As time goes by, too many CEOs seem to be becoming more and more out of touch with reality. The idea that employees are also human beings who need a certain work-life balance seems to be becoming increasingly alien to those at the top.
At first glance, technology CEO Rob Dance appears to be one of those executives, but he may simply be the exception.
He recently made a social media post listing the five things he’s most fed up with from his employees, all of which have to do with them prioritizing their personal lives over their work.
Rob Dance is tired of his employees asking about work-life balance – but not for the reasons you’d expect.
It’s not just that CEOs have lost touch with reality; we seem to be in some kind of golden age of Marie Antoinette-esque CEOs. What are all these “return to the office mandates” we keep hearing about if not bosses who are completely ignorant of their employees’ needs and desires?
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And we’re not even getting into the CEO who told her employees worried about their paychecks to “leave pity city,” or the CEO who said we need a higher unemployment rate to get workers in line. Yuck.
In this context, Dance, a British technology entrepreneur who creates content on management and workplace mindset, seemed to be at one with these heartless executives when he posted his list of bogeymen on Instagram.
Dance said he was tired of employees asking to leave early for personal reasons or staying home to care for sick children.
“Things I’m sick of hearing from my coworkers,” Dance wrote in his post, then listed the top five things that drive him crazy:
- “Can I leave early today?”
- “I’ll be late tomorrow morning.”
- “My child is sick, can I leave quickly?”
- “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Is that okay?”
- “I’m coming back late from lunch. I have a few things to do.”
“I don’t care,” Dance added abruptly after his list, trying to imitate the type of boss we’ve all probably had way too many of. Especially here in the U.S., our work culture is such that we’re expected to make our jobs a priority no matter what.
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There are numerous stories online about people who have lost their jobs because they didn’t show up to work during an emergency or because they needed too much time off to care for a sick loved one – truly demoralizing situations that ignore the basic realities of being human.
And it turns out that Dance is as fed up with this frankly barbaric work culture as the rest of us. And that’s the only reason he no longer listens to his coworkers’ pleas for more leeway.
Dance is annoyed by his employees’ demands for a work-life balance because he believes they shouldn’t even ask for it.
“I hired you for a job and I completely TRUST you to get it done,” Dance continued in his post.
His argument: A corporate culture in which employees have to tell their boss that they will be coming home a little later from lunch or leaving early when they have finished work should not actually exist.
“I don’t need you to bill for every single hour,” he added. “Times have changed and the workplace is different these days. People are tired of being treated like children.”
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He further stated that as long as everyone’s work gets done, the why and wherefore should not matter and that business leaders need to refrain from constantly monitoring times and schedules.
“My advice to companies: treat your employees like adults,” he wrote. “That’s it, that’s the big secret.” He added that “autonomy” and “respect” for the fact that they “have a life outside of work” were key to running a successful business.
“Don’t make them feel grateful every day that they’re not fired,” he concluded. “Performance should always be more important than hours.” To say his perspective has been met with praise from workers and business leaders alike would be an understatement.
People praised his “emotionally intelligent” approach to business and that he was a role model for how to “create a place that people don’t want to come back to on a Sunday night.”
In fact, it’s incredibly easy to create such a workplace – it really comes down to treating employees like people, as Dance said. We hope more leaders follow his example.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer covering pop culture, social justice and human issues.
