Slacker als symptoom

Veel werkgevers geloven dat het opbouwen van een team hun enige doel is. Maar IT-ontwikkelaars vinden dat het team periodiek moet worden getest op de aanwezigheid van nietsnutten Volgens de statistieken besteden werknemers in bedrijven met meer dan 50 mensen 38% van de tijd aan hun directe verantwoordelijkheden, 36% - aan werkgerelateerde zaken en 26% - aan niet-definieerbare activiteiten.

Deze cijfers zijn afkomstig van de ontwikkelaars van CleverControl software voor het monitoren van werknemers. Volgens hen kwam het idee voor het programma voort uit het besef dat elk bedrijf goed draait onder één voorwaarde - wanneer alle werknemers eerlijk en verantwoordelijk zijn. Twee bedrijven in dezelfde markt met gelijke beginvoorwaarden kunnen dramatisch verschillende resultaten hebben, omdat de ene commercieel directeur eerlijk was, en de andere extra inkomsten kreeg van concurrenten van bedrijven.

"We thought about how to give managers a reliable tool for understanding who is who in the team: who is actually working and who just talks about it," says one of the lead developers Mark Masters. Then they realized that it should be a software product, devoid of subjectivity “When we started to introduce our product, it seemed that companies are full of lazy and unscrupulous people,” laughs Mark, “but then we realized that, if employees spend a lot of time on non-business-related websites, or write personal emails this means that some business processes are not properly aligned.”

Bijvoorbeeld, de marketingafdeling heeft, om welke reden dan ook, de verkopers slechts 1000 contacten gegeven, hoewel zij een veel groter aantal klanten konden contacteren. Het doel is bereikt en de volgende maand is het vastgesteld op precies hetzelfde aantal, dus het verkoopteam blijft gewoon op halve kracht werken, en het programma kan dergelijke gevallen registreren.

In other words, not all companies are able to determine the maximum level of results that can be demanded from employees. "Our program should not encourage managers to use punitive measures. Dismissing a person is the easiest thing you can do. Instead we need to figure out the reason of slacking, as experience shows that the majority of people start aimlessly browsing the Internet only when they quickly finish all the tasks at hand or when they do not have clear objectives." Often, there are other situations - in which it is not possible to administer justice without monitoring systems, according to the developer.

"For example, in any company’s sales department there is always an employee who beats the target and one who cannot. But sometimes, surprisingly, it turns the former one spends much time on sites unrelated to work tasks, but the latter does not. In fact, he or she only uses the Internet for work-related browsing. The explanation is simple: the first one works only with old familiar clients who want to renew the contracts, and the second one is left with cold calling new clients."

IT-developers believe that employee monitoring is not a bad thing, but a great opportunity to understand the problem. "I will not say that monitoring never causes a negative reaction. It does and sometimes even leads to employee dismissal, but the program has always been intended as a tool for motivation," says Mark.

According to him today the number one enemy of productivity is non-work-related online resources, such as social networks. Studies show that an employee requires about 23 minutes for re-focusing on his or her task after a distraction. "Another problem is smoking,” says Mark, “it is obvious that people who smoke get distracted more often than non-smokers. And for that our program includes recording of periods of activity and inactivity during the working hours."