Good Work Ethics

I read an article a few days ago where the op talked about the flexibility of working from home and due to the relaxed nature of things they were able to get 8 hours of work done in 30 minutes. The comments to this included people saying that this was fine because they were getting the job done that they were paid for. This kind of rationale seems completely wrong to me. Most jobs, even salaried, are paid by the hour. In fact, I would argue that any job that could be “done in 30 minutes” is most definitely an hourly job. Since you are being paid for, typically, 8 hours a day, you should be working for the benefit of the company for a full 8 hours a day. I realize that may not seem possible if the company does not provide you with enough work, but then I would argue that you are not being managed properly or you are not informing your manager of your availability, so they can provide you with more work. Some may argue that this just means you’ll be doing someone else’s work or you’ll be doing more than one job, but again, if you don’t work over your scheduled time for the day, how can this argument be true? And if that other person runs out of work, they should then be doing the same thing. A good manager will load up their people appropriately and a good employee will continue to find more work to improve the company (or their ability to do the job). After all, you work there. Wouldn’t you want the company to do well? Don’t confuse this logic with loyalty. Wanting the company you work for to do well has everything to do with keeping yourself employed and providing your employer with the means to pay you well. The worker who takes the mentality of “just doing the job” and “my work is complete, so now I can do nothing and still get paid” is asking to get laid off or replaced. The only place where the mentality of “just completing the job” actually applies is contract jobs that are not structured on a per hour basis. And the only people who can take advantage of this are those that run a business. So, if you are working for a company, don’t steal from them. If they are paying for 8 hours of work per day, do your best to produce at this level. Document your time. Know your self worth to the company. Be able to produce documentation demonstrating it. In the end, these things will pay off both for the company and more important than that, for yourself.