Are smartphones and 70-hour weeks just covering up inefficiencies in your brokerage?
Being connected to the office and your clients at all hours is central to great customer service, but could smartphones and always-on technology just be covering up inefficiencies in your brokerage?
A study by the Jennifer Deal of the Centre for Creative Leadership surveyed 483 executives, managers and professionals (EMPs) and found that nearly 80 per cent used smartphones to enable flexible work.
Deal's study found three in five of these smartphones users were connected to the office for an average of 72 hours per week: 13.5 hours per day, Monday to Friday, with an added five hours on weekends. This compared to an average of 50-hours per week across all business leaders.
Many executives felt strong pressure to respond to questions almost immediately, even during weekends or holidays, says Deal.
The report quotes a message sent by the management of a large firm, stating that the reason staff were given smart phones is so that they can check their email all the time. The author specifically states the last thing staff should do before they go to bed is to check email.
Another executive from a different company reported dealing with a boss who was angry that an email sent at 2am wasn’t responded to before 7am.
“While for some people checking email after hours may be truly voluntary (and not checking primarily a matter of self-discipline), in many cases it is clearly a job requirement,” says Deal.
Some managers appeared to be aware of the dangers of putting excessive pressure on staff, but were making no efforts to change the work culture.
“Executives who were asked about this practice said leaders in many organizations believe relying on the same staff to do the work despite the hours it requires results in substantial cost savings for the organization,” says Deal. “They said they had seen no cost-benefit analysis of the practice that took into account the negative effects on health and productivity that are a direct result of working more than 40 hours a week.”
Added to this, a culture of “time macho”, or competitive pressure to work excessive hours, persists amongst business people.
“Even in industries that don’t explicitly reward sheer quantity of hours spent on the job, the pressure to arrive early, stay late, and be available, always, for in-person meetings at 11 a.m. on Saturdays can be intense.”
A CULTURE OF INEFFICIENCY
Interestingly, the report found that EMPs didn’t blame the smartphones for their long hours, and in fact many accepted and expected longer hours as a part of their position. They appreciated the flexibility that a smartphone affords them. What they don’t appreciate, is the technology, and their time, being used as a quick-fix for inefficiencies.
“In the past (that not-too-long-ago time when organizations had some difficulty finding you after you had gone home) organizations had an interest in ensuring that a professional’s time in the office was used relatively efficiently because that time was restricted. Yes, time was still wasted, but the organization paid the price for inefficiency, not the individual.”
Technology has facilitated a kind of Band-Aid for time-wasting practices in business, says DEal.
“In essence, technology and the ‘always on’ expectations of professionals enable organizations to mask poor processes, indecision, dysfunctional cultures, and subpar infrastructure because they know that everyone will pick up the slack. Can’t make a decision? Call another meeting to ‘process.’ Have a fear-based culture? Copy a bazillion people on every e-mail so your backside is covered. Can’t manage time properly? Keep staff waiting for a decision and they’ll just work all night to make the deadline.”
Deal offers a list of key time-wasting practices participants complained of – and their solutions:
Slow computers: Calculate the costs of keeping the slow computers and determine whether it is more cost-effective in terms of staff time and engagement to buy computers that can effectively use current software.
Nearly six in seven participants reported slow computers wasting their time. One participant said his computer wasted about 30 minutes every day booting up, loading programs, accessing documents etc. By this calculation, six per cent of his total work day was wasted time, and therefore six per cent of his salary was wasted money.
Inadequate technology systems: Calculate costs of retaining current technology systems, and determine whether it is more cost-effective in terms of staff time and engagement to invest in more efficient technologies.
Close to 80 per cent of workers felt that their time was wasted by inefficient software. Younger workers were especially frustrated by the perceived unwillingness to change with new technologies.
Too many people involved in decision-making: Provide clear and specific roles to identify who is accountable for making decisions and who is accountable for executing on the decision.
Unnecessary and poorly planned meetings: Require every participant to be told ahead of time what their role is in the meeting, and what the outcome of the meeting is going to be. Require agendas be provided enough in advance of the meeting so participants can be prepared.
Nine in ten respondents felt that they had their time wasted by unnecessary meetings, and 87 per cent said poorly planned meetings wasted their time. One top executive reported that $4,000 of his $5,000 weekly salary was allocated to meetings. Often, he would sit in unnecessary meetings and become distressed by the amount of personnel costs he calculated was being wasted.
Constantly changing focus/goals: Develop a simple, rigorously researched strategy - and then stick with it (barring extreme market shifts).
Not knowing which work has priority: Communicate which work has priority, based on the strategy.
Unnecessary emails: It is likely impossible to end unnecessary e-mails, so learn how to better manage them.
Too big a job/too much to do: Reduce the size of the role through hiring new staff, redeploying staff, streamlining processes, or really eliminating tasks.
