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.
Chapter titles include 'The Morons Who Are Sitting Next To You', 'Business Culture, My Arse', 'Why You Can't Lose By Resigning', and 'Corporate Culture - Stupid People.'
"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.
But sadly, Ms Maier's bosses haven't seen the funny side, said the BBC.
Maier, 40, is an economic advisor at the French state-owned electricity board (EDF), which is currently facing partial privatisation - to make it more efficient. Her observations will fuel the debate in France about the 35-hour week, with some employers beginning to demand longer hours for the same pay as a condition for not relocating to the new EU member states, said the Telegraph, London.
Mrs Maier, who has a doctorate in psychoanalysis, said yesterday that while she had drawn on her experiences at EDF, her book was based mainly on her observations, and those of friends, of the private sector, the Telegraph said.
"I do not believe I have any reason to fear disciplinary action," she said. "I have done no wrong. Like Edith Piaf, I have no regrets." EDF declined to comment pending disciplinary proceedings. It has ordered Mrs Maier to attend an internal hearing next month.
But in a letter it accused her of reading newspapers during meetings and "spreading gangrene through the system from within".
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, the BBC said.
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