Training Blog

There seems to be a growing number of employees who are working hard, but not at being productive instead they are working at looking busy and thus making them appear indispensable. This is because workers fear they will join the growing number of workers becoming unemployed if their bosses see how little work they have to do. As a result some engage in “busywork” such as reorganizing files while some attempt to trick their bosses into thinking they are working late nights. However this is not a phenomena that is confined to times of economic uncertainty even when the economy is good, some workers will go to great lengths to appear busy, but these people are usually the slackers who are bunking off on company time. When the economy turns for the worse, it’s only natural that every employee wants to look indispensable and some start using the same techniques perfected by the slacker in an attempt to secure their job.

Some workers will go to extreme lengths to convince their boss that their are indispensable:

• An attorney, who wanted the boss to think he was working late into the night, brought an oscillating fan to his office so that it would produce movement and the lights wouldn’t dim when he left his office.
• A sales associate refolds clothes even though they are folded perfectly already.
• A worker in the financial industry scatters papers on his desk.
• An advertising executive is busy but not at the advertising business. While at the office, he is designing toys for the baby he is expecting. His computer is facing toward the window in his office building so no one can see what he has on his computer screen.

In some cases spend their time with busywork because they have no real work to do. A professor argued that busywork probably does more for the individual’s psyche than for the company’s productivity. Some claim that busywork may have an individual value for the person who is doing it because it’s difficult going into work and having nothing to do, particularly if the person is used to having a substantial workload.

Basically if you are not productive the company will cease to exist as it is highly likely that you are not the only one doing busywork instead of work that is productive thus beneficial both to you and the company.