The bigger issue, to me, is that management decided to stop using a cleaning service. The 30-employee workforce is now part of a cleaning rotation. So, once a week, we are all expected to stop what we're doing and spend 30 minutes to 2 hours cleaning something, depending on our assigned area.
Wow. You only clean (aside from desk clutter and kitchen spills) at work if:
(A) Your job is literally to be a full-time cleaner.
(B) You are a partner in the company (0.05% stock options don't count.)
Ask for (B)-- being a real owner means you do some of that unpleasant stuff-- but if that doesn't happen, then quit.
See, here's the thing: I'm actually pretty torn about whether I think the cleaning is an unreasonable request. On the surface, being asked to clean is not a big deal. I clean my bathroom at home, cleaning the one I use at work doesn't seem like a big deal. At the same time, as snooty as it sounds, my job is to write code, not to spray cleaner on a toilet bowl.
But it's what it says about the company that concerns me. It seems like they're saving pennies at the risk of employee happiness.
> On the surface, being asked to clean is not a big deal. I clean my bathroom at home...
You're tricking yourself into a false comparison here. It's your responsibility to clean up after yourself. You spill coffee in the break room, go get a paper towel and clean it up.
It's not your responsibility to clean for your company. Unless you applied to an unusual job posting, it never was. Vacuuming the hallways and scrubbing the office toilets is not cleaning up after yourself. It is cleaning up for your company.
> my job is to write code, not to spray cleaner on a toilet bowl.
There's nothing snooty about this. How do you think a janitor would react if their first day on the job they were sat down in a call center and told to answer phones?
Your company doesn't care about you and your job description has changed. Time to head for the exit.
EDIT: obviously if you're a partner in the company as Michael mentions things are different, but it certainly doesn't sound like you are.
Right; then what you describe sounds like nuclear-silo-klaxon warnings to me. If the decision-makers want to replace $x/hour janitors with $xx/hour developers, they probably understand neither the price nor value of anything.
Some deluded executives think that since developers aren't paid by the hour, their time is "free" (just tell the developers to work more hours per week to make up for the cleaning time). They'd never ask a consultant who billed by the hour to clean the bathrooms, since that would cost "real money".
They're surely not making savings. Your time doing your job is more valuable than cleaning things. They make a small (but easily defined saving) by not hiring a cleaner, and a much larger loss by having their staff stop doing their (presumably more expensive, skilled work) to clean things. What's your hourly rate? More than a cleaner?
It's not an unreasonable request to you, in that the company buys your time and this is what they want you to do. It's a fantastically unreasonable request if they're actually in business to make money and you should take a good look around at the company; this could be an early warning to jump ship. Be assured that other people are already thinking this, and that in such situations the people leaving first are the smarter, better employees; as each one leaves, the company will struggle a little bit more.
Edit: As I read your post, I heard this low blaring horn kind of noise, getting louder and louder, much as during Heath Ledger's scenes in Dark Knight. :p
I reckon you could probably have a go at estimating the new cost of cleaning by estimating how much time everyone spends cleaning and what their hourly rate is - this might give you a better idea of how badly things are really going. It might be really scary :)
> It's not an unreasonable request to you, in that the company buys your time and this is what they want you to do.
I disagree here. His company almost certainly hired him for a stated purpose, and that stated purpose almost certainly didn't mention a part-time stint as a janitor. The company doesn't (IMO) get to change the bounds of the employment agreement on a whim.
Wait a minute, I think I see what they're doing here. If they make these "requests" and you say no, then you're somehow a bad person for it. You don't want to come off as "dirty" or "snooty" or whatever, so you give in willingly. How evil!
Personally, as for having to clean a bathroom shared with 30 people at work? No way. Not unless I own the place, and can fire the bad ones who mess it up.
Also, it's up to you how you get your home cleaning done. You can hire a once-a-week maid service (it's not that expensive). You get to decide how clean you want your toilet bowl to be. It's your choice, though, and the only people you have to answer to (if applicable) are your family.
Having someone who can turn off your income and damage your professional reputation tell you that you have to drop everything at 4:00 and clean a toilet is a different thing altogether. That's ridiculous.
Again, if you're a real partner/owner (0.05% equity does not count) you do a bunch of undesirable work (including cleaning toilets, if it makes sense) because the buck stops with you. If you're an employee, you simply should not stand for this.
Wow. You only clean (aside from desk clutter and kitchen spills) at work if:
Ask for (B)-- being a real owner means you do some of that unpleasant stuff-- but if that doesn't happen, then quit.