Dredd is a bartender at New York New York casino. He usually works the night or graveyard shifts, starting work around 11pm and sometimes as late as 1am. This works out pretty well since I can work through most of the day while he’s sleeping, and then we can muck about in the evening before he goes back to work. It also means he seems to know just about everyone, and those he doesn’t know, share a friend of a friend of a friend who does know him. There might be millions of tourists in Vegas each year, but the place is a lot smaller if you’re a local.
There’s a HUGE “favor-society” in Las Vegas: bartenders comping drinks; doormen allowing priority access to a club or packed-out bar; house service tipping you in on the availability of extra desserts either left behind or available in unscrutinized abundance due to a convention or business faire being hosted at one of the gajillion casinos/hotels, and sometimes, rooms that are available for reduced prices due to one casino losing business to another for the aforementioned convention; on and on and on. So sometimes, Dredd, in a conversation with some random, will comp a drink or two and in exchange receive a favour we can cash
in at some other time. Sometimes, one of his “regular friends” will drop him a tip or favour in exchange for future drink comps or a word from him to a doorman when one of the bars he’s working for the night is especially packed out. It’s an interesting interplay to watch from the sidelines, especially since I benefit from the occasional free mini-cheesecake, chocolate mousse or club access.
Dredd loves Vegas. He takes me down to “Old Vegas” and explains that Fremont Street is the location of the original casinos built in Vegas before “The Strip” took off with its large production themed casinos and tourist traps. The four blocks of Fremont Street are covered with an arched, lighted canopy that allows for pedestrians to walk the street at any time, in any weather condition. 
Giant flying fox lines run the length of the street: rides along the length, four stories above everyone else, available for a price. Meanwhile, down below them, buskers, performers and kiosk sales do a bustling business at all hours of the night. Regardless of the bright lights, much of the area shows its age, enticing gamblers with free drinks while playing slots that are “looser than your girlfriend!” Since I don’t gamble or play slots, Dredd and I take advantage of the cheaply priced food and “free” street shows and spectacles that occur whenever large groups of people congregate.
Eventually, Dredd heads off to work and I crash for a few hours of sleep before waking for an early morning conference call, grateful no one requires the use of the webcam so they can’t see the dark circles under my eyes or the fact that I won’t shower or shave until sometime after lunch. It gets me wondering why companies don’t see themselves more as “favor societies” – sure they’re paying their employees to do a job, but if that’s your only qualification, you can get anyone to do the job! Shouldn’t it be a desire to get the BEST person for the job? Not just based on experience, but in finding those people who are willing to trade the “favour” of a paycheque in exchange for the perks of working at a company that works with them? What kind of productivity comes from working with employees to create an environment in which they want to work (motivated by more than money) or allowing them the option of working remotely? While some companies still hold fervently to the concept of insisting their salaried employees come into the office to work every day, there are strong arguments for loosing the bands just a little and actually encouraging employees to TRULY manage their own time. And with coffee shops and other places offering free wi-fi to draw THAT SPECIFIC CROWD, why not capitalise on it?!
Some will argue that the company has to pay to turn on the lights each day, regardless of whether or not employees show up, but the money saved by each computer that’s not drawing additional power adds up in savings surprisingly quick. And the added incentive for employees to do well to continue to be allowed the “favour” of truly owning their own time results in happier, more productive, more creative employees and workplace savings. Imagine the luxury for a parent who can get up, check email and statuses from home before helping to get kids out the door, able to drop kids at school if necessary, scheduling meetings around shopping, an afternoon nap or lunch with friends, and working around their schedule to be able to maximize personal and work time! In some companies, this is called “standard”, but it’s not a luxury, it’s the result of a job that owns you. But the work force of younger generations are steering away from this work model, and companies are going to need to work more closely with them to get newer, younger talent. So why not put things in place now to benefit the older, experienced workforce as well and optimize the talent you’ve got while encouraging new employees who can benefit from the existing mentors? Working for a company that doesn’t trust you to manage your own time to do the job for which you were hired does not result in long term happiness or job satisfaction. One company I worked for went to the other extreme, insisting that their Sales team and Area Reps spend their time out with clients as much as possible, so instead of a cubicle (with photos and things they could personalize), they had generic “hot desks” that were setup with a phone and a laptop docking station for the occasion when Sales people were in the office, “encouraging” them to get back out in front of customers as quickly as possible In my experience, it has been those companies that allow their employees to work their schedules within their week to best accomplish their job that get the best results – for example, as boring as my job gets at times, I can’t discard the ability to work remotely from Las Vegas while staying up to all hours of the night, and still being able to get my job done ‘cause I don’t have to make an appearance in the office!
…if you get the culture right, then most of the other stuff follows.
~ Tony Hsieh
