This has been the bane of my existence in almost every job I’ve worked. “Look busy”, “don’t stand idle”, “delegate tasks for yourself”. My dude, if it’s not on the job description and it’s not a task I was onboarded in why would I do it?
But in life we’re just supposed to somehow already know. And assume that we should lie about how we’re spending our time. I’ve fought with multiple managers because I’ll just leave when I get far enough ahead of my work that the only thing left to do is pretend I’m still working. I’ve been reprimanded for helping other areas instead of just still pretending to do work in my own.
It happens in enough fields that I realize, the culture isn’t broken. This IS how average people get through their careers. I’m the one who can only survive in roles that don’t have a hard endpoint for tasks. Because I’m broken in someway that I can’t stop getting ahead of my work and I can’t make myself lie about it.
Im not even sure its about extracting the most work. We know that working from home is more productive for some professions, but they are forced back into office.
I think its just because the economy is built on people going to offices, paying for transport there and back, lunch, working clothes, etc. And also because it makes everyone feel small to be forced to be in a office culture with lots of hierarchy, official of not.
The system also wants us tired so we will watch Netflix with ads, or buy movies, or go out and drink, to get our minds off of the daily grind. And it wants us to compare with others and always want nicer stuff.
Without being at work, a loooot of the behaviors we are doing would fall away. Im not currently working so I know. Every day is Saturday. No thoughts are about work. Energy is high. Mood is positive. Its very different.