Holidays and leaves (part 3)

The situation of working during holidays/leaves is most applicable for the part of the job where time boundedness is (relatively) high while space boundedness is low. However, as many jobs often have different parts, each with a different scale in terms of their time and space boundedness, when seen as a whole, this would apply to most jobs, at least some of the time.

In addition, this is also closely related to the two contrasting modes of the concept of working pre and post-industrial time (although both of them were primarily space-bound). Pre-industrial was primarily output-oriented where few specifically concerned/controlled how long one worked; it was primarily about the result of one’s work, eg when one finished making a shoe. However, post-industrial, with its standard working hours at work, was primarily process-oriented. This transition might have been a result from the difficulty in the early days of the Industrial Revolution of setting exact output targets (as manufacturing was rather distributed, eg it took the whole assembly chain to make one nail), but it also has the potential danger of a worker being physically present without doing anything, or a more efficient worker being unfairly punished (haven’t we all have heard of busy workers get more work. Although the hope here is that the efficiency to be recognized in their different rank and pay rate). The performance appraisal commonly practiced today might be one measurement added to the process-oriented system for additional checks. In addition, the rise of outcome/output-based systems in recent decades (especially outcome-based evaluation) is another example of the comeback of output-oriented measures. My line manager’s reminder that I would have been able to avoid this (working during holiday) if I had planned my time during the year better (assuming the workload is fair) is a reminder of the shortfall of the process-oriented system. Still, most jobs today specify working hours (and working days) which is what our salaries are for. What seems to be happening now is two systems operating at the same time: workers are controlled both in terms of process and outcomes.

Is it time to ditch one? On one hand, it might still be hard to set output targets for some modern jobs, thinking of waitress or cashier, because how many customers are served depends on how many customers come, which by nature fluctuates. However, this dependency and uncertainty are probably applicable in many other jobs (or parts of the jobs) as well. (Use supervision as the example, one could set a target of how many students complete, but will that many students apply or register for the degree?) On the other hand, tasks in some jobs might still be hard to estimate the time needed to complete. (Again, use supervision as the example, individual student varies and even the average time to completion might change dramatically from one to another).

So how does the future hold? I think the first thing is a need to recognize that working conditions have changed, and are much more varied nowadays, so one system doesn’t fit all. Two, imposing both systems simultaneously is not entirely unfair. So what is needed might be a differentiation of industries and jobs and an allowance for one to adopt one system primarily. Or maybe let the workers choose one.  

Back to my original question, taking leave or holiday really only makes sense in the process-oriented-only system. Their meaning has changed dramatically with the return/addition toward output orientation.