outside work (thanks to work intruding on my life an extra hour every weekday).
Oh, for a ROWE! I would have bought our plane tickets already without having asked and just made sure everything was done or covered while I left for four days! What is so wrong or difficult with that?!?
I dream of ROWE every single day.
Funny blog post by the way.
@Happy - nice scene addition!
@Matt - well, at least *you* understand the importance of focusing the conversation on results…now if we could just get your supervisor there. Wanting to make sure you worked 5 consecutive days vs. wanting to ensure the work was covered/completed is such a classic example of the “monitoring of the hallways” in the traditional work environment. Next time you find yourself in a conversation like that, prompt the right discussion: “Let’s talk about my projects/work during that time period”. And have a great time at the end of September!