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I'd be willing to bet in most workplaces, about 20% of the workforce is dead weight - especially those in the management chain.
by auiya 7y ago
I'd be willing to bet in most workplaces, about 20% of the workforce is dead weight - especially those in the management chain.
- nradov 7y agoVery few workplaces have 20% management. A few businesses have experimented with radically flattening the organization and cutting out management layers; this has generally not improved productivity or financial results.
- calgoo 7y agoTrue, but I think the question should be if the company is worse off without the baggage management, not if they are more productive or have better financial results.
- nradov 7y agoThe problem is that there is no scalable, reliable way to distinguish between "baggage" management and productive management in any large organization. Many have tried to solve that problem and no one has really succeeded. So cutting out management layers tends to indiscriminately eliminate the good with the bad. If you can figure out a better solution then you'll make a fortune as a management consultant. Lower level employees often think they know which managers are baggage, and sometimes they're right, but often they're not seeing the whole picture. A manager who appears to be baggage from one perspective is sometimes performing crucial activities that are only visible from other perspectives. Management value added often can't be objectively measured but yet it exists all the same.
- auiya 7y agoSo radically flattening the organization and cutting out management layers has generally not improved productivity, but are you then saying it had little impact, or negative impact?
- wongarsu 7y agoI wouldn't be surprised to learn that 20% of work time is spent on social media or other personal matters across all office workers.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y agoI'd be very surprised if it was only 20%. By my estimation many office jobs are 50% or more just being paid to sit at a desk.
- Supermancho 7y agoAnd the less well paid jobs (eg Veterinary Assistant - not technician or McDonald's employee) have individuals working near constantly. There is a class divide under the 1% which is also quite stark, with regard to work demands.
- hinkley 7y agoI think I've witnessed that fraction go up when raises and promotions fail to meet expectations.