Work should be fun

Just this week, I was having a value session with the new employees who had come in the last few months. Considering the recent takeover of Twitter, which has been a large topic recently and something I fully disagree with, despite the fact that I have always been a fan of Elon Musk.

In my 10 years of managerial experience, there have been certain values that have stand out and made my team the best performing team in the company. Leaving out the obvious values, these are the values that I have tried to instill in my teams in order to achieve that performance.

Work should be fun. I have always appreciated in my team, is that they should be passionate and work should be taken as fun rather than something to get over with. After all, this is something one spends nearly one third life with and if one does not enjoy it, it simply leads to unhappiness and burnout.

Stay hungry for learning. I do not want my employees to learn one thing and continue doing it over and over. There is always something new to learn, new technologies coming out, new research papers, new certifications. One needs to continously evolve as a person, as an employee.

Teamwork is essential That is of course obvious one, although I want to bring it out. A team needs to be like a family, supporting each other through thick and thin. I have tried to avoid people prefering to focus on their work alone and quiet due to that reason. Same goes for divisive or too competitive people. Roughly 5% of each days goes only for chit chat, joking around. There is daily ping-pong etc. At office, I always try to create an atmosphere or relaxation, rather than pressure. In my opinion, if there is pressure regarding project, especially due to deadline, it is poorly planned. I generally keep around 20% of the project timeline as buffer, if not more, depending on the complexity and uncertainty. We also do not have proper schedule. Work whenever you want, as long as the job gets done The only rule is: If somebody else depends on you (meeting, for example), be there.

I decided to start instilling this value, after one of the employees, who had joined before I started experienced burnout. It led to company having to cover the mental health bills and lots of lost work time. The employee left in about a year. Since then, I have encouraged the employees never to work more than 8 hours per day. We do not have paid overtime as well, for every hour worked extra, you get additional vacation days (on top of the 2 months fully paid we provide already). In my time, no employee has left before 3 years working with us, and they have always moved to leadership positions.

This all probably goes against what many people have experienced, especially in American work culture, although this is what I believe in and has proven to be highly effective over time. I do not think companies should expect work to be the only part of the persons life. People are social animals and life solely focused on work is not positive for mental health. Same goes for rigid measurements of working hours, trying to maximize the output of the employee on the expense of their health, mental health, social life. Companies should be held responsible for the health/mental health issues caused to their employees. Several of my friends experience it daily and the bad leadership simply makes me sad and I always try to encourage them to leave. So far, I have poached over 20 people like that from other companies, but unfortunately, we do not have places for all kinds of experience.

The one thing, people who know me, would say that I love working. I do, but simply because it is fun for me Otherwise, I would not do it.

All those things you mention is pretty much how things are supposed to be run on paper.
One thing is to say they are doing it another thing is practicing it, to many times I been at companies that print big posters about teamwork, cooperation, family and other posters showing models with a big smile on their faces with headlines like "Teamwork and innovation". To many times I seen companies using those fancy slogans and made up realities what is really going on on the factory floor.

So if you really mean that "work should be fun" I hope you really mean that and does expect a honest answer from a factory worker that is afraid to loose his job if he is not smiling and pretending to be happy while pressing the same button for 40 years.

Wise words there.

I have just experienced what you have been describing..

17yrs with a company that I respected and loved and felt reciprocal values back.

Middle management changed 4yrs ago and along with it core values and work ethics. Gone were the days of enjoying your work and getting it done because you loved what you did, even if you did some unpaid overtime.

That was all replaced by new processes, targets, plans, burocracy, micromanagement, constant passive aggressive threats and emails leading to a work culture of apprehension, fear, anxiety and mistakes made by the workforce because of the unnecessary pressure.

I handed my notice in with that company after 17yrs service 3 weeks ago.

I cannot believe just how bad things had got and how bad I was and had been feeling, all caused by one or two power crazed middle management types..

You are absolutely correct in what you say, work needs to be fun, yes it needs to be and get done but it needs to be enjoyable for the employees to get the best out of them.

MR

a reply to: Cabin
Erm, do you want a medal or something?
Well done, you seem like one of the nicer managers. There are quite a few around.
Problem is that work ain't always fun, even if you work in your dream job.
The reason for this is that you are working for another party who needs to get things done. Not be a happy playground for millennials who need their meat cut into dinosaur shapes so they have fun eating it.
This means deadlines, problems, stress and other not so fun experiences.
I have been stressed in my professional job despite having the most understanding, happy and intelligent manageress.
If we didn't get it done in time huge contracts would have been in jeopardy. And I mean huge. Our fun somehow wasn't really important during these times.
So we worked and got stressed. I burned out and have chronic M.E aka Yuppie flu. It was my dream job and we even had fun with each other, but went full pro for deadlines.

Anyway here is your medal 🥇I couldn't give my manager one because she didn't share her greatness online.

a reply to: Cabin

In reality how we organise work is straight from the WWII Sabotage Field Manual

These professionals were given specific instructions to bring up irrelevant issues as often as they could, debate specific wording, hold unnecessary conferences and promote bad workers. They were also encouraged to speak as frequently as possible and to turn regular conversations into “speeches.”

The manual also suggested management cause problems with their products by approving defective work, assigning out unimportant work first, giving incomplete or misleading instructions to new employees, favoring bad or lazy workers to lower morale, and delaying stock orders, so there was a higher chance of a shut down due to delayed order fulfilment.

Crazy, right?

The Simple Sabotage Field Manual, which wasn’t declassified until 2008, was filled of ways for everyday citizens who wanted to aid the Allied war effort by undermining their workplace and other facilities. As the CIA said upon the document’s release,”Together [these instructions] are a reminder of how easily productivity and order can be undermined.”

originally posted by: Cabin

In my 10 years of managerial experience,

Oh yes, it's all fun and games until the economy takes a dump and you are sitting in a middle management position.

a reply to: Cabin

All commendable.

But try telling that to the guy who has his head stuck in a bucket welding two pieces of steel together, or the person stuck on an assembly line doing a boring, monotonous job for 12 hours or the brickie on a building site in the freezing cold wind or any of a multitude of jobs people have to endure just to make ends meet.

As for non-paid overtime; you do realise that literally millions upon millions of people have to rely on paid overtime in order to put a roof over their families heads and feed, heat and clothe them?

All people want is a fair days pay for a fair days work.
Unfortunately this is becoming more and more of a rarity in these days of low wage economies, soaring cost of living and the amoral obsession with profit.

A hunger for wisdom is the path the wise seek in life.
Stay in tune to one's dreams of waking up the next morning and breathing the passage of the Lord's Word.

Hang in there.

Look, I don't dislike my job, but the reality is that my proofers especially are in a situation where they are basically backing up a computer system. The computer rarely makes errors, so their days are usually tedious and dull and involve lots of flipping through pages both onscreen and in person looking for glitches that mostly don't and won't exist. I know; it's what I started with.

There is nothing on earth that will make that fun.

We have to find other ways to amuse ourselves without losing focus on what we do.

a reply to: Cabin

I agree with all of what you said, which is why I take jobs I know I will enjoy. I have jobs where I am constantly active. I cannot sit on a job, looking at a computer screen doesn't seem fun at all. I think I undiagnosed ADHD too, which could be why I need constant movement. I do know why people take certain jobs, money wise.

a reply to: Cabin

I love working.

Just not for other people.

A great team is irreplaceable and can't be mandated with rules, it either is or it isn't.

Learning to read people BEFORE you hire them is essential.

a reply to: Cabin

I know in certain industries this managerial style works very well, it leads to employee stability and employee retention,and good consistent production etc. Not sure if it translates well to all industries though for example is this approach scalable. Does it work as well with a workforce of 50 as well as it works for a group of 12? More people more chances for flies in the ointment, monkies in the wrench.

Still can I send you my resume?

There are still a plethora of burn and churn industries out there, with burn and churn managers. Been in enough corporate settings where employee contentment isn't even discussed, its about production, daily and weekly goals period.

Definitely seem to be in a transition period where flexible might be a more effective approach than forceful.

It's unfortunate the only thing that matters anymore is the numbers.

Gotta keep the investors happy.


When I was a manager, I cross trained my dept -- asked everyone what their favorite job was and made that their #1 priority.

Went on vacation -- my dept ran perfectly. Came back and my boss asked me: "Why do we need you?"

It's not even work. It's an honor and a pleasure to "work" with such a talented, dedicated and professional crew. I would do it for free: It's that much fun.

Union Proud, Union Strong

originally posted by: olaru12
It's not even work. It's an honor and a pleasure to "work" with such a talented, dedicated and professional crew. I would do it for free: It's that much fun.

Union Proud, Union Strong

Ahh Cabin. I’m not sure where I stand on this. I don’t work, all I do is command a crew and handle a boat.

You can stick your golden handshake and you can stick your silly rules and all the other sh!t that they teach the kids in school.

ACDC

🙄

a reply to: Cabin

originally posted by: Freeborn
a reply to: Cabin

All commendable.

But try telling that to the guy who has his head stuck in a bucket welding two pieces of steel together, or the person stuck on an assembly line doing a boring, monotonous job for 12 hours or the brickie on a building site in the freezing cold wind or any of a multitude of jobs people have to endure just to make ends meet.

As for non-paid overtime; you do realise that literally millions upon millions of people have to rely on paid overtime in order to put a roof over their families heads and feed, heat and clothe them?

All people want is a fair days pay for a fair days work.
Unfortunately this is becoming more and more of a rarity in these days of low wage economies, soaring cost of living and the amoral obsession with profit.

now we just have to apply that to capitol hill.
they should get paid per diem.
base pay divided by the days they show up.

make them punch a clock.

make a smart time card so only the one it is issued to can use it. biometrics,
2 weeks vacay and 5 sick days a year.

musk these SOB's.

let them pay for their own meals.

cut their office allowances in half.

work from home? do it on their own time


cost of living increase?

yeah same as we get.


it's called work for a reason.

don't like it. go dig up cobalt for green batteries.


medical ins? 20% co pay.

yearly reviews for infractions by bipartisan civi board.

or yelp score.

They should do it for Nix and hold down a seperate job type job lol.

Public servants aren’t real people.

a reply to: sarahvital

originally posted by: sarahvital

originally posted by: Freeborn
a reply to: Cabin

All commendable.

But try telling that to the guy who has his head stuck in a bucket welding two pieces of steel together, or the person stuck on an assembly line doing a boring, monotonous job for 12 hours or the brickie on a building site in the freezing cold wind or any of a multitude of jobs people have to endure just to make ends meet.

As for non-paid overtime; you do realise that literally millions upon millions of people have to rely on paid overtime in order to put a roof over their families heads and feed, heat and clothe them?

All people want is a fair days pay for a fair days work.
Unfortunately this is becoming more and more of a rarity in these days of low wage economies, soaring cost of living and the amoral obsession with profit.

now we just have to apply that to capitol hill.
they should get paid per diem.
base pay divided by the days they show up.

make them punch a clock.

make a smart time card so only the one it is issued to can use it. biometrics,
2 weeks vacay and 5 sick days a year.

musk these SOB's.

let them pay for their own meals.

cut their office allowances in half.

work from home? do it on their own time


cost of living increase?

yeah same as we get.


it's called work for a reason.

don't like it. go dig up cobalt for green batteries.


medical ins? 20% co pay.

yearly reviews for infractions by bipartisan civi board.

or yelp score.

Yes - they should receive exactly what we working class American Citizens get -
And no free benefits for life, even after they have retired.
Also Social Security, no private pension, and let them live on Medicare just like they are condemning us to, for the rest of their lives.
They wouldn't be able to survive!

Great things happen when people are happy!