Do Adults Ever Really Grow Up? The Workplace Is the Extended Classroom

Folks, let me warn you ahead of time; even though I have many different types of work experiences, I’ve done two things with my life since college: teach 5 and 7th grade and sell houses. So I relate back to these two experiences often because they have shaped me into the person that I am today.

As I was in the office today, checking my email or more like processing it, and I received at least 6 forwards with seasonal jokes and cartoon captions. Now, they were funny and even though I knew these emails had nothing to do with business, I couldn’t help but open them.

As I was reading and laughing, I found myself thinking about how much time is wasted throughout my business day skimming these hi-tech notes from my classmates, huh, excuse me, co-workers. The difference now is that it’s easier to hide these notes; you don’t have to ripe it up into little pieces or stick the note to the underside of a desk or chair with the gum you weren’t suppose to be chewing. As adults, we have the luxury of hitting delete or minimizing the window as our boss or nosey co-worker passes (you know the type: one that’s just itching to catch you doing something wrong).

Honest to God. I must spend at least an hour a day going through these emails and it’s a bit like the forbidden fruit syndrome.  ”Should I, or shouldn’t I?”

American workers, on average, spend 45 hours a week at work, but describe 16 of those hours as “unproductive,” according to a study by Microsoft. America Online and Salary.com, in turn, determined that workers actually work a total of three days a week, wasting the other two.

Time on task was a category I rated my 5 and 7th graders. If I had to rate myself, I would give me a satisfactory. I meet my quota on a regular basis and make up the hours some way, some how, which leads me to another topic. What’s the incentive these days for doing the right thing, other than the income that I am already promised through my contract with my employer?

The workplace is slowly, but surely becoming another battleground.  More and more Americans are putting in longer hours (70 hours per week is becoming the norm) and they’re taking work home with them, which could quite possibly be a direct result of procrastinating on the job.  I’m one of the 18 percenters who takes calls and responds to emails in the bathroom; fortunately, I’m never in there long enough to make it a habit, but I did drop my phone in the toilet once, which is a whole other soapbox session. Needless to say, what’s happening in corporate America is influencing the our overall quality of life.

Businesses that do not give enough recess or extrinsically motivate it’s employees, have a lot to answer for and ironically, as a teacher, I was against extrinsic motivation. I felt that my students should naturally want to do the right thing: keep on task; learn; do their homework. But the reality is that we all need a little materialistic push to keep on track no matter what stage in life we are at. What motivates us at 12 years old continues to motivate us at 30 and so on. So, if you’re employer was like me and forgot to do something nice, dust off that old suggestion box and start typing. If you don’t have a suggestion box, make one.  If you don’t ask, you will not receive.

Stats in the above post were publish in the NY Times Life Work’s Column by Lisa Belkin entitled: Time Wasted? Perhaps It’s Well Spent. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/fashion/31work.html