Nov

17

Are workers doing too much at once?

Posted by Dan

November 17, 2008 |

My boss at the publishing company where I work was once the greatest ad salesman I ever knew. When I first began editing real estate magazines at the company, the main publication I worked on totaled about 106 pages every issue. If we needed two or three more ads to meet our numbers, my boss would get on the phone, make a few calls and get those missing ads.

It was a sight to see, or hear in this case. He could talk anyone into signing up for an ad.

Today, this same magazine, which I still edit on a full-time, part-time basis, generally runs about 52 pages. Now, the terrible downturn in the housing industry certainly has a lot to do with this. But … my company also make the mistake of adding a new title, and new duties, to my boss’ job description. Now he’s an assistant publisher, too. That means he has to attend meetings, hold meetings, plan conferences, work on our Web site, etc.., It’s left him precious little time to work on what he does best, sell ads.

It seems that many companies are doing the same thing to their emloyees. They’re making them do too many things at once, probably to squeeze more work out of fewer dollars. Problem is, employees who were experts at doing one job are far less effective doing several all at once.

There’s a great post about this trend over at the Office Meets Playground blog. You can read it here.  As workers, we have to be careful not to let ourselves get stretched too thin. I fall prey to this, too, sometimes signing up for freelance jobs that take too much time for the money. They always come back to haunt me.


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