Yay for Infoscions! Now they can wear lungi to office

[vigilante]

^That was my first company. They were so cool back then. We used to eat vada pav and special tea made by the old couple all the time. its a shame.

That particular thing mentioned happened many years back and didn't last long . Now it's actual work hours which calculate the floor time based on swipe records. Monthly average has to be 8 hrs (weekly at least 35) and you need to be present for at least some time in both halves for attendance.

 

[asingh]

stretching and goofing off are signs of mismanagement of work. I know for a fact that managers in service based companies spend too much time working on excel and analyzing stats. my boss at previous company used to say "I don't have time to track you people, it is expected that you manage your own time and deliver."
introducing a card swipe at the gates for people who go out to tea&smoke isn't going to improve productivity. it will only stop people going out.

Stretching probably, but not working, and idling time, how is that mismanagement..? Can you suggest me a better managerial practice around this..?? Having interim milestones and review calls does not mitigate this stigma. Card swipe is also used to monitor security and intruders from coming in. Specially in companies where client confidential data is intact. Some SLA's demand this. You cannot deny that there are rogue employees in all firms which shirk from work and try to surf the web and check out FB or net-shop. The open and random culture within companies also works, but people need to be responsible. It is from within. Usually stringent practices and norms are setup in companies, when people abuse and make malpractices a generic occurrence. But how to solve all this..??? That is the question.

 

[booo]

Card swipe is also used to monitor security and intruders from coming in.

card swipe to restrict access is one thing and making a report to ensure the employee spent 8.45 hours during day time is another. Wether the employee is working or not is not the job of hr. its the responsibility of the immediate manager. thats why we have a reporting manager and appraisal system. if manager doesnt know what his reportee is doing, then there is a problem with the manager.

But how to solve all this..??? That is the question.

its pretty easy actually, manager should take care of this rather than the hr. A good manager will create a great team and a bad manager will face attrition.

 

[asingh]

card swipe to restrict access is one thing and making a report to ensure the employee spent 8.45 hours during day time is another. Wether the employee is working or not is not the job of hr. its the responsibility of the immediate manager. thats why we have a reporting manager and appraisal system. if manager doesnt know what his reportee is doing, then there is a problem with the manager.

its pretty easy actually, manager should take care of this rather than the hr. A good manager will create a great team and a bad manager will face attrition.

Where did HR come into all this. It is a purely an operations mechanism..? How is a manager supposed to know each and every reportee is doing all day. That is so difficult to track. People are really difficult to motivate for work. Basically, what keeps them going is: not to get fired. And maybe foresight for a promotion. It is rare to see people working passionately and with utmost zeal. When companies see a detrimental trend, they put lanyards around it.

 

[booo]

How is a manager supposed to know each and every reportee is doing all day. That is so difficult to track.

Thats the job of the manager/leads. when you say reportee, they are supposed to report to the manager aint it? if an engineer is unable to complete his job or put 100% due to some problem its the manager who takes care of the problem.
Let me put it this way, during appraisal, if the engineer has to explain everything he did during the year to his manager then the manager is not doing a good job.

In service based companies, you get a mailer from HR whenever a guy is not fulfilling 8.5hrs a day. IT comapanies are not factories. people should keep that in mind.

 

[avi]

Basically, what keeps them going is: not to get fired.

That sounds like a horrible place to work

 

[asingh]

Thats the job of the manager/leads. when you say reportee, they are supposed to report to the manager aint it? if an engineer is unable to complete his job or put 100% due to some problem its the manager who takes care of the problem.
Let me put it this way, during appraisal, if the engineer has to explain everything he did during the year to his manager then the manager is not doing a good job.

Of course DRs will report to their manager..! Why would you even ask that, or question me. That is exactly why appraisal and 1-on-1 mechanisms are put in place. So the DR has a voice in the system and can ascertain and officially set in stone, what all he did during a certain span of time (or period). I see this as no delta upon the managers part, if he has to be enlightened upon the wellness and activities of various people/groups under him. At times managers keep a holistic view on the people under him, and there are options in the review cycles(s) to get a deeper drill down and more transparent insight. A promotion (or recognition of meritorious behavior) is just as much in the hands of the certain individual as compared to the onus which a manager should fulfill. It is archaic and old-school to imagine that managers will "take care of the problem". That is not a solution oriented approach, and frankly speaking: largely frowned upon these days. Hand holding and mollycoddling are passe. Same goes with detrimental and rudimentary practices of shunning from work and wasting time. That is why many companies put in certain time keeping mechanisms. They are stringent and extremely cell-like in nature, but tabs have to be kept. No organization is willing to compensate professionals so they can wile away time or twiddle their thumbs on FB pages. As I mentioned above, it takes a lot of cultural and proactive ideology to actually profuse and flourish a work-environment which is totally independent and debt-free from managerial oversight. That is why a lot of firms are moving to the matrix structure vs. the standard top-down or triangle hierarchy which is so prevalent. People work independently and are prime sighted to the project, its deliverables, and its stake holders rather than a direct project manager or governing individual. Basically a flat structure. There is no overarching boss.

In service based companies, you get a mailer from HR whenever a guy is not fulfilling 8.5hrs a day. IT comapanies are not factories. people should keep that in mind.

They are factories. That is about it. Like it or leave it. Change jobs or stay put...! (Not saying this to you, but to your reply). It is a brown collar job with a white lining. I guess...!


@avi : Sorry am not quoting you.

Employee engagement and attraction are huge metrics of research these days. It is not surprising, when a lot of people walk into the company door every morning, they carry a boat-load of spite on their shoulders. Humans will always crib, it is our basic nature. A horrible place to work, sadly these days, is a normal place to work. Of course there are great companies out there, but one cannot get away with not-doing work and goofing off. When this reprimand is pushed down ones throat, we get discontentment and anti-establishment behavior coupled with a payment every 30 days...! What more should one want..? Endless loop...!

 

[booo]

^you are supporting an anti-pattern..

This quote from google puts it eloquently...."That means we’re harnessing energy rather than coaxing it out of people," says Setty. But he also admits, "in the absence of that motivation, we’d be playing defense and worrying about people taking advantage of all this freedom."

"One of the tenets we strongly believe in," says Setty, "is if you give people freedom, they will amaze you." Setty admits that this is quite a progressive idea—allowing employees greater discretion on work hours and when it’s time to go to the gym, play volleyball, or get a massage. (Immediately following our 2 p.m. meeting, Chade-Meng Tan excused himself to take a shower.) But Google also is highly selective in its hiring, and purposely recruits ambitious people with proven track records of high achievement. "That means we’re harnessing energy rather than coaxing it out of people," says Setty. But he also admits, "in the absence of that motivation, we’d be playing defense and worrying about people taking advantage of all this freedom."

But, at Google, all that autonomy comes with true accountability and employees routinely exceed management’s expectations for producing exceptional work.

Source: http://www.fastcompany.com/3007268/...e-deliberately-designs-workplace-satisfaction

Few other quotes from other site:
2. Positive Work Environment – An upbeat workplace is a necessity. If the workspace isn’t positive, you can’t expect the workers to be. Encouraging one another, avoiding micromanagement, giving positive feedback and ensuring criticism is constructive are all ways to keep the environment a place where employees can do more than survive – they can thrive!

4. Workforce Engagement – Employees that don’t find their work interesting or don’t feel they are contributing to the mission of the firm will not be engaged. For employees to be satisfied, they must feel like they are part of something bigger than just what their individual work tasks are. Include staffers in goal setting and how they fit in the corporation fabric to increase engagement and satisfaction.

Source: http://www.hrvoice.org/7-simple-ways-to-increase-employee-satisfaction/

 

[Lord Nemesis]

^^ The problem with your arguments is that motivation to work starts with the nature of the work. Our services sector is most often struck with mundane, repetitive and uninteresting work and hardly gives motivation to anybody. An M.Tech classmate of mine joined TCS out of college and was tasked with filling data in spreadsheets for close to one year before he started looking out. How is somebody supposed to get motivated by that kind of work. People who think they are worth more start looking out for other opportunities. Then there is also the category who is satisfied getting a pay packet while doing light work or whiling away time on facebook. That category loves to end up in such companies and let me assure that even God cannot motivate them to work regardless of the project. They would rather be on bench than work on a project. People who really want to have their skills challenged rarely get such opportunities in the services sector.

All that you mentioned fits in well with product companies and people who really want to work on something good and can be motivated to work. An ex-colleague who moved to MS sometime back told me how they assigned enough work to make him work 14 hours/day. It was challenging and interesting work, so he used to lose track of time while working to the point that his wife started becoming a nuisance about him engrossed in work too much time. She even wanted him to leave MS.

Even the places that I worked were of the same type. When I entered the industry fresh out of college, the first thing that I worked on was implementing a major and complex functionality in a software product. It was challenging work after looking at my skills and enthusiasm, my superiors literally gave me free reign to improve the code in any sub system of the product. That kind of freedom and work culture is not found everywhere.

 

[asingh]

^you are supporting an anti-pattern..

What you mean by anti-pattern..? That the orthodox hierarchical approach is better..? I did not get what you are saying..? Once you clarify this, I can reply in context to what all you quoted...!

 

[manoja2k]

Over several years in experience in IT industry, both in India and abroad is that we (Indians) have very bad work ethics comparable to developed nations. We don't have discipline in our professional life. So managers all over the world try to go through crude methods in order to extract work from people of Indian sub-continent.

One personal experience to highlight. In a big project in USA (year 2000-01) I was working in a team of 60 people out of which there were 50 Indians and rest Americans. Work was similar for everybody. But Americans were diligent in their work as well as in their work timing. 8hrs per day - not more not less. Most of the Indians used to clock OTs every day. Do you know what they did - browse internet, sit in Mac and BergerKing near by and gossip. Some of them used to go back home (around 40 to 60 miles away) to do some private chores and then come back in the evening for sleeping over night (so that they can charge OT). Everything was going on trust, until an American boss came in and tried to correct this group by various restrictions etc. Did not succeed and the project went for a loss and was dismantled ultimately.

Here is a small quote from him, told to the whole group, while disconnecting internet from our machines "I can never dream of taking away internet browsing right from a person, as I feel that it is part of his/her professional right. However I find no other way to make you work on your machines. I am very sorry that I had to behave like a dictator from dark ages"

In India, as a manager I am facing this day in day out. People have the habit of finding innovative methods of bypassing the rules and cheating at work. So guys do understand the perspective of the other side. Yes it is true that there are people who we know are dedicated, and are not strictly monitored but most (esp. guys within 3 years of experience) tend to find ways to break the rules.
My experience - we need to find out ways to improve productivity of the person no matter what, even if it needs restricting his/her freedom. To tell you the truth it works for sometime till they find a way to bypass it.

Can anyone give me a better suggestion which has not been tried that increases productivity w/o restricting their freedom? Don't suggest things like motivating people at work or providing interesting tasks. It is not always possible to provide the so called 'interesting work', so people have to either live with it or leave the job. But they don't do that and instead prefer sucking the organization dry. Also after sending some of them for all motivational programs and motivational work cycles, one day they come and tender their resignation for a better job offer.

 

[avi]

Can anyone give me a better suggestion which has not been tried that increases productivity w/o restricting their freedom?

Hire people who want to work and find the work interesting. and you can't really blame if you have shitty work.

But... If you have restrictions, shitty work and stuff, you would never get such people.

Many great coders I have known, whom I find very professional and get the job done, would never want to work where their freedom is restricted

 

[booo]

Need to show the members that they can advance in their career path. for most of the people thats the only motivation. They want to get good appraisals and at the same time learn something new.

On the other hand the negative feedback loop would be to restrict and then ask for more and more reports about work. making their life hell makes them more disgruntled. being truthful about the project timeframe is also important. when you lie during the communication of deadlines, people also wont feel responsible for their work.

being all that said, there is no single formula to be frank :|