Full Time Pay for Half Time Work?

Steven M. Smith in his blog posted a very interesting article called Full Time Pay for Half Time Work? where he shares the case of an employee called Albert who guarantees he can produce the same results as the other colleagues (even 105% of the quote), he is liked by the colleagues and adored by the clients but he wants to work no more than 20 hours a week and doesn’t want to waste his time.

The author asked several managers whether they would hire Albert but all the answers were “No”. No one appreciated the fact that Albert is 100% more productive than the others. All the managers asked felt insulted by Albert’s requirement for 20-hour work and required that he worked for 40-60 hours. In fact they didn’t like the fact that he insisted on his freedom, they wanted to have a tighter control on him no matter how productive he was.

If I had to make such decision I would hire Albert if I have the guarantee that he will produce the promised results. But the answers the interviewed managers gave are frightening me. They confirmed my fears that the most middle managers nowadays don’t have the entrepreneurship spirit at all. They consider their employees not like partners (heading for the same goal) but more like property, resources, or even like slaves. The majority of managers value the most not the productivity of an employee but the ability to obey orders.

I feel we are back in the 18th-19th century…

Read the second part of this posting here.