COFFEE CHORES NOT A PERK.

Byline: KEN LLOYD On the Job

Q Among other responsibilities, I am supposed to bring coffee to my boss every morning, and serve coffee during his meetings. I like my work, and I wouldn't mind helping out and bringing coffee once in a while, but I resent having this as part of my job. Is this a common problem? P.S.

A The expectation that certain employees serve coffee to others has become a hot topic. Traditionally, serving coffee was often an implicit part of a secretarial job. Today most of the classical secretarial jobs have grown into administrative assistant positions that call for skills in such areas as computers, planning and organizing. Coffee serving skills do not fit into this picture.

On a broader basis, as company hierarchies have flattened, there has been increased emphasis on respect, open communication and treating all employees as resources. In this type of setting, employees are expected to help each other, but they are not expected to wait on each other. This means that administrative assistants are not expected to bring coffee to their managers, but would be willing to do so if the manager were in a crunch. For the most part, the manager gets his or her own coffee, and may even bring a cup for his or her administrative assistant.

It is just a matter of time before coffee duty is eliminated from job descriptions, but it is not going away without a fight. After all, there are still some executives who cling to this tradition as tightly as they cling to that first cup in the morning.

Q There is a new employee in our department who was spending huge amounts of time on personal calls. Our manager finally saw what she was up to and he told her to stop. Now she brings a cell phone and does the same thing, but claims it is her phone and she can make all the personal calls she wants. What do you think of this? S.K.

A Your telephonic co-worker is so far off the mark that she is in another area code. Although most employers do not want the employees using company's phones for personal calls unless there is a real emergency, that was obviously not the message your manager was sending to your associate. Rather, the point was that when employees come to work, if would be nice if they spent their time working.

It is remarkable that your associate thinks that as long as she uses her own equipment, it is totally acceptable to chat all day. Under her assumption, although your company might not want employees sleeping at their desks, it would be permissible to zonk out all day if the employees bring a desk from home.

You and your associates can certainly tell your co-worker that you need her help and would appreciate her spending less time on her cell phone and more time on her work. If she gives you static, then you should mention the problem to your manager. However, it sounds like your manager is part of the problem itself. After all, if he were spending more time with the troops, your co-worker would automatically be doing less dialing.

Q I work in accounts payable, and I had a great idea for an advertisement for our company. I wrote it up and gave it to my manager about six weeks ago, and that's the last I heard of it. I've asked my manager about it, and he said that he routed it to the general manager, and if there's any interest, I'll be contacted, which has not happened. Should I contact the general manager myself? T.D.

A Hopefully your ad did not say how much the company cares, because the way that you have been treated indicates that management is pretty careless. With increasing numbers of companies trying to foster two-way communication, creativity, and employee development, the idea of ignoring an employee's suggestion is a mistake.

Such treatment is upsetting, demoralizing, and demotivating, and it sends a broader message that management does not really care about the employees' ideas. In fact, this treatment can indicate that management does not really care about the employees, period.

Even if your ad was terrible, your next suggestion could save the company millions of dollars. But because you were ignored on this round, perhaps there won't be another one from you or from your associates.

You should discuss all of this with the general manager, and then ask for some feedback on your suggestion. If it ever arrives, listen to it carefully and keep it in mind as you develop your next suggestion. And, if the feedback never arrives, then you know exactly where you and your ad stand with this company.