Dear Bob ... Your comment regarding lack of IT personnel presence after 5:00 PM indicating complacency struck a dissonant chord with me. I believe that the aftermath of the bubble has finally damped down to employees putting their jobs in to perspective. The nature of the work place today leaves hard work and long hours at the bottom of the list of criteria for being one of the survivors of a RIF (reduction in f Dear Bob …Your comment regarding lack of IT personnel presence after 5:00 PM indicating complacency struck a dissonant chord with me. I believe that the aftermath of the bubble has finally damped down to employees putting their jobs in to perspective.The nature of the work place today leaves hard work and long hours at the bottom of the list of criteria for being one of the survivors of a RIF (reduction in force). And I would hazard a guess that very few IT shops have not faced one or more RIFs in the past few years. The psychological impact affects both the terminated and the surviving employees. Many of those who were cut wonder why they put in the hours only to be rewarded with a two month severance package and a COBRA bill so high it makes them ill. Furthermore, they wonder about the mediocre performer who happened to work the politics better and still has an income. The survivors are left trying to figure out how they made the grade when someone they viewed as an equivalent or even more qualified peer was cut.Most companies have been through this cycle multiple times as the economic downturn has lasted longer than anyone figured it would. After a while many people come to the conclusion that it is foolish to sacrifice time with their families for what seems to be a random possibility of survival the next time around. And most people are convinced there will be a next time around.You could make the argument that this behavior could be described as complacency, but I was still surprised at the management centric view you presented. Employees today are motivated by fear. Whether the fear is being intentionally induced or not is a debatable point, but it is still fear. Sure the contractors work late. They make more money if they work late. I would offer that the exempt employees would work late if they were offered something other than fear to motivate them. Either money or job security would work. Your suggestions, while theoretically viable, will not motivate employees who have become convinced that there is no point in believing they have a stake in the companies future.– On the other side of the issueDear Other Side … By itself, the 5pm ghost-town symptom is an ambiguous symptom, just as a fever doesn’t narrow down the possible range of ailments when a physician looks at a patient.Combined with the other warning signs I described, though it indicates something different from the kind of dispirited organization you describe.As for presenting a management-centric point of view: That’s what I do – provide IT managers with ideas about how to make their organizations more effective. Different circumstances call for different solutions, just as different diseases call for different remedies. Applying my recommendations for dealing with a complacent organization to one that’s dispirited – the situation you’re describing – would be just as wrong as recommending an emetic for someone suffering from bulemia. And there’s no question many IT shops are dispirited. It is, however, a different situation calling for a different kind of approach – the subject of an upcoming article.BTW: A point you missed – the contractor stayed on his own nickel because he thought it was important, not, as you suggested in your letter, because he made more money that way.– Bob ——– Technology Industry