With my thanks for the laugh to Golden Jokes for this great joke on tracking wasted time on a time sheet: Dear Staff, In an effort to maximize productivity in our department I will be implementing a tool used in many industries. You will be tracking your time working on certain activities and sending me a time sheet weekly showing me how your time has been spent. Attached below is a sheet specifying a job code list based on some observations of employee activities. Please begin using this job code list immediately and let me know about any difficulties you encounter. Thank you. Your boss. Code Number Explanation 5316 Useless Meeting 5317 Obstructing Communications at Meeting 5318 Trying to Sound Knowledgeable While in a Meeting 5319 Waiting for Break 5320 Waiting for … [Read more...]
Workers’ Average Commute Round-Trip Is 46 Minutes in a Typical Day
The results from the Gallup Organization's annual Work and Education survey show the average American averages 46 minutes commuting to and from work in a typical day. If you take out those who work at home, the average increases to 48.1 minutes per day. However, if you have above-average income and work more than 40 hours a week, your commute is greater than the average, and so is your stress level. Since the advice "move, earn less, and work fewer hours" doesn't work, let me instead give you some ideas to make your commute more productive, efficient, and stress-free: Use the phone. Now I’m one of those people who get aggravated while people are chatting away on their cell phones while driving…generally because they’re not, well, driving. Many people have no idea how slowly they’re … [Read more...]
Being Productive While Working Out of a Suitcase
Not everyone has the natural ability to live out of a suitcase or do business from a laptop bag. However, with a little practice, you can learn how to make the most of your travel time. It’s amazing what you can get done when you put some miles between yourself and the usual distractions of everyday life.So how do you make the most of your time away? Here are some tips that work for me. I hope a few of them will help you become as efficient when you’re away from the office as you are when you’re there.Pack efficiently. It all starts with being organized and thinking ahead. Did you ever stay up half the night packing and spend an entire trip frustrated, exhausted, and wondering what it is you forgot? Don’t let it happen again. It’s pretty rare that a trip will pop up at the last minute, but … [Read more...]
Management of Mobile Workers
According to Interactive Data Corporation (IDC), mobile workers will account for one quarter of the world’s working population by 2009. As a manager and/or as a organization, you must be able to hire the right people for this type of position, as not every person is suited. Back in 2004, I identified the personality traits required people who successfully telecommute: 1. Self-Motivated—Do you tend to get things going on your own, or do you prefer to be directed by others? Are you the type that when someone says, “Here’s this project, go figure out how to do it, the deadline’s this,” you get it done. 2. Disciplined—Do you have to push yourself to work your hours? Do you procrastinate? Do you stay strapped … [Read more...]
Addicted to Email
I have a friend who jokes there are always three people in her bed: herself, her husband, and her Blackberry. I was in California last week on vacation with my family and witnessed people typing away on their Blackberries while at Disneyland, with their children tugging at their pants legs, asking to go see Cinderella. I was presenting a seminar yesterday, and one participant kept looking up to say, "Would you repeat that"? not because I wasn't clear, but because she wasn't paying attention to me---you got it---checking her email during class. Examples abound but the bottom line is Americans are addicted to email. Slaves to the Send/Receive button, countless workers sit at their desks, waiting for the next Desktop Alert, beep, cursor change, envelope in … [Read more...]
2007 Wasting Time Survey from Salary.com
The 3rd annual Salary.com "Wasting Time Survey" for 2007 reports that the average employee wastes 1.7 hours of a typical 8.5 hour work day. Salary.com reports that figure is down from the 2.09 hours wasted per day in 2005. The #1 culprit of wasted time? Internet use at 34.7%. Followed by socializing with co-workers (20.3%) and conducting personal business (17.0%). Over 63 percent of respondents admitted to wasting time at work. The 20-29 year olds waste almost twice as much time (2.1 hours) compared to 40-49 year olds (1.4 hours). Keep in mind this does not take into account how much work people are doing at home and on weekends, however. What, do you think people aren't conducting business while at home? Of course they are! In my opinion, they might be asking the wrong … [Read more...]
How to Look Like a Workaholic in a 40-Hour Workweek
In a perfect world, we would be judged solely on our results, regardless of what others thought about how or when we got our work done. The good news is that this type of “results only” mentality is catching on. Some companies and managers are beginning to realize that there are better ways to manage performance than by counting hours at the office. Organizations are responding to the changing needs of workers everywhere by offering arrangements such as flex-time and telecommuting. The bad news is that, like it or not, corporate mentality is what it is. The 40-hour week is not just an expectation; it’s the minimum, especially for salaried professionals. Self-proclaimed workaholics advertise their twelve hour days like a badge of honor and wouldn’t be caught dead leaving the office … [Read more...]
American Time Use Survey 2006: no wonder women are so tired!
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the results of its annual American Time Use Survey for 2006 on June 28, 2007, which is actually conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. You can sift through all the data files and accompanying documentation, but let me save you some time and summarize some interesting results. Of full-time workers, men work 8.4 hours a day on average, while women work 7.7. But 52 percent of women cleaned each day, while only 20 percent of men clean each day. 65 percent of women cook each day and only 37 percent of men. Men average 5.7 hours of leisure a day, and women average 4.9 hours. Women spend 1.2 hours a day caring for children, while men spend .4 hours. Men spent more time watching television and participating in … [Read more...]
Running productive teleconferences
Your marketing team is based in Chicago, and you work from your home office in Denver, and the salespeople work from remote field sites all over the globe. You need to connect voice-to-voice to discuss next quarter’s sales efforts and don’t have the budget to travel to a central location. It takes a great deal of energy attempting to connect with each person individually. Teleconference, to the rescue! Teleconferences can be a great way to connect virtual teams from around the world. They are less expensive than face-to-face meetings, often take less time, and allow teams to communicate more informally, ask questions, and solve problems better than through email. Holding one should be a no-brainer. What can be so hard about a group of people … [Read more...]
Gartner: The 40-Hour Workweek Era Is Ending
Here we go again: another report showing us how much technology is going to save us time and reduce the American workweek. Didn't we hear this 20 years ago? How we would all have so much extra time on our hands due to technological improvements? That's just like the "paperless office," which of course is a joke, since we generate much more paper now than before the advent of the computer. A Gartner research report released on May 30 says that by 2015, workers will be working 20 hours instead of 40. It argues that workers are seeking a more fulfilling life balance and employers better catch on if they want to retain good employees. They sort of forget to consider that many people consider working an ecomomic reality and can't afford to drop … [Read more...]
