Time Is Deeply Embedded In Our World Of Work

Why aren’t we talking about time blindness? First, we talk about time in a very limited way. We talk far less, however, about our priorities, choices and tradeoffs regarding how we spend our time. As one expert put it to me in conversation, ‘This isn’t a discussed phenomenon where people are talking about how time gets used, how they can manage their day, what they choose to prioritize and to not prioritize. Time doesn’t seem to be something that gets talked about. Second, time goes unacknowledged in many ways. There isn’t a Department in charge of Time Management or a Head of Time. Yet many companies choose to have functions and roles for other intangible aspects of the organization, such as heads of culture, diversity, risk, efficiency, wellbeing, employee experience and even happiness. Similarly, how we manage time doesn’t tend to be mentioned in business objectives, organizational metrics or performance targets. It may get raised in organizations that explicitly discuss productivity – but many organizations don’t do this. Third, we don’t routinely analyse what we’re collectively spending our time on. Fourth, we’re used to starting new initiatives and taking on new responsibilities, and far less accustomed to stopping activities and relinquishing responsibilities. In this way, we’re treating time as if it is endlessly elastic, not something that is finite that we have to weigh up and negotiate over.

After The Thunder

Like politicians, business leaders are full of excitement to announce new initiatives. Which leads onto the fifth reason. We’re not good at admitting to wasted time. It reflects badly on us as individuals because businesses value competence, achievement and results. Employers have been able to get away with complacency, until now. Time might be a finite resource, but people seemingly aren’t. If someone leaves the organization because the work demands on their time are unhealthy, unsustainable or incompatible with their home/personal lives, the employer can always just hire another worker to fill the gap. In a competitive world where job security is both precious and scarce, people will go to great lengths to demonstrate their value to their employer and hold onto their jobs. This means they will often absorb the extra working hours required and sacrifice their own time in the interests of going the extra mile for the business. Consciously or unconsciously, employers have let employees take on this burden of ‘time buffering’. This is the sticking plaster approach. It literally covers up the real problem – our failure to manage working time effectively – and hides it from view so we’re not seeing it for what it is or talking about it.

Some Good Things Never Last

Our time blindness is also genuinely difficult to assess and address. It’s a systemic issue that has evolved over decades of organizational behaviour and is hiding in plain sight. Our approach to time is completely wrapped up in the way we discuss, plan, organize and deliver our work. Time is woven into our experience of work from the minute we think about joining an organization. When jobs are advertised, time is referenced in the selection criteria, typically as the number of years of industry experience or technical expertise required from applicants. The average time taken to hire a successful candidate is 27.5 days, rising to 30 days in financial services and 38 days in professional services firms.1 This ‘time to hire’ and the length of time the new hire stays at the company are the two primary recruitment metrics2 used by firms to evaluate the success of their recruitment efforts. Performance objectives and assessment typically follow an annual cycle, as do salary and bonus reviews and awards. Performance metrics often include targets in terms of hours spent on certain activities. Career paths are typically linear, with progression up the career ladder often defined by the amount of time spent in certain roles or at certain levels along the way. Time out from the world of work is typically viewed with suspicion by employers, and can disadvantage job candidates unless they can demonstrate how purposefully this time has been invested.

Beneath Still Waters

Time is woven into the way businesses are led and managed. Planning horizons and budgeting, forecasting and reporting cycles all dictate an organization’s operating rhythm. Resourcing decisions – how people are allocated onto different projects or initiatives – are usually based on the number of hours’ or days’ input required, as well as the skills and expertise needed. This requires time for data, information and recommendations to flow upwards to senior levels in order for decisions to be made, and more time for those decision outcomes to be communicated back out to the wider organization. Meanwhile, our own working time is sucked up by a metaphorical vacuum in myriad different ways. When we start work each day, we hit the ground running, straight into task completion or interaction modes. Our working time has become highly fragmented as we switch frequently between multiple priorities, responsibilities and different types of work activities during any given day. In parallel, the time it takes us to do our work has both sped up and slowed down. A social norm is an expected way of behaving or doing things that most people agree with. Often these are not verbalized or written down anywhere, but in organizations they have a powerful influence on our work culture, including the way we spend our time. Here are some common time norms I have observed, heard about and researched during my career. Our working hours are crammed full. We are driven to work faster and smarter in order to stay on top of multiple responsibilities and deadlines. In doing so, we frequently fall into the trap of focusing on the most urgent tasks at the expense of the important ones. Or from a client, which in many people’s experience is even harder to say no to. This urgency means we quickly lapse into reactive mode. We spend too much time responding to incoming demands rather than preserving our mental energy and time for more productive, creative or strategic work. In a survey I conducted in November 2020, I asked respondents to rank different types of work activities according to average amount of time they spent on them each week.