Could one of your employees slack off for 14 years?

How much are your workers actually working? Everybody knows there is downtime here and there when employees kick back with some coffee and do a little shopping or a little reading.

That’s not a bad thing by any means. It’s healthy and efficient to take breaks, it ensures the mind is sharp and stress is low; not to mention, employees with a little breathing room are more likely to stick around.

But do you know how much breathing room your employees have?

I was reading this Atlantic article exploring the “art” of not working at work (appropriately while I was at work). In part, it details the retirement of a local German bureaucrat who admitted in his retirement email that he hadn’t done anything for 14 years… 14 years!

I’d like to think this tremendous level of inactivity would be spotted in the private sector, but who really knows what’s going on behind that office door? Do you?

Those inactive workers aren’t just a matter of wasted revenue, when the staff knows someone isn’t working, it’s toxic to the entire team. It’s bad for morale when people ponder, “Why can he or she read Atlantic articles all day while I’m working my butt off?” And if it’s not dealt with, it can lead to more inaction when other employees see that it’s perfectly fine to loaf around for the whole day. Finally, it becomes even worse when the discipline is haphazard as critical employees are censured and the loafers keep on loafing.

So keep an eye on those workloads and keep an ear to the ground for gossip – it’s not hard to see how one habitually idle employee can spiral into a huge management mess.