New challenges make the working easier

Sixteenth-century employee handbook for galley slaves:

1. Here's your bench.

2. Here's your oar.

3. Pull your weight and then some.

4. If you have questions, keep rowing. (This is also the answer to any other questions you might have.)

The difference between working on a 16th-century galley ship and working in the modern cubicle is that the oar is replaced by a keyboard. (Well, OK, having recently read about slave ships, there is another difference: Galley slaves worked naked, which is not such a bad idea, productivity-wise, because it saved plenty of time dressing for work, not to mention the time saved by the ships' human-resources staff on debating what is and isn't acceptable on casual Fridays.)

But let's back up and consider the broader issue of trends in the work environment. There once was a time when companies felt that they needed to have grand, elegant offices that whispered to their customers, ``We're so successful, we can flaunt our wealth; and if you employ our services, we just might show you the secret path to the river of money and let you dip your bucket."

These days, companies take pride in the minimalist conditions of their offices, suggesting to customers: ``We're cheap. You're cheap. So, hey, let's be cheap together."

A recent poll sponsored by the British architectural firm Gensler found that about one-fifth of middle and senior managers in England ``would actually be embarrassed to show customers their office."

Here's my bench; here's my oar.

However, what got me thinking about the modern workplace was having the folks at ``For Me" magazine send me a copy of a recent issue. I knew at a glance that ``For Me" was not intended for me or anyone like me, as the cover had a picture of Drew Barrymore surrounded by headlines like ``Hot Summer Looks" and ``Is He the One?" They'd sent the magazine so I could take a look at its ``Working Girl" section with its ``Weekend Happy at Work!" article.

Some of the article's breezy suggestions for the workplace struck me as questionable. For instance, the reader is told...

Take a break, ``even if it's just for five minutes," to play an online game or ``indulge in your favorite gossipy magazine."

Take to work ``some comfortable slippers, an eye mask, and earplugs."

Use sunscreen instead of ordinary hand lotion for a ``vacation smell."

Plus, we're shown some cute office accessories, including desktop billiards and a ``Mini Day at the Beach" set with sand, a tiny chaise, and an umbrella.

If you work in an office where you feel that you need such items, and you actually display them while wearing your slippers and eye mask, your weekends will stretch forever into a lively game called ``Unemployment!" And when you go to Unemployment!, you can be sure that your new friends will not have a ``vacation smell," so the sunscreen will be a great conversation starter!

Amongst the smarmy advice, there were, however, some excellent suggestions, including advice from Judith Orloff, author of ``Positive Energy," a book I've recommended in this column. Orloff urges readers to have a conversation with management to come up with different tasks to take on. That reminds me of Golda Meir's saying, ``A new challenge is as good as a vacation." And that takes us to what truly can make Mondays equal Fridays -- the right workplace allies.

That, in turn, takes us to another article in ``For Me" magazine, the one titled, ``Is He Right for You?" Here we're offered ``Five Chemistry Must-Haves" which are: ``A sense of ease, the fun factor, safety and security, mutual respect, and sparks." You don't need me or an article to explain each of these, but I will note that the best bosses and employees are ``brain-throbs," the mental counterpoint of a ``heartthrob."

Here's the upshot: An enlivening new workplace challenge becomes a journey. Even so, will it ever have the energy of a vacation? That will happen only if your captain and crew are lively, entertaining travel companions. Only then can you smell the sunscreen and start to think of a job as a series of five-day cruises on The Work Boat.

Dale Dauten is a syndicated columnist. He can be reached at dale@dauten.com.