A Company, Not A Kindergarten

There is a troubling culture among the more traditional types of companies today, a mentality I like to call the Chinese Towkay Syndrome.

Back in the day, making a living was hard, and if someone found steady employment, the boss of the company inevitably felt that they were doing their employees a favor by letting them stay on. The "favor" part was especially hard to argue against though, since many of these towkays were in the habit of employing family or friends in positions they were woefully underqualified for. Believe it or not, this practice still exists today!

The positive aspect of this was that employers felt that they were responsible for the careers and lives of their employees, and thus acted with caution and prudence.

King of the castle.

The negative aspect, of course, was that they let this go to their heads. They started thinking that they needed to rule everything with an iron hand, and that their word was law. They felt the need to ensure that every minute that the company paid for the worker's time, was spent working. Being at the head of a company, even if that company in question is a tiny kuching kurap specimen, does lend itself to a certain amount of hubris. (Though personally, if my company was still a minnow in this tiny pond after thirty years, I'd be a little less cocky about being a boss.) That attitude, unfortunately, trickles down to senior management fairly often.

This syndrome seems to be especially prevalent among the kinds of companies that have lasted the last few decades or so, and among the Chinese. Hence the term Chinese Towkay Syndrome. This is probably unfair, of course. Malays and Indians are not immune to hubris. Hubris is not a racial thing. But Chinese make up the majority on this island, therefore the term sticks.

So, anyway, this tends to manifest itself in...

Treating employees like children

Ever had your clock-in and clock-out times monitored? That's normal.

Ever had your lunch breaks counted, and been reprimanded if you consistently took longer than an hour? That's normal too. How much time does one reasonably need to get food into your body, right?

Having toilet breaks monitored too? That's when a line has been crossed. That's when you've started treating your employees like wayward children who will abuse the system at every opportunity if you don't lay down the law. Seriously, some people need a longer time to move their bowels. Are you planning to factor that into the year-end appraisal?

That's not the only example, of course.

As desktop support, I've had to write scripts for HR to determine who's taking MC or urgent leave on Mondays, Fridays, before or after public holidays, and flag the people doing so for possible misuse of benefits. Or monitor the emails of employees to ensure that they aren't involved in idle chit-chat.

LUMPAR - "Let's Understand, Most People Are Ridiculous." I coined that acronym sometime last year, and it couldn't be more apt now. Nothing screams "ridiculous" louder than spending time and resources on making sure people spend every minute typing at the keyboard... especially if the people in question are web developers. Forget everything you've watched in the movies. This is not how web development works. Typing code into the system only accounts for about ten percent of the entire process - something the typical layperson doesn't know. Which, of course, is one of the many reasons why I never want to work for laypeople again. But that's another story for another time.

Treating employees like wayward
children.

Here's the thing. You are hiring people do do certain jobs that require a certain amount of experience and expertise. If you treat your employees like children who must be constantly monitored for every little thing, they are going to act like children. They are going to find every loophole in your precious system and abuse the hell out of it. Hey, you already think they are children. You think so little of their professionalism that you feel the need to micro-manage them. What have they got to lose? Your respect?

Why not try trusting them to be adults instead, and act like professionals? It's a company you're running, not a kindergarten. What's the point of demanding that they work? Just so you can feel the company is getting its money' worth? That's dumb. It's ultimately output you're paying for, isn't it? There's no point in employees coming in early and leaving late, and constantly keeping their eyes glued to the computer screen and fingers making contact with the keyboard, if the work isn't done. Obsessing over input rather than output paints an unflattering picture of your ability to prioritize things that matter.

My home as an example

Apparently, the workplace is not the only place Singaporeans display symptoms of the Chinese Towkay Syndrome. Singaporeans are famous for being especially nit-picky where rental is concerned. We have something of a reputation for being the worst landlords (and landladies) ever.

Last year, my tenant moved out because he had finally completed the purchase of his own apartment. Before he left, he shook my hand and told me I was probably the most fuss-free landlord he had ever encountered. I was flattered, but thought that was probably a coincidence.

Coincidence? Oh hell, no. I was about to learn otherwise.

Over the weeks, I reviewed a few prospective tenants. One of them asked me how many times a week they could use the washing machine and the air-conditioning. I gave him a funny look that suggested I thought it a crazy question. What, do I look like I have the time to monitor how many times a week they use the machine or turn on the air-conditioning? I'm a working professional, for God's sake. I have better things to do. And constantly watching people to ensure they don't use any more water or electricity than they're supposed to, is a lot of work. It's a time-consuming exercise that will save me maybe a measly thirty bucks a month.

I also got asked some things like whether or not they were allowed to cook, bring friends over, smoke, and whatnot. My response was, typically, as long as they didn't trash the place or burn it down, we were good.

Later on, I even got asked whether they could put stuff on the shelves in the bathroom. My response, by that time, was an exasperated sigh. Look man, if you don't put stuff on the shelves, what else would you use those goddamn shelves for?

By then, the visitors had a pretty good idea I didn't suffer from Chinese Towkay Syndrome. Unfortunately, it appeared that a lot of Singaporeans did. Somehow, after taking so much crap from their bosses at work, being the boss of their own homes seemed to have gone to their heads. Everything I took for granted and relied on my prospective tenants to exercise their own judgement in, other landlords insisted on controlling. I was told that my relaxed stance towards tenant behavior was almost unheard of. I kid you not; there were some prospective tenants who didn't turn up for viewing as soon as they learned I was Singaporean. Yes, our reputation is that bad.

Net result: all of the prospective tenants expressed interest after the visit. They didn't even quibble over the price!

Almost a year later, in addition to paying the rent on time, my tenants are helping me sweep the floor, take out the trash, and clean the bathroom. Without being asked! See what happens when you treat people like adults? They exceed your expectations.

To conclude...

I'm aware that not all cases turn out this happily. People are a mixed bag. My sister thinks that I just got lucky and found a bunch of guys that, after having horrible experiences with other landlords, learned to appreciate a good thing when they saw it. She may have a point there. But I firmly believe that the more you try to control people, the harder it gets for everyone involved.

Long story short: Learn to let go, towkays. Lighten up. Nobody's impressed.

Till next time, stay boss-sitive!
T___T