A French electricity board worker is in trouble with her bosses after writing a guide on how to survive in the French corporate world without doing any work. Corinne Maier's tongue-in-cheek book Bonjour Paresse, or Hello Laziness, has earned her a disciplinary hearing. Hello Laziness or "the art of doing the least work possible for your employer" was written as a comic antidote to all the "how to succeed" management books. But sadly, Ms Maier's bosses haven't seen the funny side. She is an economic advisor at the French state-owned electricity board (EDF), which is currently facing partial privatisation - to make it more efficient. EDF bosses seem to feel the book reflects badly on them, though the company is never mentioned by name. Bonjour Paresse chapter headlines:
The Morons Who Are Sitting Next To You
Business Culture, My Arse
Why You Can't Lose By Resigning
Corporate Culture - Stupid People | Sounds like the French "Dilbert" |
With chapter headings such as Corporate Culture - Stupid People, and swipes at useless middle management, it has certainly touched a raw nerve. But it was Ms Maier's advice to readers that probably stung the most: "You don't have much to lose if you don't do much at work," she wrote, telling readers to choose the most useless sort of job - become a consultant, an expert or an adviser.
Ms Maier isn't sure what to expect at her disciplinary hearing on 17 August. But when it happens, she'll almost certainly arrive with a bulging bundle of files under her arm - the best way, she says, to avoid questions from your boss about what exactly it is you have been doing all day.
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