Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

When my work is done, my day is done. That is what I want. Really? Caution. That leads down a perilous path.

I work from home most of the time. This pandemic and such and other factors mean that I don’t have an office in the building. I can go to the building now and then and sit in a “hotel seat.” Still, I have to punch the clock. I am supposed to be online and available for set hours of the day. Boring. I do my work, my day is done. Let’s get real.

Caution: that used to be called piece work.

When I was a kid, my neighbor ran his own business. He would pay kids to put ad papers in the doors of homeowners. We would run and run and run for hours in the hot Texas summer putting pieces of paper in doors. We were paid a penny per piece of paper. We were not paid by the hour. When we delivered our stack of 500 pieces of paper, we were paid $5.

Piece work: review a document, provide comments, write a report. The day is done. Be paid just for that one piece of work. What happens when there are no more documents to review, comments to provide, or reports to write? No pay.

Maybe I would like piece work. Maybe my paycheck would be much smaller. I wouldn’t like that.

Complicated? Yes. It is complicated for an employer to track all the pieces of work given to all the persons and pay them just for the pieces of work completed. Technology, however, has enabled employers to track all that and pay just the right amount.

Consider restaurants. Computers can track customers, money coming in, and number of waiters waiting. Not enough money coming in? You, you, and you go home. Your shift ended early. Your work is done. We won’t pay you as much money today as you expected. Complicated? Yes. Technology, however, enables this and some restaurant companies are using these systems now and have been for several years.

Piece work can be perilous. Take caution in wishing for it.