
Things Bosses Wish They Could Tell Employees - ColinWright
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121205140005-20017018-10-things-bosses-wish-they-could-tell-employees
======
jalanco
Here are some things that I wish I could have shared with some of my people in
the past:

1\. I really cannot explain why there seems to be no long-term direction, and
I'm leading you and the rest of the team on completely unrelated initiatives
every single quarter. But I suspect it's related to the earnings calls.

2\. I'm not thrilled either that there is no money this year for any office's
annual Christmas party, despite the fact that the executive team just received
huge bonuses.

3\. Yes, it makes no sense that a company this small actually owns a private
jet.

4\. There's a very strong likelihood that in two weeks the company will
announce an across-the-board 50% paycut for all employees for a period of four
weeks, just so the company can meet some kind of payroll. And you and many,
many others will of course resign. I, on the other hand, like a moron, will
not resign.

5\. You're absolutely correct. The CEO is quite possibly insane.

~~~
eclipticplane
#4 ... what. I take it that goes hand in hand with #5.

------
JacobAldridge
Best thing I ever saw a boss actually tell their employees was the budget
breakdown for the coming year (CEO speaking to all 30 staff, so obviously not
a publicly listed company).

Staff saw themselves charging out $100/hour and being paid $40/hour, and felt
they were being ripped off by the owners. First item on the budget was a rent
bill of almost a million dollars, secured personally by the owners.

Changed the whole money dynamic in the business, as suddenly everyone
understood that the cost of running a business was more than salaries and the
occasional photocopier repair.

~~~
rgbrenner
What? $1m for 30 workers?

180sq ft per worker (average) * 30 = 5400sq ft. so $185.19/sq ft

Please tell me that either: it was used for more than just office space (so it
was like 50,000sqft), or that it was plated in gold. Because if this was
normal 5400sqft office space, then I'm pretty sure he lied.

For comparison, I'm in Denver. Office space averages $20/sqft[0].

Edit: found this article: 17 most expensive places to rent office space[1].
For $185/sqft, you would have to be in the most expensive place in nearly the
most expensive building in the US.

[0] [http://www.metrodenver.org/metro-denver-economy/monthly-
summ...](http://www.metrodenver.org/metro-denver-economy/monthly-summary/2012)

[1] [http://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-places-for-
off...](http://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-places-for-office-space-
america-2011-9?op=1)

~~~
JacobAldridge
I rounded some of the figures, so for the sake of accuracy:

[1] They had 32 staff, and were planning to add 5-6 more and have the ability
to add 10-12 more if they wanted

[2] It was a fairly nice office - not gold plated, just really spacious
(multiple meeting spaces, kitchen, showers, library etc)

[3] The rent was closer to $850Kpa than $1M - again, rounding

[4] They signed their lease in the middle of a commercial property drought

Factor those in with your average sq ft per worker and I think it gets closer
to $100/sq ft. I couldn't tell you the actual square footage - you may be
right that they were paying above the odds; she (CEO was a woman) would argue
that it was worth it for the location, the cultural elements of spacious
working conditions, and the capacity for future growth.

[Edit: I also changed the charge out rates and salaries, to de-identify the
client and because they were beside the point of the story.]

------
btilly
The micromanaging comment near the end demonstrates that he is, for all he
thinks otherwise, at best a mediocre boss. Why? Well average bosses try to
bring their worst performers up to par. Great bosses try to improve their best
performers to be even better.

It turns out that, for effort put into someone, you can get about the same
percentage improvement. But 10% more of a star results in a superstar. 10%
more of crap is still not good.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Hm. For sales anyway. For the assembly line, the weakest link is absolutely
the critical point to address. Etc.

~~~
btilly
Absolutely true, it depends on your circumstances.

However take something that sounds like a step in an assembly line. Data
entry. One of the examples in _First, Break All The Rules_ was a data entry
group that took the woman who had the highest data entry speed (and also
significantly lower error rates) and worked with her to see if they could do
anything to improve her work, or to replicate her abilities.

In the end she sped up considerably to what they would have thought previously
to be an utterly impossible speed, with even lower error rates, and several
other people on her unit wound up with data entry rates that exceeded her
initial already stellar levels.

The fact that a job is simple and boring does not mean that it can't be
improved. And the people who both have the most potential to be improved, or
to improve it are generally the people who already are best at it.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
True, but still not an assembly line. That example was piecework, which has
its own pattern.

------
umjames
I wish there was an opposite post entitled "Things Employees Wish They Could
Tell Bosses," but it would probably just be misconstrued as whining.

Sometimes, whining is a good thing. It brings real, honest feelings to the
surface. Of course, as an employee, if you don't feel like you're being
listened to, you tend to stop volunteering ideas.

~~~
zem
to be fair, a lot of this post came across as whining too.

~~~
michaelochurch
People who accuse others of "whining" are usually doing the same. They're
expressing indignation at the possibility that the other side might have
standing in some kind of negotiation.

The technique is to divert attention away from _what_ is being said by
complaining about _how_ it is being said.

------
fleitz
Should be retitled "Things Bosses wish their employees believed about them".

I'm glad to work at a place where these issues are moot, but the typical
company seems to operate under the mantra: "The floggings will continue until
morale improves". Oddly, morale never improves.

I have a feeling that if bosses acted in a way that made them like them that
the rest of the issues would go away.

Government had to instill the productivity benefits of 40 hour work weeks in
law before companies would believe it. Most their businesses are failing
because of their own policies and refusal to adopt new methods that would
solve their problems, instead they keep doing the same thing, and getting the
same result. (And then blame their employees for that result)

~~~
spc476
No, the government didn't have to force the 40 hour work week, as business, in
particular, Henry Ford, found the benefits through studies he conducted at his
factories. He found that productivity dropped after 40 hours of work per week,
8 hour per day.

Henry Ford also found that his labor expenses dropped (specifically, training
costs) when he raised the typical wages to twice the industry average (to a
whole $5/day!). He paid his employees twice the going rate, and worked them
half as hard in order to make more profit. The greedy bastard!

(<http://www.worklessparty.org/timework/ford.htm>)

~~~
Jtsummers
A single instance doesn't demonstrate an industry trend. At the time the US
made those labor laws what was the trend in the industry?

If anything, this demonstrates the stubbornness of many businesses. Despite
seeing ample evidence of success by a peer they tend to ignore it and continue
the old ways.

~~~
yitchelle
True that a single instance doesn't demonstrate an industry trend, much less a
trend in general. However, Henry Ford did have thousands of employees, and
does provide some indication to human motivation. However, that was in the
early 1900s in the US. Human motivational factors in the early 2000s may be
quite that different.

------
M8R-fhlcjm
The article missed:

I found an eager soul in a foreign country with similar skills for less than
half your salary.

~~~
mhewett
And: when I walk down the aisle and hear browsers clicking as I approach, I DO
know you were on Facebook.

~~~
umjames
What if I was on GitHub, looking at the kind of software the boss doesn't see
the importance in using/writing?

Sometimes, "goofing off" is actually your employee preparing for a future job
at a different company. Maybe even his/her own.

------
CapitalistCartr
I've worked at several companies that went under; each because of internal
mis-management. Even in the current economy, its been clearly poor decision-
making.

At every company, the company culture came from, and reflected, the top. If
you don't like the company, look in the mirror. Actually, that's what the
company is for the execs, a mirror.

------
rdtsc
> You don’t have to lower your voice and pretend to be working really hard
> when I walk by.

Not quite. There is a second order effect here and that is letting others know
that the boss knows that goofing off is ok sometimes.

That's a very important point. The boss might personally agree and not care
(as long as work is being done), but they might not want to show or make that
explicit to others that they allow that. So if you goof off in an obvious way
in front of others and the boss is present he will be forced act to tell you
to stop it or worse he'll make a new company policy about goofing so as not to
seem like he is a bad boss how lets others waste time.

Always be very careful about putting the management on the spot and forcing
them to act. That is how really thick rule and guide books end up creating.

------
Yhippa
I feel like in many companies that I've worked for that I'm sure these are the
cases but the sentiments never trickle down to me and therefore I take them as
myths. I know it would be awesome to receive market pay, a great work
environment, and be respected but I understand that there's a business to be
run and that it's difficult to juggle all of those balls at the same time.

This leads me to another question regarding market pay: if an employer wants
to pay you market pay and it's currently lagging is it bad practice to be
proactive about compensation increases? Or is it a smarter business decision
to milk the arbitrage for all it's worth? I understand that this is
potentially a bad idea--once the increase is in effect then it's generally
permanent. Pay rarely is elastic in the opposite direction.

~~~
mseebach
The important thing to keep in mind is that you're not there to do you boss a
favour and he's not giving you a job to do you a favour (that doesn't mean you
can't, or shouldn't, be nice to each other, and do each other favours - but
it's more of a long-term view of the situation).

Market pay is whatever you can make someone pay you. If your current employer
can't pay you more, either you're not producing enough value, or the value
you're producing is being inequitably shared with others in the organisation.
Very often in engineer-driven, but non-engineer-led business, this could mean
a too big or over-paid sales force. Both is a sign of inefficiency.

Chances are if you are on good terms with your boss, you can explain this to
them. If they still can't give you a raise, explain that the situation compels
you to dip your feet in the water (ideally, you've already done this as the
conversation has the potential to sour the relationship with your boss).

As always, pull a patio11 and make sure you can articulate the value you're
adding in terms of the money you bring in - this always comes easy to sales
people (because, well, it is easy - they physically bring the cheques into the
building). You've never just refactored component X. You've refactored
component X which allowed your team to deliver high-value feature Y to the
client, which you believe was brought up as a deciding factor in the contract
renegotiations.

~~~
lessnonymous
DON'T EVER tell your boss you're compelled to dip your feet in the water.

1\. If you ask us for a payrise, we have to weigh the cost of the payrise vs
the risk you WILL leave to get one somewhere else. We KNOW that if we turn you
down, there's a chance you're going to be looking elsewhere.

2\. By telling us you're dipping your foot, you've essentially given your
notice. You just haven't told us when you're leaving. As of right now, you're
not going to get the same level of attention and I'm looking for your
replacement.

2b. If you don't tell us you're dipping your foot in the water, but we can't
give you a pay rise, you'll get more attention and you'll get anything else we
can possibly give you. We might give you a nicer desk, or replace your PC
before anyone else's, or take you out for coffee more often.

~~~
ricardobeat
Buying a new desk/computer or increasing amenities is a short-term solution.
He will still be looking for the better salary.

~~~
hfsktr
Depending on the situation that is probably ok with some people. I think a lot
of it would come down to quite a few variables.

I can't think of any clear examples but I'm sure there are cases to be made.

------
mikeash
Why would a boss wish they could tell employees this stuff instead of just
_actually telling_ them?

~~~
michaelochurch
Managerial mystique, or the art of making decisions without explaining them,
because the lack of explanation projects authority.

Good boss: "I need you to be in at 9:00 because, even though there's no need
for you to work specific hours, this office environment is ridiculous and
gossipy and people will think less of our team if people come in later, and
that means we have less autonomy in hiring. I'd be happy to let you work on
whatever you want from 9 to 11, but I really need you to be in the door at
9:00, and if you can't do that, then we'll have to discuss moving you to
another team."

Typical management theory says that this is bad because you're making what you
have the authority to demand a negotiation instead, so more common is this...

Asshole manager: walks over to your desk. "I need you to be in at 9." Walks
away.

~~~
niels_olson
I have had to be in by 4:30 am literally because the ship was sailing. I
worked for a Marine colonel who told me to come in whenever I wanted so long
as I got to meetings and did the work. 10 years later I still run into people
who ask me if I hated working for him as much as they did. I have had
mandatory work hours that I had to log (no more than 80 hours a week). I have
had a job that was embarrassingly easy and all I had to do was but my meetings
on a group calendar (Outlook ruined the experience).

This things don't matter. What you are doing with your life matters. Are you
still trying to change the world?

------
stox
Looks like LinkedIn is down at the moment.

------
geon
Maybe I'm a really bad boss, or just stupid... But why _can't_ he tell this to
his employees?

------
antihero
Ah, some propaganda to start the morning.

------
neilk
"Don't click on linkbait."

