Slacker tip #38 – How to look busy when you are not and make it look like you are getting a lot of work done
I consider myself to be a master at looking busy when I am not. I do as little as possible at work. I try to do just enough to keep myself employed. And I suggest you do the same. I am so good at this, that just last week I was told by my bosses that I work quickly, that they can count on me to get things done with little supervision and that I don’t mind pulling my own weight. I wanted to laugh in their faces.
Now, my tips work best for those of you that work in an office setting. If you’re in a call center, for instance, it is a bit harder to do nothing and it go unnoticed.
Here’s what I do…
First, I find out what it is that is the most important thing to get done each month. You know - the one thing that will be noticed if it is not done. So, basically, this would be the task/tasks that they use to measure your progress or something. For me, that would be processing a backlog of invoices so that they can catch-up to current invoices.
Next, you need to see if you can separate that one thing out into smaller categories and figure out if there is a part of it that you can do super quick. If so, this is all you will do for the month. For me, my backlog invoices split into the following categories: already closed, a credit, send a letter, pass off to customer service, and research. I try to never do the letter or research ones. Here is my task priority list:
1. closed
2. credit
3. pass off
4. letter
5. research
I pull out all the closed, credit and pass offs from my pile and that is typically all I will do for the entire month. I try to post a few of those each week to the log. If I run out of the easy ones, I just get another stack and look through them again. Then, I hide the others in my desk. Now, of course, I do have to do some of the others each month so that it doesn’t look suspicious. And technically I have other tasks that I am supposed to be doing. But if no one will notice that they don’t get done, I don’t do them.
So, clearly I do all my work for the month on pretty much the first day of the month, so I have to look busy the rest of the time. Mostly I shuffle papers. You know, move them around on my desk throughout the day/week/month. Shrinking stacks of paper typically do the trick. And I keep up all the programs I would need to be working in on my computer. And every so often, I’ll take an invoice to my boss to ask her a question, even though I already know the answer. But in her mind, she will think that I am working.
I average about 2 hours of real work each week. And I always get overtime pay on my paycheck.
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