Laziness in the work place
Discussion
Am sure many of us have experienced the lazy bone idle colleagues or even managers in our work lives. Some of us may even be that kind of person.
So what is the cause of this kind of attitude in the work place? Is it due to a lack of pressure from up top (lousy management), no opportunity for further job progression or simply a case of contentedness with the position they are in? Maybe its because they know that putting in that extra effort is unlikely to lead to any reward or acknowledgment.
So what is the cause of this kind of attitude in the work place? Is it due to a lack of pressure from up top (lousy management), no opportunity for further job progression or simply a case of contentedness with the position they are in? Maybe its because they know that putting in that extra effort is unlikely to lead to any reward or acknowledgment.
Vyse said:
Maybe its because they know that putting in that extra effort is unlikely to lead to any reward or acknowledgment.
Just about everybody acts from self interest, and if they don't, they should.A good employer will ensure that what is good for the firm is also good for the employee, and that the employee is aware of that. Different techniques of carrot and stick application will be necessary with different employment situations and different employees.
>GeneralisationAlert<
It's due to the appalling middle management culture in the UK. I also blame the UK's terrible productivity rate on the same issue.
In most organisations, mediocrity is the goal. Senior managers don't want to be shown up, so they (over?)promote ineffective 'yes-men' into middle management posts: not bright enough to be a threat, but equally useless at motivating employees and delivering productive change.
It's due to the appalling middle management culture in the UK. I also blame the UK's terrible productivity rate on the same issue.
In most organisations, mediocrity is the goal. Senior managers don't want to be shown up, so they (over?)promote ineffective 'yes-men' into middle management posts: not bright enough to be a threat, but equally useless at motivating employees and delivering productive change.
V8mate said:
>GeneralisationAlert<
It's due to the appalling middle management culture in the UK. I also blame the UK's terrible productivity rate on the same issue.
In most organisations, mediocrity is the goal. Senior managers don't want to be shown up, so they (over?)promote ineffective 'yes-men' into middle management posts: not bright enough to be a threat, but equally useless at motivating employees and delivering productive change.
The peter principle, promote someone into a position until they are in a position that they cant do and fail at.It's due to the appalling middle management culture in the UK. I also blame the UK's terrible productivity rate on the same issue.
In most organisations, mediocrity is the goal. Senior managers don't want to be shown up, so they (over?)promote ineffective 'yes-men' into middle management posts: not bright enough to be a threat, but equally useless at motivating employees and delivering productive change.
We used to celebrate mediocrity where I work, sometimes meetings with the staff would end in such an anti-climax due to someone being awarded a reward for someone senior simply recognising that they had done their job. How not to motivate your staff and then on the flip side Im quite junior (apparently) so they didn't want to be seen to be rewarding me for doing 4 other senior members of staffs jobs, so I was taken alone into a meeting room and handed a brown envelope. Which I refused to accept (for comedy value) and put in a complaint to HR about it feeling a bit weird.
This has all changed now in the most part.
Many years ago I used to be that sort of person, seen as bone idle in the work place and always seen by management as the lazy ass.
It was brought up a few times in a generic stance in team meetings about staff pulling their weight, frankly I paid no attention to it and carried on as usual... only once when it was brought up in a performance review did anything come to light and they left me alone.
Why did they leave me alone???
Well the management was new and brought in, as my 2 previous managers (line and his boss) decided to do something different and we merged with another team, their big boss had never met me, only saw that I enjoyed a laugh,etc...
What he didn't know is that the system that the whole team was using was wrote by 3 of us, so we knew it inside and out, hell even blindfolded we could work faster than anyone else. Also I taught his whole team on how to use the system, which he was unaware of.
In truth I actually did more work than 3 of their team combined and was actually asked to slow down by my line manager (unknown by the boss in review) as I was going through the tasks too fast, in the end I was just bored. As with anything if you know it too well, its not a challenge anymore and hence I could be seen to be having a laugh at work with the other 2 people who created the system, in reality if they just gave us all the work, the team we merged with could be made redundant and they didn't want that, so asked us to slow down.
Big boss decided to put us all on a work improvement program and training for our attitude to work... all 3 of us quit in less than 6 weeks and Big boss had to explain to his boss (he got an email explaining why we all quit together) as to what the hell he was playing at, Big boss went on stress leave, the system ground to a halt as the team didn't know how to enhance sections, Big boss was fired 4 months after we left.
Laziness in work I don't agree with, but if someone assumes you are lazy because they never see you do any work, then its often amusing to prove them wrong...
Now I just work smarter, not harder and make sure they don't see me enjoy work as much.
It was brought up a few times in a generic stance in team meetings about staff pulling their weight, frankly I paid no attention to it and carried on as usual... only once when it was brought up in a performance review did anything come to light and they left me alone.
Why did they leave me alone???
Well the management was new and brought in, as my 2 previous managers (line and his boss) decided to do something different and we merged with another team, their big boss had never met me, only saw that I enjoyed a laugh,etc...
What he didn't know is that the system that the whole team was using was wrote by 3 of us, so we knew it inside and out, hell even blindfolded we could work faster than anyone else. Also I taught his whole team on how to use the system, which he was unaware of.
In truth I actually did more work than 3 of their team combined and was actually asked to slow down by my line manager (unknown by the boss in review) as I was going through the tasks too fast, in the end I was just bored. As with anything if you know it too well, its not a challenge anymore and hence I could be seen to be having a laugh at work with the other 2 people who created the system, in reality if they just gave us all the work, the team we merged with could be made redundant and they didn't want that, so asked us to slow down.
Big boss decided to put us all on a work improvement program and training for our attitude to work... all 3 of us quit in less than 6 weeks and Big boss had to explain to his boss (he got an email explaining why we all quit together) as to what the hell he was playing at, Big boss went on stress leave, the system ground to a halt as the team didn't know how to enhance sections, Big boss was fired 4 months after we left.
Laziness in work I don't agree with, but if someone assumes you are lazy because they never see you do any work, then its often amusing to prove them wrong...
Now I just work smarter, not harder and make sure they don't see me enjoy work as much.
Vyse said:
Am sure many of us have experienced the lazy bone idle colleagues or even managers in our work lives. Some of us may even be that kind of person.
So what is the cause of this kind of attitude in the work place? Is it due to a lack of pressure from up top (lousy management), no opportunity for further job progression or simply a case of contentedness with the position they are in? Maybe its because they know that putting in that extra effort is unlikely to lead to any reward or acknowledgment.
Access to Pistonheads?So what is the cause of this kind of attitude in the work place? Is it due to a lack of pressure from up top (lousy management), no opportunity for further job progression or simply a case of contentedness with the position they are in? Maybe its because they know that putting in that extra effort is unlikely to lead to any reward or acknowledgment.
I've been working for a number of years and I'd say that at least 70% of people under perform. Not everyone can be fighter pilots or brain surgeons, the majority of jobs especially "office work" or most things in the service industry are just mind numbingly boring.
I don't think we were really designed to sit in a metal and glass building for hours on end staring at computer screens. I am not in the least surprised therefore that the majority of people do as little as possible, take their pay cheque and can't wait to go home and do something more interesting. Work on the whole is boring and not many people would do it if they didn't have to, are you therefore surprised at the lack of motivation?
For what it's worth I actually quite enjoy what I do and find it fairly challenging but even I would rather not work if I didn't have to.
I don't think we were really designed to sit in a metal and glass building for hours on end staring at computer screens. I am not in the least surprised therefore that the majority of people do as little as possible, take their pay cheque and can't wait to go home and do something more interesting. Work on the whole is boring and not many people would do it if they didn't have to, are you therefore surprised at the lack of motivation?
For what it's worth I actually quite enjoy what I do and find it fairly challenging but even I would rather not work if I didn't have to.
There are multiple causes but one is culture combined with work ethic.
In the 70s I did a student exchange in the US. So one week, at 20 years old, I was working (saving for my air fare) in a UK furniture factory where the attitude was do as little as possible for the money. There were union negotiated breaks for tea/coffee plus smoking breaks causing the production line to stop almost hourly. It was depressing. The next week I had a job in the US is a garage pumping gas and helping with simple repairs and servicing. The boss would never allow anyone to be idle, ever. We clocked in after we were ready to start work and kept at it. It was exactly the same in all the jobs I had during that year. Decades later I worked in Germany in a senior management role and the ethic was similar to the US though workers had far better rights and protection.
Things have improved in the UK since but there is still a lot of slack management around IMHO.
In the 70s I did a student exchange in the US. So one week, at 20 years old, I was working (saving for my air fare) in a UK furniture factory where the attitude was do as little as possible for the money. There were union negotiated breaks for tea/coffee plus smoking breaks causing the production line to stop almost hourly. It was depressing. The next week I had a job in the US is a garage pumping gas and helping with simple repairs and servicing. The boss would never allow anyone to be idle, ever. We clocked in after we were ready to start work and kept at it. It was exactly the same in all the jobs I had during that year. Decades later I worked in Germany in a senior management role and the ethic was similar to the US though workers had far better rights and protection.
Things have improved in the UK since but there is still a lot of slack management around IMHO.
I work from home ^^ Believe me people would know if I did sweet FA - Like browsing PH for example..... But I manage my own time and get things done very fast.
I work in a global team of 9 engineers and I think there are only 3 of us that do anything at all. I am trying, for my own interest, to encourage one of these lazy sods to pick up tickets and work things out; some encouragement, skype calls and often (as this person is very junior) some help to work things out. Must say I am actually getting somewhere now and seeing visible signs of improvement as are other people.
I think half the problem is that the team is so geographically detached, also culturally diverse and there is most definitely a language barrier that people almost feel left out. But speak to these people, try involve them a little if needed and things vastly improve.
- Like browsing PH for example..... But I manage my own time and get things done very fast.I work in a global team of 9 engineers and I think there are only 3 of us that do anything at all. I am trying, for my own interest, to encourage one of these lazy sods to pick up tickets and work things out; some encouragement, skype calls and often (as this person is very junior) some help to work things out. Must say I am actually getting somewhere now and seeing visible signs of improvement as are other people.
I think half the problem is that the team is so geographically detached, also culturally diverse and there is most definitely a language barrier that people almost feel left out. But speak to these people, try involve them a little if needed and things vastly improve.
At the places I've worked at everyone seems to have a 'stick it to the man' attitude. People will go out of their way to be disobedient and say things like "why should I work hard when the bosses are sitting on their arses in the office?". I've never felt like that towards my bosses - I don't feel any jealousy or envy because they're higher up than me. I do my job the best I can because someone is spending their own money on a product I'm making, and I want them to be happy with what they receive, as I would if I was in their shoes.
From my experience, there seems to be a large part of the population just floating through their career not actually caring about how much work they do as it isn't actually what they want to do. But, they're too s*** scared to make the change as many people have houses, kids, partners to take into consideration.
There are also many people who are just plain rubbish at working!
There are also many people who are just plain rubbish at working!
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