http://www.samachar.com/showurl.htm?rurl=http://headlines.sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14148029&headline=Americans~work~more,~but~accomplish~less
My take on this:
Where will they have time to accomplish the required when they have to discuss other matters such as girl friends, boy friends, fights, separation, divorce, daycare, partying, fishing, NFL, NBA, shopping, gossip, etc and the list goes on, all in the office hours.
No wonder the jobs are going abroad.
Location: God's own country
Posted on: 24-02-06 16:56:08
Hi!
They compensate it by working hard and smart (Most of them- atleast what i have seen).
And when you compare them with Indian Govt. employees they are 1000 times better.
Also since the question of job insecurity is always there for North American workers they work in fear. The also work to earn money to spend like hell on their free time.
To give you just an example :
in 2002 when the pope came to toronto, i enrolled as a secuiry guard at one place. About 4 or 5 people were there at a given time and there was just one lady. Now what this lady did was :
1. Ask every one to sit down
2. Interview each and every person by telling them abt.the job, pay, secuity clearance etc..
3. Gave each one a security clearance form (took me 30 mins to fill it in).
4. Checked each and every line of each form and told the corrections (most of them did not know proper english)
5. photographed us.
6. Answered calls and gave directions for people on phone who wanted to enroll.
I was amazed at her work. She did what 4 people would do in india. I am sure that she works only from 9-5 and then enjoys with her family/ friends after that. No wonder America and Canada are very industrialised/advanced for their populations.
Second senario :
This was at a TTC station at sherborne. The dept. of ID issue and lost and found were the same. Only one person for that. He had to act as a receptionist, take our photo's , develop it, answer calls regarding ID/ Lost and found and there is always a good crowd.
Third and final Senario :
Look how hard people at Tim Hortons work. Agreed most are desi's but it would have been filled with Goras had the pay been exceptional.
My observations only.
TK
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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.
? I'm lost as usual ?
Americans work more, but accomplish less
By Ellen Wulfhorst in New York | Friday, 24 February , 2006, 08:58
Most US workers say they feel rushed on the job, but they are getting less accomplished than a decade ago, according to newly released research.
Workers completed two-thirds of their work in an average day last year, down from about three-quarters in a 1994 study, according to research conducted for Day-Timers Inc., an East Texas, Pennsylvania-based maker of organisational products.
The biggest culprit is the technology that was supposed to make work quicker and easier, experts say.
\\\"Technology has sped everything up and, by speeding everything up, it's slowed everything down, paradoxically,\\\" said John Challenger, chief executive of Chicago-based outplacement consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
\\\"We never concentrate on one task anymore. You take a little chip out of it, and then you're on to the next thing,\\\" Challenger said. \\\"It's harder to feel like you're accomplishing something.\\\"
Unlike a decade ago, US workers are bombarded with e-mail, computer messages, cell phone calls, voice mails and the like, research showed.
The average time spent on a computer at work was almost 16 hours a week last year, compared with 9.5 hours a decade ago, according to the Day-Timer research released this week.
Workers typically get 46 e-mails a day, nearly half of which are unsolicited, it said.
Sixty per cent of workers say they always or frequently feel rushed, but those who feel extremely or very productive dropped to 51 percent from 83 percent in 1994, the research showed.
Put another way, in 1994, 82 percent said they accomplished at least half their daily planned work but that number fell to 50 percent last year. A decade ago, 40 percent of workers called themselves very or extremely successful, but that number fell to just 28 percent.
The latest study was conducted among a random sample of about 1,000 people who work at least part time. The earlier study surveyed some 1,300 workers.
\\\"The irony is the very expectation of getting more done is getting in the way of getting more done,\\\" he said. \\\"People are stressed out.\\\"
Companies that are flexible with workers' time and give workers the most control over their tasks tend to fare better against the sea of rising expectations, experts said.
Businesses that have moved to 24-hour operations, bosses who micro-manage and longer commutes all add to the problem, they said, while downsizing leaves fewer workers doing the work of those who left.
Finally, there's a trend among companies to measure job performance like never before, said Challenger. \\\"There's a sense that no matter how much I do, it's never enough,\\\" he said.
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Speech by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times....
"When we were young kids growing up in America, we were told to eat our
vegetables at dinner and not leave them. Mothers said, 'think of the
starving children in India and finish the dinner.' And now I tell my
children: 'Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India
who would make you starve, if you don't.'"
Location: British Columbia
Posted on: 24-02-06 18:21:03
Quote:
Orginally posted by desi in ottawa
http://www.samachar.com/showurl.htm?rurl=http://headlines.sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14148029&headline=Americans~work~more,~but~accomplish~less
My take on this:
Where will they have time to accomplish the required when they have to discuss other matters such as girl friends, boy friends, fights, separation, divorce, daycare, partying, fishing, NFL, NBA, shopping, gossip, etc and the list goes on, all in the office hours.
No wonder the jobs are going abroad.
That isnt what the article seemed to imply.
Its that job descriptions are changing.
People are people. We are not machines
Life exists beyond work for most people...and unfortunately or fortunately relationships, sports, entertainment, parties..children they are part of most people's lives.-----------------------------------------------------------------
~ Morning rain
TK,
Please dont compare Indian Govt. employees with others in NA. Note that we have more labor force. So if one person does everything, where will the other three go?
morning_rain,
As you said, relationships, sports, entertainment, parties, children they are part of most people's lives.
Agreed. But should they be discussed during office hours?
May be we could throw in this the time we spend on CD during office hours?
Location: British Columbia
Posted on: 28-02-06 12:49:07
Quote:
Orginally posted by desi in ottawa
morning_rain,
As you said, relationships, sports, entertainment, parties, children they are part of most people's lives.
Agreed. But should they be discussed during office hours?
May be we could throw in this the time we spend on CD during office hours?
DIO: agreed.
Many people use office time unproductively, while others may not.
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~ Morning rain
I have witnessed these myself ;; Not once but quite often...
On a Fine Monday morning
> " Ah.. I wish it is a Friday today "
> " Well My weeekend was too short, I wish the workweek to be of 3 days"
> People come on Manday and discuss all day about their adventures, experieinces and activites over the weekend
Tuesday / Wednesday they work some how reluctantly.
From Thursday start planning for the coming weekend .
And on Friday by noon most are gone...
So with this kind of attittude definitely businesses are going to loose on productivity.
- This is one of the reason why more businesses are outsourcing since they kno, the cost of labor is cheaper and the offshore people put in more hours for less money.
