Purchasing

Mary Walker

The Bored Employee
February 19, 2008

I am surprised that there are actually bored employees in the business world. When the economy dropped, people were laid off; and if you were one of the fortunate ones to keep a job; you got more work.

In reading survey results from Sirota Survey Intelligence, specialists in attitude research, the report claims bored employees have an even greater negative impact on an organization, lowering morale and productivity, and draining resources than an overworked employee.

I can really see this happening. These are the employees that have time on their hands. They can sit and think about all of the things they consider bad and unfair. They have time to move from employee to employee to get the latest gossip. Employees tend to talk about something they are unhappy with. Put all of this together and you get a bad attitude.

We have all of these detailed computer programs, however I have not seen one yet that can even the workload. I don’t deny that some employees can work faster and manage time better, however there is much more to it than that.

Some buyers buy a box of something and receive a box of something. No description problems, unit of issue problems, cost issues or quality problems. This buyer can put out twice the purchase orders as a buyer that has suppliers that require detailed handling. There is no report that can justify exact time on buying a product to getting it to the end user.

This is what can create a bored employee. As we as buyers call it, working the easy lines. They have the time to sufficiently maintain their records. Have you run across this? In a computer system, different department are responsible and have control of certain areas or screens of information. Companies have areas that are not updated because the area is not assigned to any particular department within the company.

Data is being found that has not been current for a long time.

This is something to consider. Who is actually responsible for this? The IT department that sets up the screens and assigns security as directed. The people that create the screens or the buyers that actually use the information. Is this what you would call a gray area?

Posted by Mary Walker on February 19, 2008 | Comments (4)