The Fine Art of Being a Slacker Without Getting Sacked

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The Fine Art of Being a Slacker Without Getting Sacked

Written by Glassdoor.com

There’s a fine art involved in becoming one of those employees who does little or no work, without being canned or reprimanded. That kind of master of ducking work has been called the ‘Michelangelos of work avoidance,’ reports Susan Adams in Forbes.

That title ‘Michelangelos of work avoidance’ was dreamed up by Eric Abrahamson, a professor at Columbia Business School. Abrahamson has researched how those artists manage to get paid and produce almost nothing or actually nothing. Here are some of their classic tactics:

1. Create illusion of being busy to the point of coming across as downright over-burdened.

Such can be easily accomplished through not emptying voicemail, being away from the desk [which others interpret as taking care other important business], and appearing hurried.

2. Make the time necessary to accomplish task seem much longer than it is.

Actually, this is standard in many professional services firms. Chiefs instruct rank and file to sit on an assignment in order that the client concludes it is complex and requires much time to complete.

3. Screw up.

Do a task poorly and you won’t be asked to do it again. Be very selective when using this one, however. Remember the idea is to slack off, not get sacked.

4. Set up buddy system.

Each member of this team makes known how overworked other members are. Most will accept these claims at face value.

Good news for those who don’t want to work or want to stop working while still getting paid. In a downsized organization like many are currently, those naive enough to work very hard in order to keep their jobs are too busy to notice who’s not working.

Article written by: Jane Genova