Take Your Friend To Work Day
Employment contracts should, in addition to vacation time and sick leave, apportion one or two days a year for a worker to take the day off in order to go observe someone work in a completely different job.
It could be a drastically different job within the company, or a position in an entirely different sector. There could be a very simple craigslist-like service that does a little lottery apportioning out of who-goes-where-when, making sure to spread the days out over the year so that it doesn’t cause a larger economic hiccup. Similarly, each worker should only be allowed to have someone follow them around for a couple days each year, to avoid excessive distraction.
But think about it. We might be vaguely aware of what kinds of work others do, but to actually follow them around for a day would really show you the kinds of issues other people might have. If you wind up in your client’s (or supplier’s) industry, it might give you some insights into their side of the deal.
It would also be a refreshing little educational vacation from your own daily routine. And if everyone does it a couple days a year, you would get used to the mild awkwardness of intruding upon someone else’s life.
Perhaps the more exciting and persuasive aspect would also be the potential for innovation. When people with wildly different perspectives run into each other, it can lead to insights you might not otherwise have come up with.
Think of the stories. From the mundane and annoyed, “Oh god that one time I had to go sit at an insurance agent’s desk all day…” to the fascinating, “I had no idea that’s how much coal the plant burned in a single day!” With everyone doing this, the stories of coworker’s experiences would help create even more links to other parts of the economy.
Sure some people would treat it like a chore and just fiddle around on their iphones all day, but I think a lot of people would generally get at least a little bit of the spirit of the endeavor.
Just one way to help build more connections and empathy in society.
December 7, 2011 at 1:49 pm
I did that on a college level last spring. For a creative writing project I followed my roommate around all day who was a music major. Totally different than my life as a communications student/athlete, he spent more of his waking hours practicing in the music school than he spent them anywhere else.