One of the biggest signs of an insecure manager is watching the clock for their employees. These managers figure that their job is to get the proper amount of butt in seat time and the end result will magically be profit. This usually takes away any autonomy an employee has because they just have to show up and put their butt in the seat to get the proper amount of hours to make their manager happy.
It reduces people to replaceable cogs in a wheel and reduces their humanity.
> Those who have an opportunity to work in organizations that treat them like human beings to be protected rather than a resource to be exploited come home at the end of the day with an intense feeling of fulfillment and gratitude. This should be the rule for all of us. Leaders Eat Last
Worse yet, people often figure out how to game your system of hour measurement. I was listening to an unamed podcast where the host talked about being a data analyst and learning macros to generate his work. He’d get tasked with a new report that people figured took a week, but his automation meant it took a few minutes with the right data. Then he could sit back with the work done and look busy.
When the only incentive for getting work done quickly is more work employees won’t pass innovations like this along.
A better manager will look for what makes their employees excited and get them to do more of that so that they thrive.
A better manager will recognize that hours aren’t the same and not hoard all productivity to the company, they’ll let employees take some of those rewards too.
One method requires more of the manager than counting hours and since many mangers are terrible, is it any wonder that they don’t choose the hard road?
## I Shipped
Monday I recapped 6 months with the [Apple Magic Keyboard](https://curtismchale.ca/2020/11/16/6-months-with-the-magic-keyboard). The short version is that this is one of only 2 iPad cases I use now. The others are sitting an a drawer doing nothing.
Today I reviewed [The Organised Writer](https://curtismchale.ca/2020/11/20/the-organised-writer) which is all about organizing a writing business.