Looking busy vs actual productivity (apply, analysis, employers, job)

[tnff]

Anyone else notice in the modern office it seems the appearance of being busy counts for way more than actual results? I work in R&D where analysis is a key task. Yet it doesn't look like much is happening. It seems more and more bonus is going to those who act active vs those who are actually analyzing data and producing products.

[MLSFan]

boss: whatcha doing?
painter: watching paint dry
boss: how come?
painter: can't put next coat on until it's dry

you can looks bored while doing something important

[Hemlock140]

I don't care if my people look busy or not, as long as their work is getting done in a timely manner. It's up to a boss to have performance measurement tools, with measurable results to use at review time. I remember a previous job where I worked with developers on a customer information and billing system. Every project specified time for them to "think about it." How does one determine whether someone is daydreaming or analyzing a problem in their head?

[macroy]

Originally Posted by MLSFan

boss: whatcha doing?
painter: watching paint dry
boss: how come?
painter: can't put next coat on until it's dry

you can looks bored while doing something important

Yup -

And there's that other story about the mechanic. Asked to fix an engine, he looks around and hammers the engine.. engine sputters to life. Mechanic charges 1k. Manger gets upset and says you're charging me 1K just to hit my engine with a hammer? Mechanic responds: Nope - $10 for the hammering, $990 for knowing where to hammer the engine....

There's a million versions of this story.

I think people put too much these days on appearance. This can be how long you are seen (or not seen) at work, your desk, etc. None of these actually tells you how much work someone is actually producing.

[DorianRo]

Its smarter to just look busy. The more you actually get done, the more gets thrown on you with today's employers. Just pretend and act like you are getting so much accomplished. Its easy to BS everyone today. Because the corporate world is FULL of BS.

The people that put out the "illusion" of busy get promoted quicker than people that actually ARE Busy being productive

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by DorianRo

Its smarter to just look busy. The more you actually get done, the more gets thrown on you with today's employers. Just pretend and act like you are getting so much accomplished. Its easy to BS everyone today. Because the corporate world is FULL of BS.

The people that put out the "illusion" of busy get promoted quicker than people that actually ARE Busy being productive

Sad but very, very true.

[zilam98]

Originally Posted by DorianRo

Its smarter to just look busy. The more you actually get done, the more gets thrown on you with today's employers. Just pretend and act like you are getting so much accomplished. Its easy to BS everyone today. Because the corporate world is FULL of BS.

The people that put out the "illusion" of busy get promoted quicker than people that actually ARE Busy being productive

can't agree more! the more technically proficient you are with your job, the more they'll use you on that position, but not promote you as you are too good in that position. they'll promote the ones that "look" busy, but are busier hobnobbing with management--as they're not really technically proficient

[sholomar]

Yep. Boss yells at me for having my feet up yet I'm staring right at the screen that shows the product as it runs through the machine, meanwhile people 20 feet away ignoring their machine but standing up and talking get ignored or praised for being good workers.

The appearance of being busy or socializing has always counted for more in the workplace than sitting, even if the sitting is part of the job and the person is monitoring what they are supposed to be doing.

Bosses don't like it when you sit.

Then they invent these cleaning lists and what I like to call "pointless busywork" just to keep people from "doing nothing" ... meanwhile the web wraps and the machine goes down because we are busy doing this pointless cleaning list, cleaning things that are already clean, when we could have been sitting, watching the monitor or doing a walk from one end of the machine to the other making sure everything's good.

Middle management is all about image and looks good, rather than what is actually productive. Also climbing the ladder and looking good to the higher ups. It's all very nauseating to watch. Favoritism and the good ole boys club.. getting ahead being about who you know rather than the work you do... copy and paste this behavior to all corporations as they all read the same "productivity" books and try to apply them, talking about crap like "value vs non value added" and trying to motivate people to be slaves. Above poster is right, the more you do, the more they want, so there's no incentive to go batbleep crazy either.

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by stockwiz

Middle management is all about image and looks good, rather than what is actually productive. Also climbing the ladder and looking good to the higher ups. It's all very nauseating to watch. Favoritism and the good ole boys club.. getting ahead being about who you know rather than the work you do...

Yup.

[dumb]

We had a brief competition that lasted a month or two at one of my first retail jobs. The competition was to walk up and down the warehouse with a tool in your hand and pretend to be working until someone noticed. It started because one guy did it constantly and we figured it out before any supervisors did. So we thought what the hell, and we all started doing it. At one point we were all walking around in various locations with pieces of cardboard or whatever for hours pretending to work. Our boss went crazy, lined us up against a wall and screamed at us, but it was worth it.