Fewer Employees + Same Work = Higher Productivity

LiamRandall writes "Time magazine has an article discussing the effects that recent layoffs in corporate America has had on remaining workers. While I'm glad that I haven't been laid off (like 1/2 my group) I'm overloaded with all of my new responsibilities. On one hand I feel very fortunate to still have a job- I feel some what guilty complaining given that the computer industry is second in layoffs. While some former coworkers of mine got the axe because upper management didn't understand what their contributions to the company were, others were dead wood anyway. The Chinese symbol for crisis is danger + opportunity; in these turbulent times do you find yourself rising to the challenge or being overloaded with responsibility? Is your to-do list growing exponentially? What new work are you faced with and how are you dealing with it?"

Comments

well....

[Pfhreakaz0id]

my work list hasn't grown too bad. we're a government contractor and we're on site, which cuts down on requests to work overtime much (because the building isn't open late much. We can't stay without a federal employee here). Not that I work overtime anyway.

But, what I have noticed is a reluctance to spend much on training/extras. I've read attendance at industry shows/dev conventions is down. I've talked to other people from my former company and all agree that it's tough to get the authorizations approved for travel and classes and stuff.

It just goes along with the "less pampering" attittude. There's a bunch of guys they could hire to do your job (at least until you get detailed business knowledge that is tough to replace).

Chinese

[rawshark]

I am Chinese, and I have the following things to say about the "Crisis = Danger + Opportunity" link.

First of all, the guy's handwriting is Not Very Good, or at least he was writing in a calligraphic style which I've never seen before :). It took me quite some time to parse the writing. You can see a better version of the word here:
http://www.mandarintools.com/faq.html#crisi s

That same page says that the story about "crisis equals danger + opportunity" is not true. "Danger" and "Opportunity" were not the original meanings of those characters. The web page does not say, and I do not know, what the original meanings are. I speculate that "Danger" originally meant "guarded" or "careful" and "Opportunity" originally meant "craft, intelligence", but don't quote me on that.

I am inclined to agree with the web page and place this under the "interesting coincidences of the language which are taken way out of proportion" category.

Prioritize!

[d3xt3r]

I am faced with a similiar situation, the size of my team has been drasically reduced and now I am carrying out the reposiblilies of two former co-workers, plus my own work load.

While the added work load can be overwhelming at times, I find it rewarding to have a broader responsibility for other areas of the company that I would not otherwise have had the opportunity to be involved with.

If you are in a similiar situation, I have some recommendations for coping with the challenges of handling your increased work load.

1. Prioritize! I can't stress this enough. I used to priortize my tasks by most interesting project or most nagging co-working needing a task completed, or "what the boss says to do." If you're overworked it's likely that your boss is overwhelmed as well, trying her/his best to get you the tasks that need to be done. However, their increased burden means that they cannot necessarily manage your time as efficiently as they once could.
2. Make a to-do list. Seriously! Order that list everyday by top priorities. Keep the list around for the week so that you can check off what you've accomplished. When overworked, it's too easy to feel like you're not getting anything done b/c your plate is always full. If you keep a list, you can sit down and see what you've actaully accomplished and you'll realize that it was a hell of a lot too! This keeps you motivated.
3. Take a day off. If you feel overwhelmed, step away for a day. Clear your head. You'll come back the next day and get more done than you would have without the break.
4. Stay focused on one task. I really hate the phone calls when everyone is asking "do this for me", "do that", "i need this...", yada yada yada. Tell them you'll get too it soon. Add it to your to-do list, priorize it, and check it off when you finish!
5. Last but not least:

   sudo vi /etc/hosts
   
   Add:
   127.0.0.1 slashdot.org

Good luck!

I'll say this...

[macdaddy]

...I could honestly get more done if some of my co-workers were given the boot. Deadwood isn't the same as someone who intentionally causes problems and slows down productivity. Deadwood is more synonymous with "dead weight". Those that intentionally cause problems are the real burden on IT institutions. Those are people in power positions that do not know everything (or anything) technical but think they do. They try to slow things down and cause problems to have these tasks put under their incompetent selves or try to improve their competency standing by questioning others. They try to make technical decisions that they have absolutely no right to make. If management would take 3 steps back and let the grunts do the job, everything would get done a lot faster and a lot better. However this is not to say that there aren't problematic grunts. Grunts that do not want to change are a big problem. Grunts that want everything technical to be funneled through them are another problem. Cutting or controlling the fat in IT groups would greatly increase productivity.

I might also add that I think people with colleagues that have been axed work harder and take on more responsibility with no additional pay just to try and keep their own jobs. In the end what suffers is their health and the quality of their work.