I saw an interesting post from my Twitter friend Alan Bleiweiss today. He recently became a big-wig at Click2Rank and wanted to implement a policy that would encourage people to get back home at a reasonable hour. He tweeted:
I really strive to foster a balanced life in my team. It’s why they’re no longer allowed to work past 7PM.
I am 100% on board with the idea of a life/work balance… for me.
My only concern is that everyone is different right?
It’s like working someplace that offers free coffee to employees - well so what, I don’t drink coffee, I drink a soda every morning. I’ve seen some workplaces offer a free massage - again, I don’t really want anyone touching me like that at work - so that doesn’t work for me.
What about the person who honestly loves their job. The idea of doing their work is what drives them out of bed every morning. They can’t wait to get to their desk. They love their customers! Why are you limiting them?
Are you limiting them because you don’t feel the same way? Because you need more “downtime” to recharge your batteries? Why not let people decide for themselves what that balance is?
I think for the vast majority of people, pushing them towards more time away from work is the right thing. I just don’t think you can do it across the board with no exceptions.
What do you think?
I saw a link to a News & Observer article in my Twitter stream this evening from Allison Campbell.
It was pointing to a story written by Andrew Kenney, a staff writer for the News & Observer in Raleigh, NC. What caught Allison’s eye was the opening line.
The most interesting part of the “… Triangle code monkeys…” line is, to us in the tech industry, we use it in a semi-disparaging way, so for someone who couldn’t even figure out how to add a hyperlink to the company name in the second paragraph, it’s border-line offensive.
How would Andy Kenney feel if someone wrote a story about him, and opened it like this:
Andy Kenney, a word monkey at the News & Observer, is trying to understand the new landscape for journalists.
I’m guessing he wouldn’t appreciate it.
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Finn after mass
Tonight I took a quick peak at the ads on Craigslist to see if there was anything interesting out there.
I always take a look at the computer gigs and web jobs to see if there is anyone looking for some help.
In the past I’ve found some really cool people that way. A couple months ago, I ended up doing a gratis site for Johanna Greeson as she was finishing up her doctorate.
Over the past year I’ve noticed a couple things about Craigslist.
How many ads for a full blown web presence that will probably take 100 man-hours to complete end with the phrase “… looking for a student who would like to add this to their portfolio”? Most of them.
Then the pay scale offered either says “negotiable” or “$8/hr”. Really, is that how much you value your entire web presence?
As far as scammers, I saw this ad for a Social Media Website:
Now looking for people that understand how social networking websites operate. New company that is poised to take the place of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter has formed and needs new people to join as members. Don’t miss out on your piece of this company. Revenue sharing, bonuses, and commissions… 336-790-7148
Notice the omission of the word salary? Yeah, so did I. I decided to Google the phone number listed, shocker, more scams attached to 336-790-7148.
I now believe Seth Godin is right when he says Craigslist would be better if it charged $1.