Modern technlogy = longer hours
I suppose it kinda proves the point that I'm writing this article on a Sunday, but recent research by the Kelly Global Workforce Index indicates that whilst modern technology has improved productivity, it has also ensured we all work longer hours. Lets start with the good news, that technology has made us generally more productive before getting onto the longer hours thing later.
Technology makes us more productive
The survey found that 78% of North American workers believed that devices such as laptops and mobile phones had made them more productive, with an equally high number stating that the ability for such technology to allow work to be done outside of the office was a positive step. Indeed 87% of respondants believed that an official office remote working strategy would be attractive to them as employees, with the modern workforce apparently regarding such flexibility as a major factor in attaining good work/life balance.
Productivity good; longer hours bad
Ok, I promised the bad news and here it is. Around a third of those questioned in the survey said that modern technology had led to longer working hours. Apparently however these longer working hours are not seen as a bad thing, and indeed many of those surveyed revealed that they are happy with their work/life balance.
Does technology have a halo effect?
The Halo Effect is a cognitive bias whereby our perceptions of a particular trait are influenced by perceptions of similar traits. So we wrote recently about the apparent connection between a persons looks and their managerial ability. Essentially, good looking managers were said to be better than uglier managers. This is a classic example of the Halo Effect in action. Good looks are a positive attribute, so the perception is that good looking people must therefore be better at other things as well, such as management.
Such cognitive bias is rife where questions rely on perception rather than any kind of quantitative analysis. And I fear that this study has fallen foul of cognitive bias. It used questions such as:
In your job, how important is it that you have a good balance between work and personal life?
How have technlogies such as mobile phones, PDAs and laptops affected your productivity at work?
Combine reasonably vague questions with fluffy answers such as somewhat important and much more productive and you get results that are highly questionable. Lets start from the beginning. How can productivity be measured?
Measuring productivity
Here are a few ways that productivity can be measured:
- Technological change
- Efficiency
- Real cost savings
- Benchmarking processes
What others can you think of?
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
Comments
Technology when used wisely can create choice and engender flexibility; however, it can also cause people to dip in and out of issues that are important but not urgent and result in unrealistic timescales for action/decisions and potentially reducing the time given to innovation in new product/service development.
Technology has probably made a massive difference to the working lives of millions of people in a very positive way but it can also hamper people's private lives - VPN's; blackberry's; mobile phones; laptops; USB keys - there's a myriad of ways for work to encroach on your private time and with people trying to keep the competative edge in the economic downturn, there's probably greater willingness to give up more of your private time.
This does, of course, present significant risks for businesses as information assets are now being transferred / transported around the country or accessed from inappropriate locations possibly comprimising the integrity of the information and ultimately the company.
There have been a number of very high profile data losses and more Data Protection breaches are being investigated and reported on with ever increasing frequency.
So, whilst technology may have made "work" more accessible and "employees" more productive (in general terms); the benefits may be compromised by the deliberate or unwitting loss or disclosure of commercially sensitive or personal information.
I would definitely argue that new technology has made the lives of people much busier. There are a number of reasons but I would highlight: 24/7 availability, reduction in management layers (more jobs as opposed to pyramidal careers), increased customer demands and competition.
Call me a cynic, but shouldn't being more productive mean less time working rather than more?
I agree that for many the technology has made it hard for people to escape work and to separate home and work life. For me having my apple iphone and netbook allows me to work when and where I choose and I really appreciate the flexibility. One of the most productive places for me to work is on the 2 hour train journey from Norwich into London. I've discovered how to adjust the brightness on my netbook to be able to work in the garden on nice days. All this means I feel better about the work I have to do as I feel a bit more in control of the when and where issues.
Running my own businesses has meant that I now merge home and work life rather than separate them and that's OK for me. As its the summer holidays my son has just asked if we can go out this afternoon and I can happily say yes knowing that I can keep an eye on e-mails and deal with any urgent ones whilst we have a coffee somewhere and catch up on everything else this evening.
So I'm off .... but I'll be keeping an eye on other comments from a distance!
I believe our self-worth is, in part, derived from our ability to work and our perceptions around how well we do work. There is some satisfaction that comes from our sense that we are contributing to society in a meaningful way. Personal productivity plays into this; the more productive we are, the more satisfaction we draw. Granted there are some individuals who would just assume be idle, whether at work or elsewhere. But most people would just assume work hard, as long as they are recognized for this effort, are contributing up to their full potential, and receiving the appropriate financial reward. So it makes sense that people would accept higher productivity through technology and longer hours worked. My fear is that people will fail to way the opportunity cost for lost personal time. Longer hours worked mean less time with friends and family, less time partaking in enjoyable leisure activities and less sleep.
Not all technological improvement increases productivity as it can sometimes add extra layers rather than remove some or enable them to be completed more quickly.
Efficiency is a wide measure Adi - what exactly are you measuring - Response Time? Quality? Right First Time? More output? etc?
How about measuring clear desks? - ie you actually get through all your work in the day!
Good time management is really important to avoid becoming a slave to technology. If you are constantly interrupted by emails you will constantly be drawn to dealing with issues which may not be urgent or important but are easy to deal with rather than focussing on what matters most.
Try using set blocks of time for dealing with emails ans see how it can improve your output overall.
Also, have you ever noticed that some managers seem to climb the rankings without appearing to work too hard? How do they get away with it? They ignore any pressure to do the long hours and it doesn't affect their promotions. Learn to say no - switch your blackberry off - if anything is really that urgent they can always phone you :-)