Seth’s point here is one many workers would do well to remember:
“It’s easy to use our indispensability as fuel. Fuel to speak up and contribute. That’s important. But it’s also possible for that same instinct to backfire, and for us to believe that if we don’t do it, it won’t get done right.
That’s unlikely.”
That’s what Charlie Watts meant to me, the reminder that no matter how much flash you’ve got, someone needs to play the drums and be the steady backbeat that keeps the song going. Without it, you’re just making noise. We’d do well to remember that.
Rest in Peace Charlie.
This raises some interesting questions about wealth distribution among many other things. What does happen in service jobs, to the people left behind without other options?
From reading these stories, it’s clear that there is not always an appreciation for people who don’t leave, just an expectation that they will be taking advantage of more by employers, and treated worse by customers.
This makes me consider a couple of things:
Imagine being so bad at disconnecting from work, or letting your coworkers and employees truly disconnect, that the only way to actually get them to take a significant break from working is to close the business down for some time.
What does that say about our society, and our values?
Putting this on individual employees is a cop-out. Saying this isn’t anyone’s fault is a cop-out. This obsession with busyness is a direct result of poor management. There was no mass movement of employees who decided that appearing busy was more important than getting real work done, they simply responded to incentives, and the incentives have favored people who don’t make time to be productive, but are also quick to respond, no matter how unproductive it made them, and until recently, were also the ones sitting at their desks for long hours. People who tried to avoid this, and unplug from work? Yeah right, again, this wasn’t something employees just decided to do on their own. They responded to poor management.
Yesterday I attended a meeting that lasted 3 minutes.
At the time I was happy to have not wasted any more time in a meeting than was absolutely necessary and get 27 minutes back of my day.
So, good for us for not wasting time and filling the half-hour time slot.
On the other hand, if ever there was a meeting that could have been an email, this was it.