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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
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday May 30 2015, @08:09PM
Nothing has changed. You only really get important things done at work before 9 am or after 5 pm. The rest of the time is just an endless stream of meetings and interruptions.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday May 30 2015, @10:57PM
Yes... get in before the 'head office' can fu*k you up, or stay after they have gone home.
In between, youu will be placing your head between your kneesand vomiting.
and yes, alcohol affects your tyoping!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 30 2015, @11:03PM
Stay at home and work?
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Sunday May 31 2015, @12:29AM
Great thing about working internationally. When I'm in Singapore it's 1500 before the first emails start arriving, and by the time
The bulk arrive in already on my second beer.
If I'm working in the states the emails tend to dry up about 1.00p givingr the whole afternoon uninterrupted.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Sunday May 31 2015, @06:10AM
I's been quite a while (see post above) since I did the corporate dance, but I knew damn well that all the Corporate managers, from VP up, left the office by 2PM latest. So no changes were going come down till around 8AM next day.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--