America has had a need for a steady, routine workforce ever since the industrial revolution hit us. For more than a hundred years we have developed a standard for being part of the workforce and society. Once you are ready to start looking for your big boy or big girl job is when these rules are set in place. One of the first things you start on is your appearance. You have to change who you are and what you look like in order to even get past the interview. Shouldn’t you be judged on your work and not how you look and not your work?
Once the interview process is over there is a whole ordeal that goes on changes your lifestyle. Now with change there is always a compromise percentage and some adjustments that need to be made. The only thing is there are all these rules that you don’t notice you must adhere too to be “professional”.
One of the things I noticed that you must do is wear business professional or business casual clothing in ordered to be employed and professional. Now in my opinion the main thing employers need out of their employees is production. Now don’t you think employees would be a little more efficient if they : didn’t have to spend time ironing clothes and dressing up every day, could wear clothes a bit more casual that they would be more comfortable working in. Does the clothes that are worn change the personality of the employee? Most of these employees are just sitting in cubicles anyway. Why would you cause your employees to conform to a certain conduct that hasn’t really proven to cause efficient work?
Another aspect of hidden bylaws is your personal life. I wonder which someone decided that working 9-5 is the most efficient way of working. There probably is some data and research behind this, but it also hinders peoples sleep, and daily routines. Many countries in Europe and Asia have 2pm breaks for the whole country. The employees in Europe can go home at 2 and nap or have lunch with their families and come back rested for the rest of work. When employees leave work they have a limited amount of time to do things around the house and rest before they have to go back to sleep and get up early to start the next day. When there is a spouse and/or kids involved; the amount of sleep your employee gets decreases even more. You also are judged if you decide to go out during a work day or have a few drinks after work. The work hours cause you to have a 11-12pm bed time and have you looking for to a day with less traffic.
At the end of the day we shouldn’t need conformity and bylaws to be successful in the work force. Restrictions have never been a good thing when you need success and growth. There should be a more comfortable compromise to produce efficiency out of employees and not wear them out year by year.
sp0727 