A recent study by Workhuman has revealed that managers are more likely to be guilty of faking productivity—or fauxductivity—in the workplace than their employees. (Cue the disbelief from the cubicle farm.)
The 3Q Global Human Workplace Index survey reached out to 3,000 managers in the UK, U.S., and Ireland. The drop in actual – as opposed to fake – productivity is a measurable trend over more than a year. HR Dive reports that an analysis by leadership consulting firm EY-Parthenon showed that in the first quarter of 2023, workplace productivity fell by 2.7%, the fifth consecutive quarter in which worker productivity dropped.
Managers, in a tale as old as time, are suspicious that employees are not as busy as they say they are; 48% of managers felt that faking productivity is a common issue on their teams. But the article in Human Resources Director online says, “67% of non-managers denied faking productivity at work. In fact, the report found that the problem appears to stem from the top — with C-suite executives (38%) and managers (37%) admitting that they engage in fauxductivity. This is slightly higher than 33% average of all respondents, as well as 32% of non-managers.”
Managers are human, too, and many of them report faking productivity because they’re burned out or are “appeasing management.” (I suspect that’s the cause of 90% of fauxductivity.) They also cite “not having enough work to do” as a major cause of faking being busy. “Unrealistic expectations” is also high on the causation list.
That’s a good reason for leadership at every level to take a fresh look at position descriptions, workload, performance metrics, and output for everyone on a regular basis. And attitude: projection is a real issue for managers. Of the managers who admitted to faking activity, 69% said it’s a common issue on their team; only 37% of managers who don’t fake activity found it to be a problem. If your management team is grousing about lazy employees, it should be a red flag. About your management team.
Many managers blame remote work for dropping productivity, prompting a widespread return to the office movement over the past couple of post-pandemic years. Systems employers put in place to measure engagement were easily gamed. Mouse-jiggling became an art form when performance was measured by quantity of hours on the job rather than quality.
Wikihow actually has a tutorial on how to look busy, for those who returned to the office and couldn’t figure it out themselves. Sigh.
Parkinson’s Law says work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. Complex projects can be drawn out over long periods by procrastinators or by people who simply aren’t competent at what they do. Perfectionists who let the “perfect be the enemy of the good” are hard to root out and hard to coach; “I’m not turning it in until it’s right” almost always sounds like a good thing.
Toxic work cultures tend to burn employees out, and low-output workers may create contagious bad habits. In my experience, your best workers will quickly tire of carrying the team’s workload and being rewarded for doing great work with more work. It’s not uncommon to see a downward death spiral or productivity on a team with a few known slackers, especially if no one seems to face any consequences.
It’s a serious issue that, like most serious issues, makes for great comedy. To cheer you up, here’s my favorite Tik Tok account dedicated to the art and science of being fauxductive. (If you’re watching Tik Tok videos at the office, this account’s language is NSFW.)
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