Human Resource Advice on Controlling Wasted Time at Work

We never waste time at work, do we?  Time wasting very quickly becomes an integral part of the workday and it is amazing how easily true time wasting activities become part of our regular daily routine.  Although most of us could make our own list of time-wasting activities without much effort, until someone points out some of them it just doesn’t seem to make much difference to our behavior.  So, here we go.  We are going to name our view of the top five workday time wasters that are also easy to address.

Time Waster No. 1:  Internet and Surfing—for personal use

Surfing the internet has to be near the top of anyone’s list.  The internet has been a godsend in terms of research and fetching great little bits of information we need or are curious about that is work-related.  However, there are a few types of sites that contribute greatly to the general waste of time at work.  It would probably be a very upsetting experience if you could assimilate everything that appears on everyone’s monitor every day.  The sense of lost time would be staggering.  One of the biggest culprits for making valuable time disappear would have to include online newspapers.  You could just about kiss an hour goodbye with whatever newspaper website you choose to browse.  (If you don’t believe that, test yourself.) but not at work of course.

Here’s an example you may not have thought of.

Believe it or not, pornography has found its way into the workplace.  Even more addictive than newspapers, some people seem to find it difficult to pull away from the lure of the (lascivious.) too sophisticated of a word possibly?  In the recent year or two, more and more employers are telling the sad stories of having to release otherwise valuable employees who began flitting away their work time surfing from one pornographic site to another.  It is hard for many of us who are not prone to addictive behavior to understand the pull it has on people; however, it is just as strong of a pull as alcohol or drugs.

Time Waster No. 2:  Email—especially personal email

All email creates a disruption to the concentration needed to carry out most of our workdays.  Common work patterns in many workplaces include among the first things we do every morning is to load our email client and begin pouring through all the “stuff” that has collected since the last thing we did yesterday—In many companies, email dominates the workplace much like e-messengers do.  People learn the habit and have the expectation that if you send an employee a message it will be immediately answered.  Teach your employees to set aside time—maybe two to three times a day—to process email requests and responses.

Of course, personal email should be saved for personal time.  Why is it employees expect to have open access to personal email when they would never expect to have the post office deliver their personal mail to their work address?

Time Waster No. 3:  Shortening the workday by coming late and leaving early

We have discussed in a previous article, “The Cost of Late Employees,” the cost to a business of arriving late but leaving early is just as big of a problem.  Do the math.  This is easy to address and you may be astounded at how much it costs you across all your employees in a year’s time.

Time Waster No. 4:  Socializing

There are a lot of surveys that will tell you that people stay in jobs (or leave jobs) because of: one, their relationship with their immediate supervisor and; two, their relationship with their coworkers.  That is true, and the estimates run about 80% as the greatest reason for staying or leaving.  However, as with every habit or routine, moderation is the key.  Some people act like they believe the whole workplace is a giant water cooler over which they can gossip and exchange all of life’s experiences on company time.  Excessive socializing needs policing and sometimes needs one-on-one conversations to keep it in check.  When the word is out that excessive socializing is being monitored, this time-waster will fall in scope.

Time Waster No. 5:  Perfectionism

Now here is one that probably would not jump out right away.  Perfectionism actually encompasses a couple of other time-wasting behaviors.  First, trying to do everything for yourself is one form of perfectionism. Some people seem to have the opinion that if they delegate something it just will not get done as well as it would if they just did it themselves.  Second, not valuing your own time by trying to do everything for everyone is another example—wasting time just trying to appear indispensable.

Contrary to some people’s popular belief, perfectionism is not a good behavior; it is considered a mental disorder.  This personally destructive eats time through the compulsive behavior of going through things over and over trying to make it “just right.”  Perfectionism differs from being diligent or having “attention to detail” by a matter of great degrees.  Changing the behavior of perfectionism takes patience to change and a lot of coaching and re-demonstrating proper behavior under the circumstances.

Now, it is your turn . . . .

There are enough time-wasters in every situation that we could probably make at least 10 top-5 lists and still have people say “Here’s another. What about this one . . . ?”  The purpose here is to simply bring to the forefront five of the most insidious timewasters that are also among those that are the easiest to address—the low hanging fruit of efficiency.  The key to finding timewasters and still making a good working environment is to adopt a philosophy of “all things in moderation.”  Look around your own office and you will be able to examine your own top-5.  That examination will most certainly make a considerable difference in the overall efficiency of your office.

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