Opinion
Endless Zoom meetings, a full inbox, countless Slack notifications – who has time to work?
Meetings, more meetings. A Zoom call. A Google Hangout. Another meeting. answer emails. Have you checked Slack? Did you approve this expense in Concur? Have you ever felt too busy at work to actually work? Well, apparently you’re right. According to a new report from Microsoft, our workplaces have a serious productivity problem.
The short age of the worker is over – employers have the upper hand again
The study, which surveyed nearly 31,000 full-time employees or the self-employed in 31 markets between February 1, 2023 and March 14, 2023, found that 64% say they struggle to find the time and energy to do their job have. Meeting overload is the number one productivity killer. Respondents to the survey said meetings were their “number one productivity disruptor.” More than two-thirds said they probably wouldn’t even have missed it if they weren’t there.
Other data supports Microsoft’s study. A recently released one Report of EY-Parthenon Using data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, US labor productivity fell 2.7% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of labor productivity declines.
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft, with its huge investment in AI tools like ChatGPT, says AI is the solution. Not to mention that it was Microsoft’s own technology – Teams, Office, Outlook – that promised productivity savings and did the opposite. Still, we must trust Redmond’s technocrats to solve these problems with their new tools that “radically rethink the day-to-day work” and “free up time and energy and protect focus time for the creative work that leads to innovation.” .
Don’t believe it.
Microsoft’s AI push won’t do much to solve the productivity problem given the company’s history and our love of creating work for work’s sake.
So what’s the answer to the productivity conundrum? Big tech and large corporations need look no further than Main Street. Small businesses have been showing the world how to be productive for years. They got their job done with fewer people.
Just last week, the National Federation of Independent Businesses reported that “small business owners continue to struggle to find work, with 45% (seasonally adjusted) of all owners reporting vacancies they were unable to fill in the current period.”
Given that retail, restaurants, services and even manufacturing have recovered from the pandemic and most of my clients are busier than ever, how can they get that work done when they have fewer employees?
The answer is simple: they give their employees more autonomy.
Visit any company with fewer than 100 employees and you will find people there at their desks, behind the counter, in front of a stove or operating a machine. There are fewer meetings. There are fewer rules. There is more flexibility. Employees are given more freedom to make their own decisions. Decisions are made without committees and with the information available. The setting is based on an educated guess. Investments are made more instinctively. Technology is used when it is absolutely clear that it can save time and bring in money.
Microsoft laments the lack of innovation in American companies. Because even the most trivial decision takes 27 sessions to approve. Not so in a smaller company. Innovation happens because it has to happen. Ideas that have the potential to save money and make money are approved more quickly and then implemented quickly.
Microsoft wants you to believe that buying its AI technology will solve America’s business productivity problems. AI will definitely make a difference soon. But not too little technology is the problem.
Gene Marks is a columnist, author, and small business owner. His company, Marks Group PC, provides technology and financial management services to SMBs in the US and abroad.
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