Some years ago, a mid-level bureaucrat working for the Environmental Protection Agency decided to try an experiment. He contacted several of his friends in federal service and asked each of them to log an entire workday, minute by minute, just to see for themselves how they were spending their time.
One refused, probably because he knew ahead of time what the results would be.
The participants included eight mid-level managers in four different federal agencies. They all logged the same workday, and the results were remarkably similar. Out of a single 8-hour day, the amount of time these bureaucrats spent not working averaged 4 hours and 15 minutes — 53.2 percent of the workday.
Non-work activities in a typical 8-hour day averaged out to:
Coming into the office and settling in ............................................. 10 min
Talking with subordinates, not work-related ................................... 25 min
Talking with peers, not work-related............................................... 40 min
Talking with supervisors, not work-related...................................... 10 min
Talking on the telephone, not work related...................................... 15 min
Reading a newspaper, not work-related........................................... 15 min
Sitting at a desk, not work-related................................................... 20 min
Stretching one’s legs, walking the halls, not work related................. 20 min
Official coffee breaks.................................................................... 30 min
Bathroom...................................................................................... 30 min
Water fountain.............................................................................. 15 min
Closing up shop for the day ........................................................... 25 min
TOTAL......................................................................................... 225 min
The author then expanded the study to include friends working in private industry and in universities. The participants were all mid-level or high-level managers, or college professors.
In his completely unscientific study, the author had already found that federal bureaucrats work an average of 3 hours and 45 minutes in an 8-hour day. He discovered that the managers in private industry worked an average of 5 hours and 35 minutes and the university professors averaged 3 hours and 30 minutes of work in an 8-hour day.
In conclusion, he wrote,
“Try that little experiment for yourself and you will begin to see why the “work ethic” in the United States may be no more than a “myth ethic” and why we are losing the race in international competitiveness.”
This description of a time study is adapted from the essay“To Work, Perhaps to Loaf,” which appeared in Working Alone, Making the Most of Self Employment, by Murray Felsher, Berkley Books, NYC, 1994.
While the study described here was conducted about 30 years ago, I suspect that things haven’t changed much, at least not in the private sector, where the study looked at mid-level and high-level managers – the people we expect (or at least hope) would be an organization’s leaders.
You have probably heard the expression, “Do as I say, not as I do,” but an effective leader leads by doing, by example. And an effective leader’s words are consistent with his or her actions. If, as a leader, you are wasting time, focusing on things that are not relevant to the task, your followers will likely adopt similar behaviors. If, while being visibly unproductive, you are telling your subordinates or followers to use their time wisely, the inconsistency between your words and actions will foster cynicism and mistrust. Your actions and your behaviors, for better or worse, will set a stronger example than mere words.
Study after study has shown that good leadership makes organizations more creative, more innovative, and more productive. People who work for good leaders have higher job satisfaction and a greater commitment to their organizations. And consistency between one’s words and one’s actions is one of the hallmarks of a good leader.
—David Sakrison, Executive Director
Wisconsin Leadership Institute
