Debunking workplace myths
Published Saturday September 6th, 2008
Don't believe everything you hear, particularly if you hear it around the office water cooler or in the company cafeteria. Those places are prime breeding grounds for the creation and propagation of myths about your workplace.
We asked several workplace experts to cite the myths they've encountered in workplaces and to debunk them. Here's what they reported:
Myth 1: To be productive, you have to be charged up.
Wrong, said Stephen Schettini, director of Montreal's Quiet Mind Seminars, a program of mindful reflection for the business community.
There's a widespread belief that a caffeinated, adrenaline-soaked body is more productive at work than its relaxed counterpart.
"The reality is that you make mistakes when you're overly pumped because you're not able to think things through to the end," Schettini said. "When you're under pressure, you become blinkered."
When tackling workplace problem-solving, you'll be more effective if you sit back, breathe deeply and get calm, he said.
"This is when you engage your intuitive mind. It's not about escape. It's about being reflective, open-minded and open-hearted. When you stop thinking about a problem and stand outside of it, the solution comes easily."
Myth 2: You have to be friends with your co-workers.
No you don't, says Gerry Smith, vice-president of organizational health at Shepell-fgi, an international health and productivity company that delivers employee assistance programs.
"I often come across this idea when I do seminars in companies on respect in the workplace. People say: 'So I have to be best friends with everyone I work with?' I keep hearing this question.
"In fact, you don't. Friends are people with whom we have common bonds, which make us want to spend time with them. Good friends nourish our souls. I don't expect co-workers to do that."
Smith says the misconception might be the result of rules and regulations about mutual respect that set standards of conduct in workplaces.
"The only thing we owe our co-workers is respect and courtesy," he said. "We don't have to be friends."
Myth 3: We have freedom of speech at work.
No we don't, says Smith.
"The workplace in Canada is highly protected so we cannot freely express our opinions openly on topics that may be offensive to some. There are about 12 protected areas that include race, religion, sexual orientation, family and marital status and pardons and convictions. We do not have freedom of speech to express opinions at work in these areas."
Myth 4: Employers are paying a lot of money to hire people with university degrees.
This myth has been largely embraced by graduating students, says Linda Constant, human resources specialist and professional development coach with Constant Resources.
"It's true if you're going into a large multinational with a specialized technical degree. But if you're graduating with a general degree, you're still starting at the entry level and the salaries are not that high."
Myth 5: You can't change things, including glitches in processes and procedures, in the workplace.
You can if you act rather than just complain, Constant said.
"I hear people say: 'This is the way things are and you can't change them.'
"If you look for solutions and bring forth viable ideas, you can effect change."
Myth 6: People leave jobs and go to other employers for more money.
"They may tell their superiors that the reason they're leaving is that they've found a job that pays more, but whenever I've done exit interviews, they tell me that there are other reasons for their departures," Constant said.
Chief among them, she said, is the fact that "the job wasn't what they expected or what they were hired to do."
Myth 7: Managers don't care about the little guy.
In fact, most managers recognize that "the little guys," the ones who do such backbone jobs as shipping and receiving, are those who keep the company functioning, Constant said.
"I see managers acknowledge this all the time, but most are so stretched with responsibility that they don't have the time to show it."
Myth 8: You have to put work before everything else in order to succeed.
In fact, successful leaders are "dual-centric," says Nora Spinks, president of Work-Life Harmony, a Toronto firm that consults on work-life balance policy.
"They put family and work at the same level of importance. Research shows that people who put work first have weak personal relationships. They tend to exercise little and don't eat well. They do rise through the ranks but they flame out.
"Dual-centric people have good health and wellness, personal supports and community supports, which help them to be successful."
Myth 9: We're more accessible and available than in the past and we work longer hours than ever before.
In fact, a recent study by Statistics Canada says Canadians worked on average 40.8 hours per week in 2006, compared with 41.5 in 1997.
"There's a workload wind-chill factor, which makes our workload feel heavier than it is," Spinks said. "Because we can work faster, we think we are but it takes the same amount of time to make a decision as it used to. We have the misimpression that we're working harder and longer because we feel more stressed than we used to. And we feel more stressed because there are things beyond our control, including the speed at which things come at us now.
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