Conversely, not watching the clock and putting in extra time means a person is committed to his craft. To me, watching the clock means someone is not truly interested in his job it is laborious and uninteresting. Over the last few decades though we have sacrificed craftsmanship for bean counting, and our perspectives have changed as a result. I realize we should be cognizant of both time and our work products, particularly for project management purposes, but if it is a choice between watching the clock and putting my name on something I produce, I will concentrate on the latter and not the former, at least that’s how I was trained to think as I entered the workforce. This signals a shift in our priorities and values. I tend to believe exempt workers in this country are now more concerned with the amount of time they spend at work as opposed to what they produce. I just chuckled as I cannot remember the last time I only worked 50 hours in a normal work week. Recently, I overheard a young worker lament to a friend how he had worked 50 hours for the week and was upset his boss asked him to come in over the weekend to finish an assignment.

The many companies I visited on consulting assignments, both near and far, also had people who worked the same as I did. I found I was not alone or unique in this regard. This was the price you paid for being an exempt employee. You came in early, you stayed late, and coming in to work over the weekend was never considered unusual.

True, there were established hours of work which, in our case, was 8:30am – 5:00pm, Monday through Friday, but I don’t ever remember working such hours. When I joined the workforce, it was made clear to me to concentrate on getting the job done, regardless of how much time it took. I tend to be more consumed with what I am working on as opposed to watching the clock which I think runs contrary to a lot of people today. Other than a scheduled meeting, I am not very cognizant of time during the day other than knowing it is either morning, afternoon or evening. I still manage to make appointments and am considered rather punctual. When I need to know the time, I can get it from a number of places, such as my computer, cell phone, or in the car. I never really liked wearing one and now consider it more of a status symbol as opposed to something practical for me to wear. I don’t wear a wristwatch anymore and, frankly, don’t really miss it. Do we watch the clock or the work product we’re producing?

Watching the clock