The good folks over at 37Signals have just posted a great blog entry focused on the evils of building a team of work-a-holics. I’m sure a lot of us have been there, and I’m the first to put a stop to building a culture based on 14+hr days as the norm.
1. Workaholics may well say that they enjoy those 14 hour days week after week, but despite their claims, working like that all month, all the time is not going to be sustainable. When the burnout crash comes, and it will, it’ll hit all the harder and according to Murphy at the least convenient time.
2. People who are workaholics are likely to attempt to fix problems by throwing sheer hours at the problem. If you’re dealing with people working with anything creatively that’s a deadbeat way to get great work done.
3. People who always work late makes the people who don’t feel inadequate for merely working reasonable hours. That’ll lead to guilt, misery, and poor morale. Worse, it’ll lead to ass-in-seat mentality where people will “stay late” out of obligation, but not really be productive.
4. If all you do is work, your value judgements are unlikely to be sound. Making good calls on “is it worth it?” is absolutely critical to great work. Missing out on life in general to put more hours in at the office screams “misguided values”.
5. Working with interesting people is more interesting than just working. If all you got going for your life is work, work, work, the good team-gelling lunches are going to be some pretty boring straight shop talk. Yawn. I’d much rather hear more about your whittling project, your last trek, how your garden is doing, or when you’ll get your flight certificate.
In my mind, you really want your team to work normal, reasonable hours so they can go home and have lives. That balance is critical to being a well rounded human. Additionally, there are times when a little extra effort is needed and it’s those RARE times that you want your team to step up and genuinely put forth the extra effort since it is a rare thing. The best teams I’ve worked on are balanced ones.
What’s your take on work-a-holics?
2 comments ↓
Right on the money Andre. “Work-a-holism” is a disease. Like other diseases, its impact usually extends beyond the inflicted people – to include work products, other team members, etc.
totally agree RE: point 3. people who always stay late (either because they are self-important, have poor time management skills during the day, or just have nothing better to do) make other people who work normal shifts feel guilty for not putting in extra time. it gets to the point where it’s 6pm and you feel guilty for being the first one to leave cause no one else is budging. worst.
btw…new posts?? when??
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