Quote:
Originally Posted by Shane R
|
Yeah--those are studies that don't actually measure time/work. I have. We've done time-motion studies (and I've done them for dogs' years), and here's a surprise: yeah, it's true. Employees are MUCH happier when that have that Internet access, because on average, they will WASTE (not use productively, mind you) about 30-60 minutes PER WORKING DAY. No, that doesn't sound like a lot. It's viewed as, heck, right, it's like just sneaking a few minutes' extra around your smoke break, or cofee break, whatever, and "nobody gets hurt"--but
the average employee works 260 days/year. Now, let's assume it's
ONLY 20 wasted mnutes per day, and work up from there:
- 20 * 260 = 5,200 minutes/annum = 86.67 hours = 10.83 days/year your employer is paying for you to screw around.
- 30 * 260 = 7800 mins/annum = 130 hours = 16.25 working days/year your employer is paying for you to screw around.
- 45 * 260 = 11,700 mins/annum = 195 hours = 24.38 days that your employer is paying you to screw around. And the winner:
- 60 * 260 = 15,600 mins/annum = 260 hours = 32.50 working days per year--more than a month of time--that your employer is paying you to screw around.
It's just not that hard to blow 20 minutes a day Facebooking, Tweeting, etc. it isn't. I know exactly how much time *I* blow in a day, doing stuff like this--posting on MR, etc. if someone telecommutes for me, and works on a per-book basis, I don't care what they do, as long as the work IS done. However, in many jobs, people are paid HOURLY. Then, I, and other employers, DO care. Let's say, for ease of math, in the above scenarios, the person is making a simple $10/hour (with an 82% burden uplift--payroll taxes, health insurance, paid vacation, etc., to indicate true costs):
- 86.67 hours x $18.20/hour = $1,577.39/annum time being paid for not worked.
- 130 hours x 18.20 hour = $2,366.00/annum, time being paid for not worked.
- 195 hours x 18.20 hour = $3,549.00/annum, time being paid for not worked, and,
- 260 hours x 18.20 hour = $4,732.00/annum, time being paid for not worked.
Now, maybe people look at this and think, "hey, so what? It's not my problem," but trust me: those of you buying things pay for it somewhere, because employers, even little-bitty guys like me?--we gotta get it somewhere. Money doesn't simply appear out of thin air. When I'm paying someone salaried, not hourly, and they work 60/hours/week, I don't care if they FB, Tweet, or, frankly, run around the office naked 5x weekly, hooting like an owl. As long as they get their work DONE. They have priorities, task lists, etc. But someone paid by the hour, without a set amount of work, other than, "respond to what comes in," or handle customer service? That's simply different. I try not to be Simon Legree, I mean it, but...you need to realize that most companies (the majority of businesses in the world are small businesses) aren't made out of piles of cash. Every penny counts, and $5K a year, for "not-work" really matters. It certainly would to me. I just don't have $5K/annum/per employee to blow--and THAT is at the imaginary $10/hour rate!! Imagine what it is for those people being paid more!
(And really: think of this: you walk into McDonald's, or your favorite Pizza joint, whatever, and you SIT. Or you stand at the counter. While the chick behind the counter surfs Facebook. Forget the costs, everything else: how would you FEEL, as a customer of that business? That
her Facebooking is more important than YOU????)
Quote:
|
Obviously, this won't work for every type of job (customer facing jobs, as an example), but it's true for Joe Schmoe office jobs.
|
Really--it's not. You may view it as different, but work's work. I can't speak to what you do, because I don't know what it is, but I certainly know, pre-Facebook, pre-computers, or now--
what a blown hour of time daily looks like from an employee, of WHATEVER make or model. I've seen it for ages, and putting a new face on it (yes, pun intended) doesn't change what it is, and what it isn't. It's just paid-for time being not-worked.
Quote:
|
The world has changed a lot. People are more connected and are expected to be reachable. And most do a good job of managing the flow without compromising the quality of their work. It's a genie that's not going back into the bottle.
|
My view is, it's simply noisier and more egocentric. ME! ME! ME! look at ME! ME! ME on Facebook! Look at my SELFIE!!! Ooooh, look at me and my DOG!
That's not "connected."
That's just noise for the sake of attention-seeking.
And the helicopter-parenting crap?
OMG...don't get me started on that. I see these ridiculous lines of parents, all lined up at schools, to pick their kids up, like their little legs would fall off if they got up off their duffs and walked home--really? Somehow, I and my sibs all managed to schlep 2+ miles to school every day, each way, and none of us died, had our legs fall off...we didn't get in cars of strangers, we didn't get abducted. And no: we didn't need to be supervised 24/7, with text messages, phone calls, GPS...what's next? Sticking a tracking chip in a kid's neck, like SPOT, and watch him all day long, so you know every step he takes? What a stifling existence. For everyone concerned.
I recently watched someone--who has phones practically glued to her head all day, monitoring not only her own, MORE-than-adult kids, (she has a grandchild in college, mind you), but her grandkids--practically organize an entire moving party for a grandchild, to go to college. I mean, the whole fam damily went. Carried his stuff, packed his bags, made sure he didn't forget anything. UHRRRR? Jesus wept, back in my day, we got packed off to boarding school, and if we forgot something, TOUGH. I was nearly half the age that this kid is now, when I was expected to pack my OWN stuff and travel by bloody train to school, on my OWN. Soldiers are younger than this kid, when they fight. It's a ridiculous level of gross over-supervision and coddling.
My point is: that's not "connection." That is something else altogether, and this watch? It's just a step further down that path. It's
CREEPY. (Isn't there some cheap-o TV show out there with this very plotline? I saw this go by on Netflix, or something? Uber-popular, hip "watches" that actually allow the government to monitor you? And folks are pissy about the NSA and metadata???? But they want THIS?? NOOO thanks. I'll take my heart attack when it comes,
rather than tag myself like damn dog.)
The "not-working?" That's between people and their employer, but I suspect if they had actually done time-motion studies and keystroke/activity logs, they'd be pretty damn surprised. Internet activity for employees DOES, sure, create "more satisfied" employees--but
it's an expensive PERK for employers to provide to those whose internal barometers of honesty aren't working that great.
Hitch