That’s your problem…assuming anyone is getting paid for all this overtime. In these kinds of situations, no one is getting paid. It’s all about proving what a good “team player” you are. It’s stupid, because it has f*ck all with productivity.
Wish I lived in a country with decent labor laws!
That would be highly illegal in my country. And also just not done in my current multinational company.
I really could not disagree more.
Hiring and keeping good talent is not just luck, be that a reupholster, an athlete, a physician, an actor, a salesperson, or an engineer. Analyzing costs, evaluating the quality of the work, appreciating how much production of what quality is reasonable to expect over what period of time, organizing workflow … none of that requires the specific skill of those being managed.
My office manager started as a receptionist in our office decades ago. She was a good receptionist. Now she manages our two sites within a larger organization. She hires nurses, medical aides, and receptionists. She manages the schedules and work flows for them all and a team of five doctors. She deals with accounting, with purchasing, and with patient satisfaction. She is an excellent manager of the team. She is not any of those other jobs and our best hardest working nurse would be an awful manager.
I do, but that’s based on my very anecdotal and limited experience.
I’m currently at a place that is much more “balanced.” Work gets done and done well, but it is at a more stately and sedate pace. That’s what I’ve observed as well when I have worked with other companies that similar cultures. To be clear, I like working where I’m working now; it has a good culture and atmosphere.
Still, the job that I’d still count as my favorite job ever was pretty much the opposite. We regularly worked evenings and weekends. (There was no overtime. There, theoretically was comp time - but no one was taking it.) It was one of those places where they fed us and entertained us so that we wouldn’t have to leave and could just keep on working. And the energy in the place was amazing and the company was able to accomplish much more, much faster than my current employer could do.
To me, neither place’s culture was objectively better or worse. But subjectively, some people may prefer one or the other and management/leadership needs to figure out what it wants and aim in that direction.
So’s my disagreement.
Well, that and the science.
But that’s secondary to my experience. My current place of work is the most dynamic (and financially successful) place I’ve ever worked, waaay more than the early tech startups with the pool tables and the PS2s and the espresso machines and the sidelong looks when I left at 5, 20 years ago. Of course, those companies don’t even exist anymore, they burned out themselves - and the employees who stayed - 15 years ago.
Not in and of itself. Very much depends on the company culture and the context – the type of work, whether increased time spent translated directly to increased productivity (as the OP said it did) and hence profitability, whether it was truly voluntary or there was sub rosa expectation that this would be done, and other factors. The way the story was presented, I didn’t see it as toxic.
The point that others have raised is quite valid, it’s not always the case that a good worker makes a good manager (I myself am an example of this not being always true). The older worker’s maturity and life experience might have made them a better manager. The OP thought that the boss was afraid of losing the younger worker if his efforts were not rewarded. A promotion on this basis might not work out as he wished, but we have no information about that.
Interesting point. The leadership at this company is all under 40 and only a couple C-level people have kids. It fits.
Ah, the Peter Principle at work. The best manager is good at managing and the technology, but would you rather promote the stereotyped techie who is brilliant but doesn’t want to talk to anyone else or the not so brilliant guy who is a natural team leader and makes teams work?
And as time goes on even the best technically skilled manager is going to be spending time on management and is going to lose the nitty gritty details. A good bullshit detector and trusting your reports is far more important than just technical skills.
All the management classes I’ve taken have said that the number one mistake by a new manager is not letting go of the technical work. This is common because the manager is often the best at the technical work and can’t stand their reports not doing it as well as they do. And it is the rare second level manager who is up on the technology at a detailed level at all.
In the example you provided, the workplace is “toxic” because the boss is handing out promotions as an incentive to not leave instead of based on who is demonstrating the values. experience and leadership the company wants for their managers.
Basically what you will get are managers with the least desire to be there managing people who will likely have their desire to be there reduced as well.
It’s also toxic because of the ageism. It sends a message that “experience isn’t valued here” and that there basically is no future at this place in 10+ years.