The Busyness Paradox

With all the fanfare about artificial intelligence these past few months, listeners have asked us: "Will ChatGPT put an end to busywork?" Like all self-appointed experts, we took the question straight to ChatGPT. It tells us that "ChatGPT is designed to provide automated assistance and support...helping employees perform tasks more efficiently and effectively, reducing the amount of busywork they need to do." We’re…cautiously optimistic. 

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!

It’s that time of year when endless news reports about March Madness-related “time theft” bubble up to the surface (get it? like teams on the bubble? anyone?) They all bemoan the incalculable dollar amount, which dozens of studies nonetheless claim to calculate, lost to employees watching basketball instead of working. Our take: if your employees are doing what you pay them to do and you’re furious that they didn’t do more because they were watching basketball, you’re the time thief.

Mentioned in this episode:

Who’s The Real Time Thief?

March Madness Underscores Cost of Workplace Time Theft

Stealing time at work: Attitudes, social pressure, and perceived control as predictors of time theft. Journal of Business Ethics, 94, 53-67.

Employee time theft: Conceptualization, measure development, and validation. Personnel Psychology, 75, 347-382.

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!

Join us as we pat ourselves on the back for reaching the fabled 52-episode milestone. Because 52 is way more exciting than 50. Not because we had already passed 50 episodes without realizing it. Why would you even think that? Anyways, publishing 52 episodes has taught us that podcasting shares a (wait for it…) paradox with many seemingly simple jobs: the more skill and effort you put into it, the less skill and effort the average consumer thinks it requires. This is a frustration well-known to car mechanics, tailors, and football kickers whose reward for making hard jobs look easy is to be told "anyone can do that!" by observers who endeavor to make easy jobs look hard.  And so we dedicate this 52nd episode spectacular to them and to all of you who appreciate the value of legitimately “hard" work, even if your customers do not.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

07:20 Alabama football recruiting: Nick Saban turns down huge NIL request

14:43 Electric Vehicles Battery Problem

16:16 Leno: Appreciation for hard work is fading, and old cars aren’t easy

29:50 Are You Entertained—Or Addicted?

41:25 Episode #7: BS Jobs

56:50 Bone Valley podcast

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!

We all know the story. After worshipping at the altar of "lean" for decades, we spent two years wondering where all the toilet paper and pickup trucks went. Covid reminded us that too much efficiency could be colossally inefficient, slack was back, hooray. Then you tried to board that Southwest flight a couple months ago and you realized the germ-like aversion to slack had taken root far beyond the manufacturing sector. In this episode, we discuss how keeping "slack in the system" in all aspects of our lives helps us stay happy, productive, and safe from the horrifying dystopia foretold by Garfield In Paradise.

(chrome, chrome, chrome…bop bop a re-bop)

Mentioned in this episode:

1:40 - Episode #50: Unions, Strikes, and Your Rights with Dan Gilmore

3:20 - FTC Holds Public Forum on Proposed Rule Banning Use of Non-Compete Agreements

10:20 - The Employment Situation - December 2022

10:50 - Episode #48: Let’s Get Down(sized)!

11:05 - The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy

14:20 - Billionaire Charlie Munger says to stop complaining everyone is five times better off than they used to be

15:00 - The 15-Hour Workweek

15:40 - Episode #41: Time For Niksen (not that Nixon)

20:15 - Why 2023 Could Finally Be the Year of the 4-Day Workweek

20:15 - Episode #44: Charlotte Lockhart and the 4-Day Week

25:20 - Southwest Airlines Has Fallen Apart

39:00 - Garfield in Paradise 

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!

If you're like us, you grew up being told that American labor unions were a fading relic of the past. After a string of successful organizing drives and a stunning 406 strikes in 2022, we're beginning to question that assumption. Reflecting on the ongoing labor strife in the American railroad industry, we decided it was time to bring in an expert to discuss the current state of organized labor in the U.S. In this episode, Dan Gilmore, Attorney at Law and Founder of Squire Strategies, joins us to not only discuss the ins and outs of modern labor unions but he also teaches us about the rights of non-unionized workers that very few Americans are aware of.  If you have a job - any job - you're going to want to listen to this episode.

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!

Back in March 2020, millions of workers around the world abruptly learned that their jobs didn't always require their presence at a specific desk in a specific building at a specific set of times each and every week. After a bumpy start, many began to appreciate the flexibility, autonomy and, to varying degrees, empowerment this new approach to work afforded. Others decided it wasn't for them. A few decided it wasn't for anyone. That a vocal minority is bent on pushing us all back into our offices and cubicles should come as no surprise to longtime listeners. But who are these committed defenders of the pre-pandemic status quo? And what are their motivations? That's where things get a bit interesting.

Mentioned In This Episode:

9:15 - Privilege and Pro-Office Pablum

33:25 - Calling Out Kardashian (Busyness Paradox Episode #38)

37:14 - Much Ado About WUSI (Busyness Paradox Episode #27)

46:40  - Time For Niksen (not that Nixon) (Busyness Paradox Episode #41)


If you find this topic interesting you might enjoy these earlier episodes as well!
- Chasing Productivity & Creativity in Work From Home (WFH)
- Couch or Cubicle?
- Shady Statistics and the Status Quo
- The 15-Hour Workweek
- WFH is Dead! Long Live WFH!
- Expanding the Compressed Workweek
- Charlotte Lockhart and the 4-Day Week

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!

“Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” So says Mike Tyson, and so it is with layoffs. No one starts a new job expecting it to end with a pink-slip. Even when the grim employment reaper is seen milling about our own workplace, it’s easy to convince ourselves that he’s only harvesting other people’s jobs. And yet, almost half of us will be downsized at least once in our careers. Join us as we discuss some warning signs and proactive steps to take when layoffs are afoot. Also, please help us figure out the plural of ostrich. We’d Google it but we laid off our Assistant Senior Vice President of Internet Searches.

Mentioned in This Episode:

15:30 - The delusional demands of some Twitter employees
19:00 - Striking Back: Protecting Your Paycheck When Your Job Goes Off The Rails
22:50 - Do You Have Too Many Employees?
22:31 - Boring Job Burnout
24:10 - BS Jobs
24:00 - How Common Are BS Jobs?
26:30 - How to Deal with Layoff Anxiety
30:00 - The 15-Hour Work Week

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!

Almost three years in, we think it's safe to conclude that history will view the 2020's as "an interesting time to be alive." But a silver lining of these turbulent times has been the widespread rethinking about how work should "work." The resulting push toward previously-unthinkable levels of flexibility, empowerment and compensation has met with some friction, however. The resulting labor unrest, strikes, and (our favorite) the paradoxical threat of widespread layoffs amid historic staff shortages, has made a lot of us understandably anxious about our current and future jobs. In this episode, we discuss strategies for keeping your career and your sanity from going off the rails.

Links to Topics Discussed in This Episode:

1:01 - Rail workers push to strike. Here's why they're angry.

9:08 - Timeline of strikes in 2022

9:59 - Alabama Miners Slam Corporate Media Blackout Of Struggle (video)

10:30 - Striking Alabama coal miners refuse to pay $13.3 million in ordered damages

17:45 - Great Apprehension: Majority of Americans ‘are fearful of losing their job,’ analyst says

23:01 - How to Deal with Layoff Anxiety

25:53 - Rumours and gossip demand continuous action by managers in daily working life 

Click here to see the transcript for this episode 

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!

By now you've probably heard about "quiet quitting," the latest workplace trend to blow the minds of journalists and social media posters alike. This stunning act of rebellion involves employees doing the work they are paid to do. Seriously. That's what quiet quitting is. It's neither quiet nor quitting, but it's a movement nonetheless.

The hoopla, of course, is about what these mutinous workers are NOT doing. They're not making charitable donations of their time and energy to their employers. They're not responding to work emails at their kids' birthday parties. They're not spending extra (unpaid) hours in the office as a matter of course. They're not viewing the contents of their job descriptions as "the bare minimum."

And so, in solidarity with this movement, we present a stripped-down, "bare minimum" deep-dive into quiet quitting.

Articles and Books Discussed in this Episode:

What Is Quiet Quitting on TikTok?

If Your Co-Workers Are ‘Quiet Quitting,’ Here’s What That Means

Quiet Quitting: Why Doing the Bare Minimum at Work Has Gone Global

Employees Say ‘Quiet Quitting’ Is Just Setting Boundaries. Companies Fear Long-Term Effects

A Look at 'Quiet Quitting' — and Whether It's a Good or Bad Thing

The Backlash to Quiet Quitting Smacks of Another Attempt by the Ruling Class to Get Workers Back Under Their Thumbs: Am I Wrong?

Tessa West: Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them

Click here to see the transcript for this episode

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!

We've all seen the signs and memes. We've heard the cranky scorn from talking heads, business owners, politicians and old men yelling at clouds. No one (except them) wants to work anymore! Everyone (except them) is lazy! In this episode, we challenge the ironically lazy thinking behind these claims and ask those who feel this way to consider an alternative explanation: maybe people just don't want to work for you?

Mentioned in this Episode:

16:21 - A Brief History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore
21:18 - Why so few teenagers have jobs anymore
24:40 - Exclusive: Hyundai subsidiary has used child labor at Alabama factory

Visit us at busynessparadox.com for the transcript to this episode. Check out some of our blog posts and other content while you’re there!

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,  blog posts and other content while you’re there!