I have found there are two very different types of employees.

Employee X:

The X employee is most typically an hourly employee, but can also be a salary employee, but is always required to put in their 8 hours a day, no matter the work load. This type of employee shows up at 8am, takes a 15 minute break at 10am, takes an hour lunch at 12pm, another 15 minute break at 3pm, and is out the door at 5pm. It does not matter what the work load is or the importance of the work being time-sensitive or not. This is the schedule they have been given by there employer for them to follow so they follow it. Very rarely will you ever see this employee in the office early or still in the office after 5pm. The X employee does exactly what they are told to do being sure not to do more or less than what their job description says they do.

Employee Y:

The Y employee is typically a salary employee and comes and goes as he/she pleases, but is always there when it is necessary. This employee may work 2 hours in a day or may work 12 depending on what needs to be done. This is a very task oriented employee that tracks their progress by what is getting done versus the time they have put in. This employee will come up with new ways to get things done more efficiently in order to allow them to have more free time or more time to get other things done. This employee does everything in their job description and many things in other peoples job descriptions.

Now that these are both laid out, which type of employee are you? Which type of employee are you, not which one you would like to be. Some people have been brought up and trained as an X employee for so long that they wouldn’t have any idea how to be a Y employee and if they were given the freedom of a Y employee it could actually cause them to under perform. Some people completely disagree with the X employee type of employment and if placed in that type of employment, they too will actually under perform because of all the restrictions holding them back.

I believe it is an employers job to determine what type of employees they have working for them and come up with work structure and compensation plan for each individual employee. All too often in companies the employer thinks that every employee should be treated the same and have the same rights, rules, and restrictions as the rest and even base compensation on what another employee makes.

In my opinion, the employer that is not utilizing and compensating its employees properly is missing out on the employees full potential and the full potential of the company as a whole. If I were an employer I would hire a full staff of X employees if I wanted everything to stay the same and just wanted to get the exact same results day in and day out. I would hire a staff of Y employees if I wanted to continually push the envelope, expand my business, and have new ideas day in and day out.

Please share this post!

Hide Sites