Wasted Time

I get emailed links to various articles and one from today stood out. The title read, “Average Employee Wastes Two Hours of Every Workday.” If you are an executive or a manager, that title has to make you cringe. Just think, for every 40 hours of pay, you are only getting 30 hours of work. That is not exactly what the financial people would call ROI.

So the question becomes, Why the waste of time? The article blamed some of the results on younger workers, saying the older generation had a stronger work ethic. Another point in the article says that this waste of time is not such a bad thing, that it may build up camaraderie. My guess is most execs won’t see it that way. Their brains are rolling through ideas of how to make sure their people are working harder.

“How can we track them? How can we hold them accountable? How can we gain productivity?” These are fair questions. But at the end of the workweek, it boils down to motivation. "Do I care about my job? Does my work really matter to the overall goals of the team, division, or company? Does my company care about me?"

I love my career as much as anyone, but I still waste time. Yet, when the clock ticks to 5:00, I am not slamming my computer shut and running from the office. We all waste time.

If you have passionate people, they will make up the time. Passionate people will get more done with their 40 hours minus waste than someone who doesn’t care. They will produce the results you are looking for. The solution to the why of the article is not in more micromanaging, it is in more leading and motivating.

Just the Facts

The subtitle of this blog says passionate employees will lead to passionate customers which will lead to profits. A few months ago I had the chance to sit down and interview Will Kuchta, The VP of Organizational Development at Paychex. I’ll save his experiences and words of wisdom for the book, but there is no question Paychex subscribes to a similar theory as I do.

What’s great about this is their results show the equation in action. And what amazing results they have. Here’s the skinny:

Paychex reported their fiscal 2007 earnings last week. Before I report the info I want to mention a few points that make sense for this post. In 2007 Paychex was once again named to FORTUNE magazine’s “Best 100 Companies to Work For,” this year coming in at #70. In 2007, Paychex continued their run in Training magazine by being ranked #34 on their Top 125 List. These accolades show their employees like working there and that Paychex takes the time and money to invest in their people. And now for the numbers…

For fiscal 2007 Paychex reported their profits rose 14 percent over last year, topping $500 million. That $500 million is not revenue, that is $500 million of profit!

Paychex provides an environment where their people feel invested in and appreciated. This leads to their people taking care of their customers. This leads to repeat customers and new customers. Combine all of this and the profits follow. A lot of profit!