The Myth
Most people doing routine work hate it
The Finding
It has been a widely accepted proposition since the early 1970's that
workers hate routine work. It was at that time that theories such as "Motivator-Hygiene
Theory" and techniques such as job enrichment became popular. The data in
The
Enthusiastic Employee takes sharp issue with those notions. The surveys reported
in the book show that more than 70% of workers at all levels like the kind of work
they do (72% of blue-collar workers). The fact is that people have considerable
latitude in their choice of work, and we must ask why people would choose a kind of
work to do that they hate. Of course, choices are sometimes limited but more often
there are a number of job choices open to individuals within all levels of skill
and education. For example, ask a taxi or truck driver why they chose that kind
of work and they will often tell you that they "don't like to work indoors" or they
"don't want a supervisor breathing down my neck."
The authors of The Enthusiastic Employee quote from an article in The New York Times about Melvin Reich, Manhattan's premier buttonhole man. Would you want to make buttonholes day in and day out? Melvin Reich does.
"Buttonholes are what we do. We do buttonholes and buttonholes and buttonholes. I am specialized, like the doctors," said Reich. "You think it's nothing. Just a buttonhole. But it's something. It's not nothing." And the clincher: "Zippers are a totally different field. It's a different game. A man can do so much."
Enough said.
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