Who is more committed to their work — the office strivers who toil away industriously every day in order to build a successful business, or the kind of employees who spend half their day loitering by the coffee maker and tweeting their lunch adventures? The answer isn’t as obvious as you might think.
A new survey by Leadership IQ found that in 42 percent of companies, slackers report having the highest levels of satisfaction and engagement in their jobs. And why not? The Wall Street Journal explains that bosses are partially to blame for this phenomenon because they assign the slackers the easy projects. So instead of being stressed out at work, they generally have little trouble accomplishing their tasks. After all, diminished expectations are easier to achieve.
To keep reading, click here: 4 Signs You’re a Slacker
“After all, diminished expectations are easier to achieve.”
This is the problem I have with the whole “meets, exceeds, whatever, expectations” parts of performance reviews.
I can do an excellent job but never “exceed” expectations unless my manager had low expectations. And in that case, he probably wouldn;t notice me doing a great job. Ugh..
Vicki, it’s supposed to be if you meet the expectations of the job, not of your capabilities.
Now, whether your boss does that or not, I don’t know. But that’s how it’s supposed to be.
Well, to be fair….I’ve only been there for two months! 😉
Seriously, I like being busy. It makes the day go faster. I just don’t like getting killed every day. I think workers who are loaded down all the time are more likely to slack when they can, as a form of rebellion–or perhaps, just to stay sane.
Yes! My Org Behavior prof in grad school said, “There is no research to support the claim that happy employees are more productive employees. They could be happy because they spend all day goofing off. Slaves are very productive.”
That sounds like a great headline.
I don’t know if happy employeese are automatically better, but I do know that unhappy employees can ruin a business. I’ve been there, where morale had not only been flushed down the toilet but had gone throught the sewers and was being processed at the municipal treatment plant. Dept managers gathered together for a kvetching session every afternoon. Not only was staff fleeing like rats off a sinking ship but the new senior VP was throwing people under the bus in an attempt to show who was boss. People who left weren’t being replaced and their duties weren’t even being reassigned. Piles of paperwork were left on desks. Quite suddenly the firm relocated itself to another state and restarted from scratch. Then it shut down again and a rival bought its assets.
there will always be slackers – i say take charge of your career and find places where they pull you up instead of dragging you down into the muck.