January 27, 2009

With layoffs looming, is busywork your friend?

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The New York Times raised an interesting point on Friday: Although many employees at companies shedding staff like dead skin now find themselves saddled with two and three times the workload they once had, many others find themselves embracing the busywork they used to dread for lack of any other work on their plate.

As the New York Times writes: "...now, when business is verrry slow and the possibility of layoffs icily real, looking busy is no joke. In retail and real estate, restaurants and law offices, many workers are working hard to look necessary -- even when they don't have all that much to do."

According to the article, some retail workers now find themselves folding, folding, and then folding clothes some more, both to pass the endless expanse of time and to appear payroll-worthy should any higher-ups pop into the store. Lawyers call clients and long-lost classmates just to check in and see if they need legal advice on something, anything. Real estate agents catch up on several years of paperwork and dust their now-barren desks. And maitre d's dote on the handful of customers in their barely populated restaurants as though they were A-list celebrities. 

Given yesterday's monumental nationwide layoff tally, it's not surprising that workers would do whatever it takes to look busy, even if it means pulling a George Costanza and soliciting a handful of friends to call them repeatedly with mock action items. But I have to agree with the management academics interviewed in the Times article: the real value in embracing busywork is the morale boost it gives you, no matter how fleeting.

If a company's not bringing in the business it needs, it doesn't matter how many sweaters you fold or how much housekeeping or outreach you do. The bottom line will still be the bottom line, and the numbers could catch up with you sooner or later. In the meantime, you might as well stave off some of that mind-numbing boredom and all-encompassing worry about if and when the axe might fall by inventing chores for yourself (and when nobody's looking, polishing up your resume).

As always, I'd like to hear what you think. If you're employed, what has the current economic sinkhole done to your workload? Are you drowning in it, or praying for a new stack of busywork to fall in your lap so you don't have to play another game of solitaire? Has busywork indeed become your lifeline at work, or is it still the same tedious chore it always was? 

Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail Michelle at mgoodman@nwjobs.com

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3 Comments

Andy Brucia on January 28, 2009 2:01 PM | Reply

Hi Michelle,

I write a reader blog on the Seatle PI about joblesseness, but do have a job currently.

In an environment like this one, where I can think of very few people who don't have it at least in the back of their mind that losing their job in the near future is at least possible, busy work is a way out of this scary mindset that is, in most circumstances, out of our hands anyway.

Work is often a healthy respite from grief, worry, and other difficulties. It is never good to avoid dealing with important life issues, but it also isn't healthy to obsess. Work can be a healthy habit during difficult times.

Work well and do your best. Don't participate in mudslinging and bitterness, not because you might get caught but because it is detrimental to character, and is no more realistic than a polyannish view of the world. Be real, and treat people with the respect you want returned to you.

I also don't submit to not making waves or trying to kiss up or anything. Be yourself, and trust that, and no matter what happens at work, you'll know who you are when you arrive home at night.

Carmen on February 3, 2009 4:37 PM | Reply

Why pretend to look busy? One can BE busy by using this opportunity to find innovative solutions that can help not themselves and their employer but also enhance business productivity to help the overall economy.

Carmen on February 3, 2009 4:39 PM | Reply

Why pretend to look busy? One can BE busy by using this opportunity to find innovative solutions that can help not only themselves and their employer but also enhance business productivity to help the overall economy.

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