How Passive Face Time Affects Perceptions of Employees
About two years ago, Wayne Weita, a 33-year-old producer and director in the media department at Management Recruiters, began going to work at 8 a.m. instead of everyone’s usual 8:30 a.m. start time.
He takes a half-hour lunch, then leaves at 4:30. He started this schedule so he could get his 18-month-old son to and from the babysitter’s house on time. He admits that he still occasionally feels as though he needs to slither out so no one sees him leaving early: ‘Sometimes, if I’m at the elevator and someone’s going downstairs for a drink or candy bar, I do try to throw a reason [for leaving early] into the conversation subtly’ (Joyce, 2002: H06).
As this quote illustrates, employees’ display of ‘face time’ at work can affect how others perceive them.
But, how much do managers perceptions of “face time” affect their perception and evaluation of employees?