"...because it's not my fault. I'm really, really trying, and it's just not working."
Nothing is EVER anyone's fault anymore. Snowflakes are too precious to actually be responsible for their OWN TIME! Makes you wonder if they;ve tried going to bed earlier for a change - maybe even longer than a night or two... god forbid they miss something unimportant at night... Jimmy Kimmel maybe.
I might generally agree with your sentiment, it feels like too many people are too willing to not take responsibility for themselves, but I can tell you I've needed to engineer my life around my sleep schedule. It's partly why I'm an engineer. I've been a night owl since I was a baby, and I can tell you, I'm never more miserable than when I consistently need to function before 10am, and I'm extra useless any day I need to set an alarm for the day. So I make it clear to my coworkers that if they avoid scheduling meetings before 10, I won't schedule any after 5. After that, anyone who tries to discuss hours gets to hear instead about output.
From the business aspect, its not about your social life. It's about the 'survival' of the company and the continued employment of you and your co-workers.
Again, reading comprehension, work on it.
Most people at work and in college are adults and are expected to perform as required for the classes/Job that THEY CHOSE and then some complain about the expectation that they be in and functioning at a specific time - that makes NO sense.
This is exactly the type of attitude that the article is arguing against. Sure, complete, 100% autonomy for an employee is unrealistic, the organization has needs too. But to say that the employee can have no flexibility at all and MUST be in the office, with the other employees, at this specific time because we said so? My response to that is why? And if you can't cite a reason that doesn't involve such abstract concepts as maturity (highly relative, not measurable) or without citing tradition (highly irrational, based on societal momentum and not fact) then I'm not interested and I'll work somewhere else.
Note that this leaves plenty of room for legitimate reasons, such as "the basketball game starts at this specific time, so we need you here" and that is totally 100% a reasonable thing to say.
I used to think this way until one day I realized that there are many very important things that are unquantifiable and abstract, yet still matter very much.
I used to think coming on time to work was arbitrarily set by my boss...but over the years I discovered that there are numerous good, but abstract and unquantifiable reasons for this.
The idea that, as an employee, you have to be able to understand a rule in order to not resent following it, is a flawed attitude, and a reflection of a deeper problem with authority or need for control.
Would the reason, "I need you here early to see if you can follow instructions from your boss without understanding them." be a goood enough reason for you?
For what it's worth, I found a way to control my own schedule for the most part and I work better in this environment...but I have come to appreciate that there are elements at play beyond our immediate understanding, especially when working with others...and whether i understand it or not, I should respect it's value or at least the role I play within that hierarchy and framework.
Resenting arbitrary unexplained authority is a healthy natural response.
I completely disagree with your point about slave labor. If I have been in an industry for a decade and want things done a certain way because of my much deeper understanding, which a newer employee won't appreciate, I don't need to quantify why to my employees and it's very unhealthy for them to presume that they are even capable of understanding everything at play without the prerequisite experience.
I am not talking about an arbitrary middle manager getting hung up on minutia for his own ego powertrip. I am talking about how being in the office on time, how you dress and behave has deep influence on others and the team, culture, ambiance and work environment with profound impacts a single employee can't see, and is perfectly reasonable for a boss to want to control.
This idea that following instructions without understanding them not being a prerequisite of an employee is really unhealthy attitude if you want to work for someone else.
I suggest starting your own business and not raising outside money, otherwise you will be a miserable slave in a perfectly functional work environment.
Employees in companies need to appreciate that order can impact many other aspects of the business and ability to keep clients happy, etc... and small broken things can have profound negative ripple effects.
My boss doesn't give me instructions I don't understand, nor does he require me to obey them from anyone else. This makes us much leaner as an organization and more focused on what actually adds value, not on the minutiae so popular with middle management at other places I've worked.
Doesn't work for everyone, YMMV, etc.
> YMMV
Exactly. If your culture and environment is built on that framework, than it would inconsistent to be a stickler for time, etc...
However, there are many organizations where this is not the case. An accounting firm or law firm might need people in their seats early in the day in case a client comes by, so they see what they are getting for their money. A commercial real estate management company might need people wearing suits and ties to impress and demand better terms and higher lease rates from their tenants, etc...
There is an amazing book called, "Broken Windows, Broken Business" about how cleaning up grafitti in NY Subways led to a huge drop in crime. When people see you care about something as trivial as coming late...they will be damn sure not to screw up something important or be late with a client, etc...
People need to be aware of how their behavior influences others and in my experience, employees rarely see beyond themselves when it comes to minutia they dont understand.
Being an adult implies that your take care of your responsibilities. You pay your bills, and you show up to class/work on time, etc... If you schedule a BioChem class that starts at 7am, don't complain when it starts at 7am. If you still don't understand this context, please stop now.
As a student, your world revolves around the schedule of your professor(s) Not your social life. In most professions from the NBA to IT, as an employee, your schedule revolves around that of your employer Not your social life. And most times, if you own your own business, your schedule revolves around the schedule of your clients, at this point, you don't have a social life.
Some people get lucky and either don't need to be confined to a schedule or have an open one. Great! but for the rest that don't, either stop complaining about the schedule of the job/class/career path that YOU CHOSE or get another one. It really is that simple.
Secondly, I am not nor have I ever brought up students. Schooling is an entirely different ball game, you're not being paid to be there, you're paying to be there, you set a schedule more or less to your own preferences and so have less of a reason to be upset about it, and classes are not often the length of a regular job shift, so the timing isn't nearly as critical. I could go on, this is apples and oranges and I have no idea why you brought it up.
Thirdly, even though I never brought up social lives I'll say this: If my priority is to have time to spend with my wife, my friends, or my family, as long as it does not affect my job performance if I set my hours to suit those preferences it's exactly NONE of your business what those preferences are.
Finally, I'm not complaining about my schedule, but exactly the opposite and what I said from the top was that if a given company doesn't offer a flexible schedule that I wouldn't work there.
Work on your reading comprehension.
Please don't be personally rude in HN comments, even when someone else is breaking the rules and being provocative. That just makes the thread still worse.