It's not about change.

This article first appeared over at our affiliates site mamak.com. It is in response to Some Things Never Change. The direct link to the original can be found here.

Since we're on the topic of office environment, I would like to share my experience with those who are in the same dilemma. Everyone thinks that the dotcom-working concept is to wear your most worn-out jeans, polo neck T-shirt, sneakers, and sashay into the office at whatever time you wake up or deem fit as your working hours. Well, sad to say my friend, I've worked at one IT-based company and one dotcom. In all instances, we come in at 9 a.m. and basically leave at 6 p.m. or if you're the type with bad time management skills (no pun intended!), you leave later.

During my first month at earning my own salary, I worked for a small company and just cause they tried to get all their staff to come to work on time, they had a little check-in and check-out book that sits on the receptionist's table. Everyone is required to sign in and acknowledge the time that they report to work every single day. I used to think that it was an old fashioned way to run a company, making employees report to work on time. Are we running a school? Or a correctional institution? I think not. But we all managed to come in early and finished the day early. After that, we all had fun throughout the night.

My next job was with an IT firm. Imagine sitting in your cubicle that overlooks the hustle and bustle of the city roads leading towards the Central Business District. Now, isn't that a pretty sight? Yeah, that's some form of reassurances to yourself that you've made it to some big IT firm in the city. And every morning, I have to rush to work, driving like a maniac, and not because there is a meeting. I HAD to get there on time just so the HR officer would not question my 1-minute lateness as stamped on my punch card at the end of the month. Yeah! We had to punch our cards every morning and evening when we leave, and because the CEO comes in much earlier than his other employees, the employees would feel the need to try come in even earlier.

Just when dotcoms were blooming, I moved on to a dotcom environment. Everyone had to have a foot on that boat because at one time, it was the in-thing. And it remained the in-thing until the stocks on NASDAQ showed that dotcoms aren't here to stay, well, not for long that is. Just when I thought "Gone are the Punch Card Days!" I was dismayed to discover a new system called the "Touch Card" system, which records the time of each employee's movement in the office, even to the toilet, mind you! (tell me 'bout it - Ed).

The dotcom working environment should be more lax, as in employees should be able to come to work during times that they feel most productive, which is normally at night. However, there is one very important point that all of us are unaware of. If we all feel that our most productive time of the day is at night, well, how are we going to communicate with the rest of the world? By e-mails or even handwritten messages? How effective are those in the long run? At the end of the day, nothing beats face-to-face communication. It's a human factor.

Most IT professionals, software developers, and web designers feel that they're the cream of the crop because they are in the most sought-after profession. They would dictate their working conditions. In the USA you will find that they are more lax, your condition at work is very simple. As long as you can deliver your specified job or assignment, you are able to come in to work at whatever times you wish and leave at any time too. Well, sad to say, that sort of environment isn't well accepted here in Malaysia and it isn't because we are outdated. I'm pretty sure most of the CEOs in the Asian countries implement this restriction for one reason. Just one word - productivity.

Think about this! If you formed a company of your own in the near future and you're sitting in the office at 9 a.m. wondering where your employees are, think about the days when u were one of 'em.

1.) The Return of the Shadow Legacy - druid
2.) Rampant Piracy on the Sea of Information - xearthed
3.) Napster, MPAA, AOL, and how stupid people in power will kill the first amendment - unfrgvnme
4.) Copyright Law - Aleanor
5.) Hacking vs Sysadmining - madirish
6.) State of the Hack Awards #4 - madsaxon
7.) Somethings Never Change - UberGeek
8.) It's Not about Change - darlene
9.) Programming your PSX (part 1) - OZONE