Author Topic: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?  (Read 16324 times)

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #50 on: October 20, 2015, 01:20:13 AM »
Wow, I have to say that I'm shocked by this thread. I'm amazed that so many people hold their employers in such low esteem.

I like to be "badass" in everything I do, and will give it my 100% up to the very last minute.

I supposed I'm very fortunate in that I like and respect everyone at my company who is in a more senior position than I.  It's probably a good thing too, as I'm only 30 and probably have another 14 years before reaching financial independence.
It's a two way street. I would love to give 100% all the time. However, I have learned that giving 100% in a sub-par environment where the people around you are not the right people for the job and nothing is done about it because the employer just don't know how grow people is a great way to become angry and bitter. This is where the "money vs. satisfaction" internal dialogue begins for many people.

Agreed. I'm of the opinion that if something is worth doing it's worth doing well; however 75% of my work is simply not worth doing. There are even some things that I'm asked to do that are positively harmful to our clients or the wider world, why would I give 100% effort to these if I don't care about losing my job?

Rollin

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #51 on: October 20, 2015, 06:32:12 AM »
Until recently, I harbored a misconception that FI would turn me into a SWAMI, but my candid remarks in meetings have had the opposite effect.  I was recently asked to tone it down.  I guess I'll downshift now and coast.  This unpleasant surprise is making me count the days in near desperation. I expected FI to have a calming effect, but I find myself experiencing impatience, agitation, and even resentment (not good, i know).  I'm trying to stick it out until we relocate at the end of the school year, but could be sooner.

Me too.  I guess I have suppressed it all for the last 30 years.  Of late, I have little tolerance for petite BS.

DoubleDown

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #52 on: October 23, 2015, 10:16:40 AM »
I wish they would fire me.  4-7 months to go - nearly zero motivation.  All the cracks are starting to show.

Until recently, I harbored a misconception that FI would turn me into a SWAMI, but my candid remarks in meetings have had the opposite effect.  I was recently asked to tone it down.  I guess I'll downshift now and coast.  This unpleasant surprise is making me count the days in near desperation.  I expected FI to have a calming effect, but I find myself experiencing impatience, agitation, and even resentment (not good, i know).  I'm trying to stick it out until we relocate at the end of the school year, but could be sooner.

You're not alone. I was a real high achiever for the bulk of my career, but at the end it was a real chore for me just to show up knowing that I was so close to being free. Just like you, I knew the cracks were starting to show and I'm sure some executives were wondering what happened to the go-getter they used to count on. Even though I knew it would happen, it was a little hard accepting that my reputation was changing. On the other hand, it was easy to accept since I knew I would have the last laugh when I quit at 47! Still though, I felt like I was just scraping by to get through those final months with zero motivation.

G-dog

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #53 on: October 24, 2015, 07:21:23 AM »
Until recently, I harbored a misconception that FI would turn me into a SWAMI, but my candid remarks in meetings have had the opposite effect.  I was recently asked to tone it down.  I guess I'll downshift now and coast.  This unpleasant surprise is making me count the days in near desperation. I expected FI to have a calming effect, but I find myself experiencing impatience, agitation, and even resentment (not good, i know).  I'm trying to stick it out until we relocate at the end of the school year, but could be sooner.

Me too.  I guess I have suppressed it all for the last 30 years.  Of late, I have little tolerance for petite BS.

Me also, but I had always been outspoken. I actually became quite audacious and for the last 6 months I skipped EVERY BS meeting. I skipped all general update meetings, etc. unless the meeting was specific to a project I was working on, I would not go. It was wonderful! I highly recommend this.
This, of course, depends somewhat on knowing how your boss may react, and how you will respond if they bring it up.

G-dog

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #54 on: October 24, 2015, 10:16:01 AM »
I think I did a bit of both.

I totally lost motivation for some things - group meetings (skipped all of the in 2015!), surveys, committees, group socials, and those types of things.

I focussed on MY projects and tried to hunker down and get as much done as possible. My job had very defined deadlines (legal work) set by the government agency. I made sure I stayed on top of the deadlines, and even worked ahead. This was part of my 'don't leave messes for others to clean up' personal policy.

StetsTerhune

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #55 on: October 24, 2015, 10:55:57 AM »
I wish they would fire me.  4-7 months to go - nearly zero motivation.  All the cracks are starting to show.

Until recently, I harbored a misconception that FI would turn me into a SWAMI, but my candid remarks in meetings have had the opposite effect.  I was recently asked to tone it down.  I guess I'll downshift now and coast.  This unpleasant surprise is making me count the days in near desperation.  I expected FI to have a calming effect, but I find myself experiencing impatience, agitation, and even resentment (not good, i know).  I'm trying to stick it out until we relocate at the end of the school year, but could be sooner.

Wow. This. I could have written this, every part of it. And the closer I get the worse it gets.

It doesn't help that everyone I talk to about it (among the few people I've told I'm retiring) respond with "well you'll be done in 6 months, so what do you care?"

libertarian4321

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #56 on: October 25, 2015, 02:43:29 AM »
I've found that 3-4 hours of effort is usually enough to accomplish as much as my co-workers can do all day- because most of them are illogical, disorganized, easily distracted dip sticks who spend most of their time chasing their tales (e.g. working frantically, but never really accomplishing anything).  I've never understood how they can look so harried and overworked all the time, yet at the end of the day get no more done than I do, when I've spent half my afternoon at ESPN.com or reading celebrity gossip at TMZ.

So I work 3-4 hours, and screw off the rest of the day- BSing with co-workers, surfing the net, staring out the window, sleeping, etc.

Been doing it for decades.

So I think I'll go with "coast."




Mr. Green

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #57 on: October 27, 2015, 08:23:31 AM »
I've found that 3-4 hours of effort is usually enough to accomplish as much as my co-workers can do all day- because most of them are illogical, disorganized, easily distracted dip sticks who spend most of their time chasing their tales (e.g. working frantically, but never really accomplishing anything).  I've never understood how they can look so harried and overworked all the time, yet at the end of the day get no more done than I do, when I've spent half my afternoon at ESPN.com or reading celebrity gossip at TMZ.

So I work 3-4 hours, and screw off the rest of the day- BSing with co-workers, surfing the net, staring out the window, sleeping, etc.

Been doing it for decades.

So I think I'll go with "coast."
That's sweet that you have an office environment that will allow you to accomplish that. I have an open office with desk partitions no higher than my waist so it wouldn't be but 2 or 3 weeks before someone was fired for that because everyone would know that person was screwing off half the day. Somehow I don't think the argument of equal production to my co-workers would save me from the axe, though that would be nice!

manonfire1007

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #58 on: October 27, 2015, 07:43:37 PM »
This thread has left me sad. I know human nature but I expected better from seasoned "workers".

Not having gone through the process, I need to remind myself to be less judgmental.
That said (here comes the judgmental part):
1 I used to think that a boss who fired someone close to retirement was cold and ungrateful. From what I see here, that boss may be smart. I am a boss and my eye will be on it with employees close to being done.
2. I feel that I owe my employer my best effort all of the time that he pays me. Purposely not being productive during work time smells a lot like time stealing. Not cool. You hurt the company that employs your coworkers i.e. Those you leave behind.

 I have 17 years to go. Maybe that colors my response, but I think enough of my work ethic to expect more of myself than that.

Ozstache

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #59 on: October 27, 2015, 08:20:00 PM »
This thread has left me sad. I know human nature but I expected better from seasoned "workers".
I don't think people are as unproductive as they may appear to you in this thread. It's more that they gone from being super-productive to now just doing the minimum required to be productive ie. even at their "laziest", they are no less productive than the average comparative schmo around them.

Speaking from my own experience, I reckon I could easily have been twice as productive as my comparable co-workers when I was working. However, I found that the return on such productive investment was quite poor, as all such high productivity seemed to get me was more work because I was seen as highly capable. I soon learned to cog that back to about 20% extra productivity whereby I was still marked in the highest category for advancement purposes, still got paid the same but wasn't burning myself out.

On my final run to FIRE, I cogged it back even further to just the baseline productivity, which meant I could coast for 50% of the time I was at work. Now, you might see this as ripping off the company as I was only being 50% productive to MY capacity whereas I, and my bosses, saw it as me being 100% effective to the EXPECTED capacity. The real issue I see is that there was actually a disincentive to do more. If I had been paid twice as much and/or promoted twice as fast for me to operate to capacity, I would have done it. Ironically, I reckon that would have had me FIREing in half the time too! :)

StetsTerhune

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #60 on: October 28, 2015, 05:21:24 AM »
I don't think people are as unproductive as they may appear to you in this thread. It's more that they gone from being super-productive to now just doing the minimum required to be productive ie. even at their "laziest", they are no less productive than the average comparative schmo around them.

Yes, thanks for the defense, Oz. I get pretty annoyed by anyone moralizing about what anyone "owes" theiremployer. If I owe them my best, then they must owe me a salary that is connected to the value I create for the company.

My first 4 managers all told me some variation of "you're the best employee I've ever had work for me" during an annual review. What did that get me? Usually something like a 4% raise instead of a 3% raise. Our promotions are based on defined criteria that are unrelated to job performance. So after years of this, I'd guess I make about 10% more than the average person who started around the same time as me. The point is, the company doesn't live up to its side of the bargain, so as far as I'm concerned I have no moral obligation to them.

Despite that, I'm still an above good employee (at least according to my most recent performance review). I'm certainly not in the "best employee ever" category anymore, but if I can still be considered good with 10ish hours a week of work then I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Mr. Green

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #61 on: October 28, 2015, 06:06:53 AM »
This thread has left me sad. I know human nature but I expected better from seasoned "workers".

Not having gone through the process, I need to remind myself to be less judgmental.
That said (here comes the judgmental part):
1 I used to think that a boss who fired someone close to retirement was cold and ungrateful. From what I see here, that boss may be smart. I am a boss and my eye will be on it with employees close to being done.
2. I feel that I owe my employer my best effort all of the time that he pays me. Purposely not being productive during work time smells a lot like time stealing. Not cool. You hurt the company that employs your coworkers i.e. Those you leave behind.

 I have 17 years to go. Maybe that colors my response, but I think enough of my work ethic to expect more of myself than that.
There's another side to this coin though. Suppose Mr. Superstar decides to turn in his best effort every day and, in the process, makes all his other coworkers look like asshats? That's probably not going to work out too well for him either. I've actually heard of unionized places where a guy like that will have an "accident," courtesy of all the people he was pissing off because they'll take their job security over him making everyone look bad. Personally, I think if an employer has no system in place to reward a superstar for his exceptional performance then he should be allowed to work his 4 hours and go home, while still getting paid for 8, as long as his productivity matches the rest of the office. That alone would be an incentive because if I saw Bob go home at noon I'd strive to go home early too, which in turn would raise overall productivity and, as a result, cut back how early Mr. Superstar is allowed to go home because the rest of the office is producing more.

Offices all around the world can thank me for that incentive plan by sending me 1% of their increased revenue. ;)
« Last Edit: October 28, 2015, 06:14:52 AM by Mr. Green »

manonfire1007

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #62 on: October 28, 2015, 07:46:44 AM »
This thread has left me sad. I know human nature but I expected better from seasoned "workers".
I don't think people are as unproductive as they may appear to you in this thread. It's more that they gone from being super-productive to now just doing the minimum required to be productive ie. even at their "laziest", they are no less productive than the average comparative schmo around them.

Speaking from my own experience, I reckon I could easily have been twice as productive as my comparable co-workers when I was working. However, I found that the return on such productive investment was quite poor, as all such high productivity seemed to get me was more work because I was seen as highly capable. I soon learned to cog that back to about 20% extra productivity whereby I was still marked in the highest category for advancement purposes, still got paid the same but wasn't burning myself out.

On my final run to FIRE, I cogged it back even further to just the baseline productivity, which meant I could coast for 50% of the time I was at work. Now, you might see this as ripping off the company as I was only being 50% productive to MY capacity whereas I, and my bosses, saw it as me being 100% effective to the EXPECTED capacity. The real issue I see is that there was actually a disincentive to do more. If I had been paid twice as much and/or promoted twice as fast for me to operate to capacity, I would have done it. Ironically, I reckon that would have had me FIREing in half the time too! :)

Point well made. I guess I've just been fortunate enough to be in an organization where talent is seen, promoted, and paid. My starting 6 figure salary has gone up 2.5x plus. Who knows, maybe if I'm moving up, maybe their eye for talent isn't so good...
Perfect it isn't, but it has been great for me.

From a managerial side, this has reminded me that human nature is to slack when possible and take initiative and keep people productive or move them out on my timetable.

G-dog

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #63 on: October 28, 2015, 07:56:11 AM »
Thanks Oz for that great explanation.

For the manager - I think there are some real gems here on how you can behave to keep getting the best from your employees. Treat them with real respect, acknowledge and reward their efforts (it is NOT just the money), build a culture of collaboration and support (not competition, sniping, and backstabbing). There will always be a few that won't respond to this, but I think it is a few.

I know that had my managers and employer treated me as above - I would still be working there! And probably happily.

So please also flip the script when you see or hear of folks 'coasting' on the job - ask yourself how their manager has failed them, not just why they are stealing from the company.

regulator

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #64 on: October 28, 2015, 09:29:04 AM »
This thread has left me sad. I know human nature but I expected better from seasoned "workers".
I don't think people are as unproductive as they may appear to you in this thread. It's more that they gone from being super-productive to now just doing the minimum required to be productive ie. even at their "laziest", they are no less productive than the average comparative schmo around them.

Speaking from my own experience, I reckon I could easily have been twice as productive as my comparable co-workers when I was working. However, I found that the return on such productive investment was quite poor, as all such high productivity seemed to get me was more work because I was seen as highly capable. I soon learned to cog that back to about 20% extra productivity whereby I was still marked in the highest category for advancement purposes, still got paid the same but wasn't burning myself out.

On my final run to FIRE, I cogged it back even further to just the baseline productivity, which meant I could coast for 50% of the time I was at work. Now, you might see this as ripping off the company as I was only being 50% productive to MY capacity whereas I, and my bosses, saw it as me being 100% effective to the EXPECTED capacity. The real issue I see is that there was actually a disincentive to do more. If I had been paid twice as much and/or promoted twice as fast for me to operate to capacity, I would have done it. Ironically, I reckon that would have had me FIREing in half the time too! :)

Point well made. I guess I've just been fortunate enough to be in an organization where talent is seen, promoted, and paid. My starting 6 figure salary has gone up 2.5x plus. Who knows, maybe if I'm moving up, maybe their eye for talent isn't so good...
Perfect it isn't, but it has been great for me.

From a managerial side, this has reminded me that human nature is to slack when possible and take initiative and keep people productive or move them out on my timetable.

Wrong lesson, grasshopper.  Yep, there will always be useless slackers you inherit or mistakenly hire.  But if you have a bright, high-performing employee who is not engaged, the problem is generally not with the worker.  Look in the mirror and look around you at your fellow managers and overlords.

steveo

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #65 on: October 28, 2015, 02:11:37 PM »
not just why they are stealing from the company.

Who says it is stealing. I have worked extremely hard in my job.  I'm also good at my job. There are lots of people that aren't good at their jobs and I can probably work a lot less and be a lot more productive. To add to that I don't play games. Some people spend their whole careers playing games. How does that help the company.

Playing games to me is not focussing on the work but looking at everything as an opportunity to create drama or posture oneself for promotion.

I work in IT as a project manager. There was a guy recently in my team who wasn't focussed on delivering an IT solution. He was focussed on trying to ensure that he was aligned with the architects (he was a solution designer) and that all issues were raised to every person possible. He was great at pointing out problems and causing drama but terrible at actually coming up with a solution. I was working extremely hard to manage all the issues that he raised. On top of that he was fighting with another person in my team and I had to get involved to mediate the situation. So I was recently working way too hard (there were other problems) and how much of that work was adding value to my company ? I think none at all.

Now that guy is gone (thank god) and I'm working a lot less but its constructive work. Yesterday I worked for about 6 hours but I tested our solution and found an important bug. That is adding value.

There is so much work that happens that adds no value to a company. Its pretty easy to focus on the constructive stuff and do it a lot quicker than 8 hours per day.

G-dog

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #66 on: October 28, 2015, 03:36:20 PM »
not just why they are stealing from the company.

Who says it is stealing. I have worked extremely hard in my job.  I'm also good at my job. There are lots of people that aren't good at their jobs and I can probably work a lot less and be a lot more productive. To add to that I don't play games. Some people spend their whole careers playing games. How does that help the company.

Playing games to me is not focussing on the work but looking at everything as an opportunity to create drama or posture oneself for promotion.

I work in IT as a project manager. There was a guy recently in my team who wasn't focussed on delivering an IT solution. He was focussed on trying to ensure that he was aligned with the architects (he was a solution designer) and that all issues were raised to every person possible. He was great at pointing out problems and causing drama but terrible at actually coming up with a solution. I was working extremely hard to manage all the issues that he raised. On top of that he was fighting with another person in my team and I had to get involved to mediate the situation. So I was recently working way too hard (there were other problems) and how much of that work was adding value to my company ? I think none at all.

Now that guy is gone (thank god) and I'm working a lot less but its constructive work. Yesterday I worked for about 6 hours but I tested our solution and found an important bug. That is adding value.

There is so much work that happens that adds no value to a company. Its pretty easy to focus on the constructive stuff and do it a lot quicker than 8 hours per day.

I was referring back to manonfire's post, which Oz was responding to (I didn't quote everyone for space- here is the post:
Manonfire1007
"This thread has left me sad. I know human nature but I expected better from seasoned "workers".

Not having gone through the process, I need to remind myself to be less judgmental.
That said (here comes the judgmental part):
1 I used to think that a boss who fired someone close to retirement was cold and ungrateful. From what I see here, that boss may be smart. I am a boss and my eye will be on it with employees close to being done.
2. I feel that I owe my employer my best effort all of the time that he pays me. Purposely not being productive during work time smells a lot like time stealing. Not cool. You hurt the company that employs your coworkers i.e. Those you leave behind.

 I have 17 years to go. Maybe that colors my response, but I think enough of my work ethic to expect more of myself than that."

Ozstache

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #67 on: October 28, 2015, 04:16:56 PM »
For the manager - I think there are some real gems here on how you can behave to keep getting the best from your employees. Treat them with real respect, acknowledge and reward their efforts (it is NOT just the money), build a culture of collaboration and support (not competition, sniping, and backstabbing). There will always be a few that won't respond to this, but I think it is a few.

As an example of this, I had a guy working for me that was an outstanding performer, easily outputting the combined productivity of the rest of the team. Not wishing to lose this, and only having limited reward capability within our organisation's HR rules, I told him early on how good I thought he was and asked him what I could do for him to keep him performing that way. He told me that he really wanted to get promoted, despite me advising him to be careful of what he wished for because it just may come true! He was also getting his house built and wanted to be able to be home at times to supervise some of the more delicate parts of construction.

So I cut a deal with him - keep performing the way you are and you can take whatever time off you need to get your house built to your desires, which was more than HR policy allowed, and I will write you an annual performance report that will make the HR department weep with joy at your awesomeness and I will shield you from as much distracting bureaucratic admin handed down from above as possible. Fast forward a year and his house was built to his satisfaction, he got the promotion he wanted and I got the continued high performance I needed from him to get our project done well, which in turn made me look good. Had anyone negotiated a similar deal before I decided to cog back my performance to normal parameters, I would have snapped it up too, but it was not to be. Nonetheless, I am pleased I had the opportunity to tap into the great potential I saw in others by working with what they actually wanted, not what the system thought they wanted and was constrained in its ability to provide at a commensurate level to the performance being displayed. 
« Last Edit: October 28, 2015, 04:18:34 PM by Ozstache »

manonfire1007

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #68 on: October 28, 2015, 07:46:58 PM »
There is a lot of good feedback from those further down the track than me. In the managerial role, I like the idea of looking for and rewarding talent with items outside the box. Thanks for the benefit of your experience.

Ozstache

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #69 on: October 29, 2015, 04:30:00 AM »
No worries!

dude

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #70 on: October 29, 2015, 07:45:09 AM »
I've found that 3-4 hours of effort is usually enough to accomplish as much as my co-workers can do all day- because most of them are illogical, disorganized, easily distracted dip sticks who spend most of their time chasing their tales (e.g. working frantically, but never really accomplishing anything).  I've never understood how they can look so harried and overworked all the time, yet at the end of the day get no more done than I do, when I've spent half my afternoon at ESPN.com or reading celebrity gossip at TMZ.

So I work 3-4 hours, and screw off the rest of the day- BSing with co-workers, surfing the net, staring out the window, sleeping, etc.

Been doing it for decades.

So I think I'll go with "coast."

HAHAHA! Hilarious (and perhaps a little too familiar)! Thanks for the laugh!

DoubleDown

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #71 on: October 29, 2015, 10:07:38 AM »
From a managerial side, this has reminded me that human nature is to slack when possible and take initiative and keep people productive or move them out on my timetable.

Food for thought from my own experience (including as a now-retired manager): It seems you are seeing intentional and wanton slacking as the only explanation here. Keep in mind that some of this "coasting" is not intentional but just the inevitable progression of life and lack of motivation for that work after a long career (you already touched on/acknowledged this when you said you might see things differently in the future, so kudos to you on that). And that is indeed a legitimate explanation IMO. I would liken it to expecting a 50-year old to run races just as they did in their 20's or early 30's. They aren't intentionally going slower, they just may not have the same drive, motivation, or ability to do that any more. Hey may indeed be giving their best effort -- it's just that their best effort is no longer as good as before.

In my case, I wasn't intentionally slacking -- I just did not have the same drive for the work as I used to, particularly with the finish line so close. I was trying to be motivated and put in "110%" but just wasn't possible for me. Considering I gave them 18 over-achieving years, I think they could "suffer" 6 months of just-adequate work.

I say cut those soon-to-be retired folks a little slack (ha, some pun). Yes, it is not the most efficient arrangement for the employer, but I recommend empathy. Instead of having your eye on them as likely slackers so you can deal with them or fire them, recognize it as the milestone they've achieved and deserve. All of us may hit various times in our work career where a little flexibility or going easy on the employee is appreciated (death in the family, problems at home, child care issues, problems with coworkers, etc.). It would be a shame to go hard on those people adding to their difficulties, and you might appreciate the same consideration in the future for some as-yet-unknown reason.

dude

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #72 on: October 29, 2015, 01:31:47 PM »
From a managerial side, this has reminded me that human nature is to slack when possible and take initiative and keep people productive or move them out on my timetable.

Food for thought from my own experience (including as a now-retired manager): It seems you are seeing intentional and wanton slacking as the only explanation here. Keep in mind that some of this "coasting" is not intentional but just the inevitable progression of life and lack of motivation for that work after a long career (you already touched on/acknowledged this when you said you might see things differently in the future, so kudos to you on that). And that is indeed a legitimate explanation IMO. I would liken it to expecting a 50-year old to run races just as they did in their 20's or early 30's. They aren't intentionally going slower, they just may not have the same drive, motivation, or ability to do that any more. Hey may indeed be giving their best effort -- it's just that their best effort is no longer as good as before.

In my case, I wasn't intentionally slacking -- I just did not have the same drive for the work as I used to, particularly with the finish line so close. I was trying to be motivated and put in "110%" but just wasn't possible for me. Considering I gave them 18 over-achieving years, I think they could "suffer" 6 months of just-adequate work.

I say cut those soon-to-be retired folks a little slack (ha, some pun). Yes, it is not the most efficient arrangement for the employer, but I recommend empathy. Instead of having your eye on them as likely slackers so you can deal with them or fire them, recognize it as the milestone they've achieved and deserve. All of us may hit various times in our work career where a little flexibility or going easy on the employee is appreciated (death in the family, problems at home, child care issues, problems with coworkers, etc.). It would be a shame to go hard on those people adding to their difficulties, and you might appreciate the same consideration in the future for some as-yet-unknown reason.

In other words, karma can be a real bitch.

steveo

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #73 on: October 29, 2015, 02:06:28 PM »
I'll add that I'm a manager and I tell my staff to take it easy in the right situations. I've got a guy who I was checking up on his work hours because he was working too much. He worked 24 hours straight (with breaks I suppose) twice when I was monitoring and I had to tell him to stop it. Now we have a good working relationship - he can turn up and leave whenever he wants. I've got another guy who doesn't have a lot of work on. I told him just make sure that you are charging and do whatever you want.

BPA

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #74 on: October 30, 2015, 08:07:01 AM »
my candid remarks in meetings have had the opposite effect.  I was recently asked to tone it down. 

This is happening to me right now. 

The funny thing is that I'm speaking on behalf of a lot of people. 

Daisy

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Re: Did you "finish strong" or "coast" through your last 6 months of work?
« Reply #75 on: October 30, 2015, 09:00:59 AM »
I coast in the things that don't matter and finish strong in the things that do.

Of course I am making my own decisions on what matters and what doesn't so my managers may disagree.