The Sloth Ethic

“In other words, what looks like wasting time from where you sit, could be a whirl of creative thought from where I sit. And, with due respect to Mr. Gilbreth, all the energy that’s been poured into trying to force everyone to work at the same pace and in the same way — it seems that’s the real waste of time.”

“Time Wasted? Perhaps It’s Well Spent” is an article by Lisa Belkin in the New York Times which examines whether trying to be too productive can be unproductive. It examines whether by trying to work too hard, we end up wasting time, and quotes Bob Kustka, the founder of a consultancy called Fusion Factor as saying “The longer you work, the less efficient you are.”

The article also quotes him as saying that workers are like athletes, in that they are most efficient in concentrated bursts. This is certainly true for me, although I would compare myself less to an athlete, and more to a lion. Occasionally I rouse myself to a burst of spectacular effort, cutting a swathe through a panicking herd of things to do. Then I sit in the sun for several days blinking a lot, and occasionally yawning.

(Photo thanks to Stathis1980)

Lisa’s article concludes by looking at some companies who are taking a different approach to work. Particularly interesting is the concept of ROWE, which has been adopted by the Best Buy headquarters. ROWE stands for Results Only Work Environment, which is management jargon for the very sensible concept that as long as the necessary things get done, who gives a toss how they get done.

“There, workers can come in at four or leave at noon, or head for the movies in the middle of the day, or not even show up at all. It’s the work that matters, not the method. And, not incidentally, both output and job satisfaction have jumped wherever ROWE is tried.”

It’s not surprising really, and it boils down to something very simple: if you treat workers like people, rather than components, and grown-up people at that, they will act like it. Now, if I were a consultant, I would charge you two thousand dollars for that. But I’m not, and this is the Sloth Ethic, so I’m going to have a cup of tea and sit in the garden watching the clouds go by. Have a nice weekend.

Tags: "work ethic", getting things done, productivity, work