Thought I’d put this on here, see what the general consensus of new fangled words/meanings do.
I was reading something on linkedin the other day, someone looking for how to tell his juniors to “work hard” then people start weighing in with “working hard” is not on, sends the wrong message for example means, you have to stay late, come in early, work through lunch yarda yarda.
To me, there is nothing wrong with the term work hard, if you want to get somewhere in life, regardless of it is actually work, personal or other then you need to work for it.
Another one is “well being” I mean I’ve seen this one strapped to so many sayings now I’ve lost count…
Oh boy that’s a minefield of management practice theory. Everyone will see it differently but I do think in this case the guy questioning ‘hard’ has trouble reading beyond the literal meaning of words.
There is some truth in that working hard is a relic of manual work era. It focuses on the effort, rather than the outcome you’re wanting someone to get to or the ethic you want them to have (I.e. no cutting corners, sloppiness etc).
If you can get the work done properly in 2hrs over 5, there really is no need to work ‘hard’. Of course that’s difficult when employers are still insisting on 9-5 in an office.
What I find confusing is how we are now so much more productive with the improvement of tech, yet our workload has not reduced - dare I say it has increased. Yearrs ago economists were predicting we’d all be working 2 or 3 days a week max, thanks to the tech advancements.
As for wellbeing, my view is that it’s is a clever ploy from companies to absolve themselves of actual culpability to the detriment of employees’ mental health. It’s easy to tell people that eating well, exercise, mindfulness will help their mental health (see what a good employer I am!). What’s difficult is changing practices to make sure wankers in senior roles don’t exert undue pressure on people, without the right support, workload isn’t seen as something to be proud of and salaries are decent enough to allow people to live close to where they work and not have to commute 4hrs each day.
Having said that companies have started realising that people want more than just money, they want to have a quality of life and well being fits into that.
I’m 24 and quite tired of this notion that today’s youth are too delecate, indolent or any other stereotype you wish to throw out there.
I think generation studies are worthwhile and I invest some time in researching these, not least because everything I do is about data. It is important to note that there will be differences between how different generations will approach solving problems and also how they think and approach life - this will be governed as much by context of upbringing and because of inequalities in technological rollout and accessibility at all levels; local, regional, national, international as it is year of birth, so it is no longer acceptable to place reductive time boundaries around generations.
I am not denying that these differences cause conflict - I am generation Z and my ex girlfriend was a millenial. There were only a couple of years between us but our approach to life was different and there were lots of parts of this I found unappealing and was a problem that could be in part abstracted to generational differences. That’s not either of our fault but I didn’t want to work on making it compatible. Of course, in the workplace we all have to work on being compatible with each other.
The boss on linkedin needs to take a look at themself instead of their employees. I wouldn’t expect to ever have to tell someone to work harder if I’ve hired them. If output has subsequently dropped the work is no longer stimulating enough or the environment not productive enough. I go to work and do what I do to become the best version of myself I can be and to learn new skills. When I get to a point where people come to me with questions, I ask for a move or I change jobs. What my employer gets out of this is of absolutely no interest to me, so if anyone ever came up to me and asked me to “work harder” they would just get my resignation instead - that’s their look out not mine.
There have always been people who will work harder than others, and people who have been more career focused than others. But storming about like a tyrant demanding everyone “work harder” just gets you a demure workforce incapable of independent thought, a high staff turnover and a drop in output. The research on this has been done and is irefutable. You want the best? Foster a balanced environment, reevalutate exactly how you are measuring hard work, prioritise autonomy and internal mobility, realise that there’s a lot more than hard work at play for people’s success and try to tackle those issues, oh and look after your employees well being.
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying it is wrong per se to encourage better working using whatever language they want, like you say slow ride, I’m old school so see nothing wrong with saying to someone looking to get on in life to work hard for it…
Ask anyone who is under my charge, they are all happy as I really do look after them. But I don’t sit there calling them petals etc etc. As you mention, they work hard (without me having to tell them too) because of the mutual respect we have for each other…
In defence of this guy, I’ve only highlighted someones response which made me think, what he was out there for was not ways to tell them to work harder, but how to explain how he got where he was through hard work etc.
That whole working stupid hours for the hustle bullshit just needs to die. There is no need. If you expect it from your employees then you are under staffed. My view is you have bought x amount of hours of my labour, and that is what you get.
I lead a team and I choose to lead by example I work the hours I’m paid to and no more. I expect my team to do the same.
