If there is something more stupid than commuting long distances (or short distances using very slow yet crowded public transit) in order to be in a Teams meeting, I don’t know what it is. I get that Mononcle Doug with his get-the-hell-off-my-lawn energy thinks it’s awesome. But that’s a comment on the Ontario premier that I’d rather not have to spell out.
Smart people never react well to idiotic and arbitrary (but also pointless!) measures to control how they do what they’re already very good at doing. And the reaction to my latest Ottawa Citizen column on the stupid and also truly dumb office mandate for City of Ottawa employees tells me my readers are very smart people indeed.
The bottom line is this: Do we trust each other to do our work like the professionals we are without the need to breathe down anyone’s neck? If yes, there is no need for arbitrary in-office policies. And if not, then someone needs to hire staff they can trust. Or, as a reader pointed out, maybe it’s the managers and supervisors who need changing. I wish I’d thought of that argument…
Either way, if we don’t have trust, we don’t have anything worth fighting over. So get that sorted out first. And don’t give me “support downtown businesses” or I’ll smear my teen’s three-day old spaghetti lunch they forgot at the back of the fridge all over your cubicle. People will support whatever businesses are around where they are. Who says Barrhaven restaurants don’t like having remote workers for lunch?
Employers who insist on treating their smart, professional and hard-working employees like babies will lose them. And as a taxpayer in Ottawa, I strenuously object.
The employer decides what work needs to get done. And except for jobs where physical presence is actually needed for security or in-person services to constituents, let smart people figure out how they do their best work for us.
And stop, please, with the stupid.