On Company Time

New jobs can be stressful.

Photo:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.

The actual interview was stress free because you had all the facts and figures about the company, including suggestions on how to turn it around, bearing in mind blocks of potential customers that have never been tapped, in advertising and future projections.

It’s January 2019 and your second day on the job, but still no action because you have five folders on your desk to introduce you to organisational culture.  One of them is from the staffing department with various headings, including discipline.

It doesn’t take that long to realise that certain employees do not adhere to the dress code, they announce that they will be on Oprah again, go to the salon on company time, regularly arrive late and have more than two smoking breaks.  Other workers just shrug when you ask them about these special employees.

They are protected workers.  That is the answer to your question.  The folders you are currently reading is the company’s way of saying stop.  Don’t even think about following their example, whether you are a manager, basement worker or open space worker.

They are protected by human nature.  Bosses feel comfortable around them.  They humour them, bring them the morning latte with the obligatory slice of gossip toast, walk their dogs, pick up kids from schools and warn bosses about ambitious co-workers who want to vacuum them out of the corner office.

Protected workers don’t do much because they are in bosses’ offices most of the time, but their names are on the wall as Employee of the Month/Year.  They are not regarded as a problem.  They are part of company culture like the annual report and front desk receptionist.

They are a war front with no solution, so organisations turn a blind eye.  They spend good money taking employees to ‘boost the morale’ boot camps, but protected workers are never on the agenda. Online business and staff development coaches also avoid the problem.    

Maybe they are not.  The problem is with managers that provide fertile ground for certain employees to be exempt from staffing and government polices that encourage happy workplaces, fair promotion and remuneration based on output. 

Protected workers are a rude reminder that the office, or any kind of work space is an extension of home.  Bosses need office family members to worship them and protected workers have a lot to gain by being the teacher’s pet.
By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.