October 16, 2009 at pmBusiness in the style of Habr - 3. Criticism of pure reason
In the comments to my article “Business in the style of Habr. Beginning. ” Exel haberdasher raised a question about the ROWE system. As far as I know, one of the concepts of this system is the free work schedule of all employees of the company. Like, there is no need here to breed despotism and force everyone to work from 9 to 18 hours. Maybe a person has a peak of creative activity at 23 hours, so let him come to work at 23 hours, and his work should be evaluated based on the results of his work, and not on the number of hours spent in the office.
To me, as the head of the company, these purely theoretical conclusions seem to be inapplicable in practice. More precisely, completely inapplicable. This is worth doing if you need to quickly merge the company and close as soon as possible. I see no other reason to introduce such a system of work. At least at the present stage of technological progress, until people communicate mentally at a distance. Under such a system, a company can work which, by the nature of its activity, does not communicate with customers, partners, or suppliers. A sort of spherical horse in a vacuum. Let's take it in order.
I’ll make a reservation right away, I mean it’s a free work schedule, that is, the employee decides when to work based on his personal desires, and not guided by the interests of companies, because in the future we will see that if he is guided by the interests of the company, he will have to work on schedule from 9 to 18 (plus minus an hour). We do not consider exceptions here when a company operates in a foreign time zone.
The impossibility of working on a free schedule of production enterprises is obvious. For the manufacture of a double-glazed window, for example, at least two people are required, both must work simultaneously at an agreed time, regardless of each other’s desires and “creative hours”. The same is in construction. If the driver of the cement truck decides that there are fewer traffic jams in the city in the evening and leaves for work after 21 hours, and the bricklayer prefers to work in the morning in the cold, the construction, in my opinion, will not be completed soon.
Perhaps it is possible to implement the principle under consideration in the service sector? Would you go to a grocery store that doesn’t work according to any schedule, but rather, say, at the request of the seller? Today he slept, opened a store at 9, tomorrow he decided to go to the dacha in the morning and the store earned from 19 hours. How long will it last?
Any company introducing a free work schedule for all employees, in the first place, risks being left without work. A sensible potential customer, after reading the advertisement, decides to call the company during working hours (it just so happened that everyone once agreed to work from 9 to 18, or so). If you do not pick up the phone at this time, whether he vryat guesses to call back at 23 o’clock. Even if you put an answering machine with the text “We have a free schedule, call me periodically!”, This will not force him to frantically dial your phone number in order to catch the creative moment of your employees. Most likely, he will find a more adequate firm. Suppliers will not be delighted with the offer to bring you material closer to 3 o’clock at night. In just a couple of days, you simply will not have anyone to work with.
It turns out that at a strictly defined time, specialists who work with customers, suppliers, banks, technical specialists (not always the customer service manager can even understand, and not just solve the customer’s problem) should work, that is, the entire staff of the company, which means along with them, and the entire leadership, for somehow leading the absent employees is not handy. And employees should start working exactly at 9 o’clock (or at least become available for communications and have access to all necessary information), because at 9.01 the “Most Important Customer” can already call and everyone should be ready for this. This is not the despotism of the authorities. In another way, just do not survive. The company should work in the first place, as it is convenient for its partners, customers, and suppliers. So that all of them can solve their problems at a convenient time for them. Only then does the company have a chance to become successful. And the fact that after lunch the leading specialist Seryogu usually tends to sleep does anyone really care about anyone other than the leading specialist Seryoga.
PS Of course, there are employees whose work is individual, has a clear deadline and for their successful completion does not require communication with the outside world. For example, postmen in our Delivery Service have 3 days to distribute utility bills to mailboxes on their site. The company, in principle, does not care whether the postman will deliver them from 9 to 18 or from 18 to 9 (but we require that each postman be available for communication during working hours to resolve current issues). I just want to draw attention to the fact that you can’t transfer the whole company to a free work schedule, as some “business consultants” offer. If you decide to start your own business, remember this.
To me, as the head of the company, these purely theoretical conclusions seem to be inapplicable in practice. More precisely, completely inapplicable. This is worth doing if you need to quickly merge the company and close as soon as possible. I see no other reason to introduce such a system of work. At least at the present stage of technological progress, until people communicate mentally at a distance. Under such a system, a company can work which, by the nature of its activity, does not communicate with customers, partners, or suppliers. A sort of spherical horse in a vacuum. Let's take it in order.
I’ll make a reservation right away, I mean it’s a free work schedule, that is, the employee decides when to work based on his personal desires, and not guided by the interests of companies, because in the future we will see that if he is guided by the interests of the company, he will have to work on schedule from 9 to 18 (plus minus an hour). We do not consider exceptions here when a company operates in a foreign time zone.
The impossibility of working on a free schedule of production enterprises is obvious. For the manufacture of a double-glazed window, for example, at least two people are required, both must work simultaneously at an agreed time, regardless of each other’s desires and “creative hours”. The same is in construction. If the driver of the cement truck decides that there are fewer traffic jams in the city in the evening and leaves for work after 21 hours, and the bricklayer prefers to work in the morning in the cold, the construction, in my opinion, will not be completed soon.
Perhaps it is possible to implement the principle under consideration in the service sector? Would you go to a grocery store that doesn’t work according to any schedule, but rather, say, at the request of the seller? Today he slept, opened a store at 9, tomorrow he decided to go to the dacha in the morning and the store earned from 19 hours. How long will it last?
Any company introducing a free work schedule for all employees, in the first place, risks being left without work. A sensible potential customer, after reading the advertisement, decides to call the company during working hours (it just so happened that everyone once agreed to work from 9 to 18, or so). If you do not pick up the phone at this time, whether he vryat guesses to call back at 23 o’clock. Even if you put an answering machine with the text “We have a free schedule, call me periodically!”, This will not force him to frantically dial your phone number in order to catch the creative moment of your employees. Most likely, he will find a more adequate firm. Suppliers will not be delighted with the offer to bring you material closer to 3 o’clock at night. In just a couple of days, you simply will not have anyone to work with.
It turns out that at a strictly defined time, specialists who work with customers, suppliers, banks, technical specialists (not always the customer service manager can even understand, and not just solve the customer’s problem) should work, that is, the entire staff of the company, which means along with them, and the entire leadership, for somehow leading the absent employees is not handy. And employees should start working exactly at 9 o’clock (or at least become available for communications and have access to all necessary information), because at 9.01 the “Most Important Customer” can already call and everyone should be ready for this. This is not the despotism of the authorities. In another way, just do not survive. The company should work in the first place, as it is convenient for its partners, customers, and suppliers. So that all of them can solve their problems at a convenient time for them. Only then does the company have a chance to become successful. And the fact that after lunch the leading specialist Seryogu usually tends to sleep does anyone really care about anyone other than the leading specialist Seryoga.
PS Of course, there are employees whose work is individual, has a clear deadline and for their successful completion does not require communication with the outside world. For example, postmen in our Delivery Service have 3 days to distribute utility bills to mailboxes on their site. The company, in principle, does not care whether the postman will deliver them from 9 to 18 or from 18 to 9 (but we require that each postman be available for communication during working hours to resolve current issues). I just want to draw attention to the fact that you can’t transfer the whole company to a free work schedule, as some “business consultants” offer. If you decide to start your own business, remember this.