Office Offences

A recent survey 'The Secret Life of the Office' by the London Magazine has found that the BBC's fictional The Office, with time wasting, backstabbing and sexual advances is becoming the reality in a lot of offices.

Drinking alcohol, making a pass at colleagues and looking at inappropriate websites are said to be popular office activities and many employees also fantasise about killing their boss according to this survey.

But despite the large amount of time-wasting, many employees were found to be ruthlessly ambitious. 45% would take advantage of a colleague to succeed, 13% would sleep with their boss to gain promotion and 36% had lied on their CVs. 28% said they fiddled their expenses.

According to Laurence Rosen, founder of Office Angels, the recruitment bureau, 'in 1965, the average executive or manager would expect to stay around 6.5 years in his current job before being promoted or moving on. In 1995 that had dropped to 2.9 years and last year, according to executive recruitment firms, this number had fallen to 2.5 years.'

These statistics demonstrate that loyalty to oneself far outweighs loyalty to the company or towards the immediate boss or department. Traditionally the manager had the time to develop a team spirit within the department which led to stability, teamwork, and a certain amount of selflessness as team members filled in for sick or holidaying staff. This was often seen as standard and acceptable despite pay and conditions being below what they are today in some sectors.

The survey suggests selfishness and greed often control our activity which might explain the constant migration of managers and staff. This leads to a deterioration in productivity and quality of work. Hence the increase of temporary staff, who, by their temporary nature, tend not to bond with colleagues to therefore fail to create a team spirit, again leading to the 'in it for myself' nature of work.

Senior management are often seen as hypocrites when they demand loyalty to the company but fail to show it themselves.  

The Jewish Perspective

The London Magazine survey sheds valuable light on the many sick workplaces that surround us. We can also discern the many healthy and decent offices. After all, a large majority of people affirmed that they never altered their CVs, never fiddle their expenses, and so on.

  The difference between a sick and healthy workplace maybe no more than a single word: leadership. This answer is hinted at in the article, which discusses the example of the "obnoxious middle manager" and the problems in creating stable work teams.

  Jewish tradition consistently emphasizes the need for every kind of leader to be a good ethical example. When Moshe pleads that he has been a good leader, he doesn't point to his many achievements but rather points to his moral conduct: "I have never taken a single donkey from any of them". (Numbers 16:15.) And the prophets risked their lives to demand that even mighty kings conduct themselves ethically.

  If managers want subordinates to put aside inappropriate distractions and petty ambitions, they must set a good example. Ethical leadership, and not stern discipline, is the single most important factor in creating an effective workplace.