Does Your Boss Know if You're Actually Working?

A Starting Fact and What It Means for You 

“In a study of consultants by Erin Reid, a professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, managers could not tell the difference between employees who actually worked 80 hours a week and those who just pretended to.” 

If you’re working more than 40 hours per week, there is a high probability it is going unnoticed. 

If you are doing your job and meeting your requirements, most people will not know how many hours you are (or are not) working. 

Learning how to get your work week down to 32 hours is a skill to have. That doesn’t mean you need to use it every single week

Why Your Work is Nobody’s Business. 

People who are not in your direct line of work should not have an opinion about how many hours you work each week. It's really none of their business. What you do outside of work is your own personal choice and no one else's.

Your work hours and your expectations are between you and your supervisor - that’s it. 

There is no good reason why anyone should be concerned about how many hours someone else works each week.

Why This is a Problem

Listen - we all know this is a competitive industry. No one wants to be labeled as a “quiet quitter” or someone who does only the bare minimum. 

However, when you are continually overworking, there is a high probability that your energy levels and/or your health will be compromised. Continual overworking will easily lead to burnout and stress - so all those extra hours you’re putting in may not even be your highest quality work. In fact, you may be inadvertently making more mistakes and generating more work for yourself. 

How To Get Out of This Rut

There is a myth that productivity means doing a lot of things. But true productivity comes down to doing things intentionally and doing them well. 

If we're judging our productivity based upon how much we do instead of how well we do it, we tend to rush. Rushing increases the chance for errors or miscommunications. This adds more work to our plates as we have to go back to fix mistakes or reiterate what we meant.

Simply put, doing all the things at once does not always save time. 

We encourage managers to set aside designated time to set their priorities for the week. Any high-level task that is sure to move the needle for your property deserves a specific time and space on your calendar. Commit to exactly when you will complete those high-level tasks - and leave or delegate all the rest.