I'd be curious to hear, from someone who's actually read the book, what arguments it makes to show receptionist is a bullshit job?
To me it seems like a pretty useful job in a large organisation.
To me it seems like a pretty useful job in a large organisation.
It goes on to state that the receptionist at such a place is required as a "Badge of Seriousness" even if they have nothing else to do.
The book isn't only about the job itself, but our constant need to "look busy", even though there isn't anything to do, and most importantly, how these structures develop. He coins the phrase "corporate feudalism" as an explanation, meaning (to oversimplify) that people at the top think that other people at the top look powerful when they have lots of people below them, so they need to create a lot of jobs just to have people to be the boss of.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/-er-is-een-ongeloof...
He based his assertion "on the basis of a YouGov survey among 843 Britons, in which 37 percent of the respondents said that their job 'did not make a meaningful contribution to the world', and one from HR and organizational consultant Schouten & Nelissen among 1,900 Dutch citizens, who 40 percent came out."
Both surveys are very low-quality, and are contradicted by other massive surveys, which he decides to ignore because "Since then, there has been a poll that came out at 10 percent. But I'm a bit skeptical about that, because the other two polls matched."
So I don’t agree designating itt a bullshit job.
Even when we were 20 people in an office folks coming in for interviews or to fix the WiFi/Coffee machine/plumbing would either be totally lost, or the person sitting near the door would be significantly burdened with constant distraction and less able to perform their primary function.
Furthermore no one would set up those maintenance tasks because they’re focused on the product not on making sure the office is functioning properly.
Hmm.
Not trying to get in between you guys arguing, but I'm just throwing this out there because I thought possibly it might help. Maybe you guys aren't really disagreeing so much as using different language for different positions? Just from my point of view, it SOUNDS like what you are describing is more of an Office Manager. So maybe in some organizations Office Manager is the same as Receptionist in terms of job title? (I do hope you were PAYING that person at the level of an Office Manager though, and not a simple receptionist. That's kind of shady if you weren't, because that person was doing a great deal of work.)
Some tasks may be more BS than others. But how many jobs would be considered BS in the author's vision that either they can be done by someone else or not at all because they involve addressing activities that should have been done perfect from the beginning?
He's obviously aiming for controversy because controversy sells.
But I find other BS examples that the author used, like "airline desk staff who calm passengers whose bags don't arrive". There's no dedicated staff for this. They are simply staff who have to take the time to also do this. He sometimes mixes up "jobs" with "job tasks". Some tasks may be BS but the jobs definitely involve more than what he cherry picked as an example. Is "staff that asks you if you enjoyed the food at the restaurant" also on the list?
Would he rather have airline employees just not give a shit when he has a problem? Or does he actually think airlines pay for employees that are there just to provide consolation?
A "job" is the entire collection of tasks you get paid for or are expected of you by your employer. One BS portion does not make the job BS. In the same vein, is writing a list of BS jobs a BS job? He's definitely exaggerating with many examples for the purpose of making it a bit more controversial.
Thieves helping themselves to computers, video projectors and the like as entrance security is a joke and noone monitors the lobby anymore.
Calls doing the rounds from department to department as the corporate mega-switchboard does not know anything but employees' formal title and not what they actually do - unlike the receptionist, which also manned the local switchboard.
&c. You can solve most of this by throwing more money at it - but a good receptionist is IMHO money very well spent...
2. Important deliveries being sent back to the parcel depot because the door wasn't answered
3. Parcels sometimes going missing, with the parcel company claiming they were delivered but no employees knowing where they are (with the resulting recriminations)
4. Guests being let in without the sign-in procedure being followed
5. Job applicants showing up saying they're here for an interview with 'Dave' and the person who lets them in not knowing who that is, where they sit, or how to contact them.
These things are done much better at organisations where it's someone's job to do them.