Clickaholic

I wonder how many managers realise just how many apparently under utilised staff they have.

My observations are hardly scientific, but I while we were out for dinner last night, and again while I was having coffee this morning, the conversations I overheard on both occasions were almost identical.

In both cases people at adjoining tables were contemplating the upcoming working week. The upshot of both conversations was something like this:

“Guess I’ll be spending most my time on the web. Same old same old. Work would be really boring if it weren’t for the net!”

For all I know the places these people work at may be going through a routine quiet period.

Then again maybe not. I’ve heard some incredible stories of “jobs that have no work (whatsoever)”. Where “pretending to look busy” is the only work involved. And I don’t mean in a Tristar sort of way either.

There have been occasions where I have worked somewhere and things have gone “quiet” for a week or two. I’ve even had the odd manager say to me, “you know, just try and look busy for the next couple of days.”

And “the next couple of days” is fine. I can manage that. But how about trying that for longer periods? Like months, or in some cases, years?

If an employer keeps staff hired on that sort of basis, year after year, I guess that is their… prerogative.

But how about you, as a worker, being in that sort of position? Wouldn’t you honestly feel, after a time, you were wasting time. Banking a “free” pay cheque is one thing, but how about gaining a sense of fulfilment and achievement from your work? That hardly happens when all you do is “pretend to look busy” all day.

And just as well we have the internet, hey? What on Earth would the “look-busies” do otherwise for eight hours?