Working ajob you don’t likecan be a drag. Here’s a sad statistic for you: according to LinkedIn,85% of employeesdon’t like their workplace. Whether it’s their boss, the location, their colleagues, the customers, or just the nature of the job itself, many people would rather slack off or do something else instead.When a person hates their job, they probably don’t do it very well. That’s where the subreddit"Not My Job"comes in. They collect the best and funniest instances where employees are doing the absolutebare minimumthat’s in their job description. And today, we’re featuring the best of the best pics from the community. Work smarter, not harder, right?To discuss the ‘Not my job’ attitude in more detail,Bored Pandareached out to Louise Carnachan. She’s an organization development consultant and award-winning author ofWork Jerks: How to Cope with Difficult Bosses and Colleagues. Carnachan told us more about why some people feel unmotivated in the workplace and how employers can increase their motivation.More info:Louise Carnachan|LinkedIn|FacebookThis post may includeaffiliate links.
Working ajob you don’t likecan be a drag. Here’s a sad statistic for you: according to LinkedIn,85% of employeesdon’t like their workplace. Whether it’s their boss, the location, their colleagues, the customers, or just the nature of the job itself, many people would rather slack off or do something else instead.
When a person hates their job, they probably don’t do it very well. That’s where the subreddit"Not My Job"comes in. They collect the best and funniest instances where employees are doing the absolutebare minimumthat’s in their job description. And today, we’re featuring the best of the best pics from the community. Work smarter, not harder, right?
To discuss the ‘Not my job’ attitude in more detail,Bored Pandareached out to Louise Carnachan. She’s an organization development consultant and award-winning author ofWork Jerks: How to Cope with Difficult Bosses and Colleagues. Carnachan told us more about why some people feel unmotivated in the workplace and how employers can increase their motivation.
More info:Louise Carnachan|LinkedIn|Facebook
This post may includeaffiliate links.
Organizational development consultant Louise Carnachan says that ther/NotMyJob subredditis full of woefully executed work we’ve all probably seen in daily life. She says the “I’ll show you” type behavior the subreddit is famous for can be the consequence ofbeing micromanaged. However, while it’s one way to claim power, it’s not a particularly healthy way, Carnachan says.
“Some of the goofs are clearly process problems, such as not having sweepers move debris away before the road striping truck came through. In other instances, I suspect the worker was never clued into the big picture, so their part was out of context and executed inadequately. Or, they just didn’t applycommon senseand think about what they were there to accomplish and why,” Carnachan adds.
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“No doubt we’ve all been the recipient of form emails sent without the personalized information inserted, reminiscent of the speaker who begins their talk with, ‘Greet the audience and say your name.'”
Other times, mistakes, whether they’re intentional or not, can have a pretty funny result. “Typos are the best,” Carnachan says. “As demonstrated on a sandwich label stating it contains ‘Criminalized onion relish.'”
Mishaps can happen in any and all work settings, of course. “No one job classification has the corner on poor performance, but some jobs certainly have more public visibility,” Carnachan tells us. “And some workers are self-motivated to be high performers, while others are not.“When scrolling through the r/NotMyJob subreddit, some people may label these types of workers as lazy. Yet, the reality is much more nuanced. “Effort is hard to evaluate because we only see results. We can’t measure an individual’s exertion,” Carnachan explains.“One worker may put in a lot of effort yet achieve mediocre results, while another puts in less effort but obtains good results. Skill, ability, training, and personality traits impact this. There are people who are just in the wrong jobs,” she also adds.
Mishaps can happen in any and all work settings, of course. “No one job classification has the corner on poor performance, but some jobs certainly have more public visibility,” Carnachan tells us. “And some workers are self-motivated to be high performers, while others are not.”
When scrolling through the r/NotMyJob subreddit, some people may label these types of workers as lazy. Yet, the reality is much more nuanced. “Effort is hard to evaluate because we only see results. We can’t measure an individual’s exertion,” Carnachan explains.
“One worker may put in a lot of effort yet achieve mediocre results, while another puts in less effort but obtains good results. Skill, ability, training, and personality traits impact this. There are people who are just in the wrong jobs,” she also adds.
Workers should get this information from their supervisors, Carnachan says. “Managers and crew leads are responsible for communicating the ‘why’ of the work and how it ties into an entire project. When people have no idea of what follows their labor, they work in a vacuum, and then, it’s easy for them to make assumptions and bad decisions.”
In an office environment, corporate culture also comes into play. Carnachan lists some questions that might impact an employee’s performance. “Is teamwork expected? Are folks responsible for noting and correcting mistakes regardless of who made them? Are service and customer satisfaction important, or is the mentality to just mark it [as] done?”
Seeing others do the bare minimum at work might be entertaining. That is until it happens at your own workplace. Indeed, sometimes, people might adopt the “Not my job” mentality to the extreme, and that might even be dangerous to others.“The willful desire to create a safety hazard for others is beyond ‘Sticking it to the man,'” Carnachan tells Bored Panda. “If it’s a training issue and can be remediated, that’s okay – if not, this is the wrong person for the job, regardless of their motivation.”
Seeing others do the bare minimum at work might be entertaining. That is until it happens at your own workplace. Indeed, sometimes, people might adopt the “Not my job” mentality to the extreme, and that might even be dangerous to others.
“The willful desire to create a safety hazard for others is beyond ‘Sticking it to the man,'” Carnachan tells Bored Panda. “If it’s a training issue and can be remediated, that’s okay – if not, this is the wrong person for the job, regardless of their motivation.”
“Every job has elements that are less interesting, even downright unappealing,” Carnachan points out. “But if there’s a fair distribution and rotation and everyone knows what the rules are, it goes better. If the boss won’t step up to [initiate] this conversation, then a staff member can.”
“Job descriptions don’t get into details like restocking the printer,” she adds. “It’s up to the manager to set the stage for teamwork in their department and the expectations for communication, dealing with disagreements, being attentive to safety, owning the work of the entire team instead of just their own contribution, and [contributing] to the little tasks that are required for a smooth operation.”
Carnachan says that a team should adopt the view that each member “owns the work of the team.” Employees, thus, should have a less individualistic approach to their work. “When people feel responsible solely for their own work, coworkers may start evaluating each other to monitor who they think is not pulling their weight.““If a colleague’s inattentive or their inaccurate work compromises safety or the team’s outcomes, speaking to the manager about your concerns makes sense. But withholding help or engaging in stupid power plays to punish the colleagues or the boss isn’t okay.”
Carnachan says that a team should adopt the view that each member “owns the work of the team.” Employees, thus, should have a less individualistic approach to their work. “When people feel responsible solely for their own work, coworkers may start evaluating each other to monitor who they think is not pulling their weight.”
“If a colleague’s inattentive or their inaccurate work compromises safety or the team’s outcomes, speaking to the manager about your concerns makes sense. But withholding help or engaging in stupid power plays to punish the colleagues or the boss isn’t okay.”
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