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posted by cmn32480 on Saturday May 30 2015, @06:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the work-sucks dept.

The workplace is where people go to work. But much of the day is increasingly padded out with less productive activities, writes Peter Fleming. A few years ago a disturbing story appeared in the media that seemed to perfectly capture the contemporary experience of work and its ever increasing grip over our lives: "Man Dies at Office Desk - Nobody Notices for Five Days".

The case was unnerving for one reason mainly. People die all the time, but usually we notice. Are things so bad in the modern workplace that we can no longer tell the difference between the living and the dead? Of course, the story turned out to be a hoax. An urban myth.

As it happens, each country has its own variation that still fools people when they periodically appear. In the US the dead person is a publisher. In other countries, a management consultant.

Apart from getting the actual task done, which is typically completed in short bursts, there is also a good deal of messing about, chatting, paying the bills, surfing the net, daydreaming and waiting for the day to finish. Most importantly, much of our day is spent busy being busy rather than doing things that are socially useful.

A recent study of overworked management consultants in the US found that 35% employed in this occupation actually "faked" an 80-hour work week. For various reasons these individuals pretended to sacrifice themselves on the altar of work and still got everything done.

In this respect, entire occupations might be considered phoney - from life coaches to "atmosphere co-ordinators" (people hired to create a party vibe in bars) to "chief learning officers" in the corporate world. For those economists trying to figure out the present "productivity puzzle" in the UK, best start looking here.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32829232

[Source]: http://www.city.ac.uk/news/2015/may/why-do-people-waste-so-much-time-at-the-office


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2015, @07:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2015, @07:22PM (#190196)

    Like my bumper sticker says "Managers are like diapers, full of shit and all over your ass". After 40 years at various jobs, I've only had one manager that was worth a shit, and got work done without a bunch of useless bullshit. All the others stick their nose in your work telling you how to do your job, without knowing what the hell they're talking about, useless meetings, and pawning his work off on others and taking credit for it. One of them almost got the business closed due to lowest profit in the company, he was the only one replaced and the business shot up to the top producer in the state.

  • (Score: 1) by jrial on Sunday May 31 2015, @07:52PM

    by jrial (5162) on Sunday May 31 2015, @07:52PM (#190473)

    There are good and bad managers, and I've worked for both. My current one is great. We share some smokes outside, we chat about the company or even personal stuff, and concerning my work, he just trusts me to do good work on my projects, but never checks up on me, just let's me work with the functionals who wrote the requirements and he just stays out of my hair. It's not often I left a company and including my manager in the list of people I'll miss, but since I got a better offer closer to home...

    --
    Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?