The Difference Between Busy and Productive At Work

Are employees being busy at work, or are they being productive at work?

What does it mean for employees to be busy, and what does it mean for employees to be productive?
In this episode of Know the Difference, we are going to explore the key differences between what employers are really expecting when they ask employees to be busy or be productive.
In many workplaces, there is the expectation that employees need to be continually working in order to get the best work done. This is a very traditional mindset that assumes that the more a person is occupied with work, the more effective they are as an employee, and that is how the most work gets done.
The problem is, this is an antiqued assumption that can be the cause of bad habit for both manager and employees which can limit actual productivity.
Let’s start by first defining Busy and Productive.
Being Busy is using as much TIME as you can with the TASKs that you have.
Being Productivity is doing as many TASKS as you can with the TIME that you have.
Now, what most workplace think they want is for every to be productive, obviously. But a lot of the time the expectations placed on employees actually reinforce being busy.
If managers expect that employee are working at their desk for set hours, say 9-5, and that is really the only way a good day’s work is done. Then employees will take the work they have, and spread it our over their 8 hour day, making sure they look busy, to meet that expectation.
However, if managers expect that they will get quality work, on time, regardless of how and where employees get the work done, then this freedom will empower employees to take only as much time as they need to accomplish their tasks.
What we are really talking about here is a results-based approach to work.
The idea of “Work where and when you need to get the best, most efficient work done, is what success looks like” as apposed to a time-based approach to work. Which is more like “Work at this place from these hours, is what success looks like”