So, there is a New "Fad" Word that I have seen making its way around the world of Business.
"Fauxductivity".
It is meant to represent the idea that Employees are doing things to "Appear" Busy when, in Reality, they are Not Accomplishing Anything.
So it is a Faux (aka False) Productivity.
Now, in the Return-To-Office "Mandates", this was Cited as one of the "Reasons" to Push Employees Back to the Office.
The Reality based on the "Valid" Research, unsurprisingly, revealed Employees were Equally and often "More" Productive at Home than they were In-Office.
This is one of the Reasons Why Return-To-Office "Mandates" have been Ignored and "Only" Created Problems for Leaders.
When you make Decisions based on "Fears" that are "Not" based in Reality, it is a Recipe for Disaster.
But is "Fauxductivity" a Real Thing?
Well of course it is!
But this Is "Not" a New Phenomenon.
There have "Always" been people who "Fake" Looking Productive.
It has Existed, Documented, and Researched for Decades.
The Term "Fauxductivity" may be New, but it is just New Packaging on an Old Problem.
But is Fauxductivity "Truly" something that Leaders Should be Extremely Worried About?
No, Not in the Slightest.
In fact, Research has shown that "Leaders" are Significantly "More" Likely to be the Culprits of Fauxductivity than Employees!
Over 33% More Likely to be Exact.
Even "More" Interesting is that Employees will Go Out of their Way to "Prove" they are not Faking It!
Why?
Well, the Reality is that Most Employees "Need" Their Jobs for their Livelihoods.
If they Lose their Jobs, they end up in a "Terrible" situation, and so they want to "Ensure" they Keep their Jobs to avoid those outcomes.
How many Employees go "Out of their Way" to Demonstrate they are Actually Working?
79% of In-Office Employees, and 88% of Remote Workers.
Add that as More Evidence that Remote Work is Beneficial to Productivity - Remote Workers are More Likely to Prove their Productivity than In-Office Workers.
Are there "Some" Employees who are Guitly of "Fauxductivity"?
Sure there are, again this has been Studied in Business for Decades, and honestly has been happening since the Beginning of Time.
But, as it has "Always" been, these Bad Actors are the "Minority" and Do Not Reflect the Reality of the Majority.
Which Raises an Interesting Question.
If this isn't a "Major" Problem for Leaders, then "Why" is it getting a Spotlight Now?
Why are Leaders becoming "Focused" on it Again?
Well, Leaders "Are" Facing a Challenge.
There is a "Legitimate" Productivity Problem Occurring, but Leaders are, overwhelmingly, missing what is happening in Reality.
Why?
Well, there is a Dual Problem Leaders are Encountering.
The First is that Most Leaders have Terrible Metrics when it comes to Tracking Productivity.
Leaders can "See" an Overarching Productivity Problem, through overall Costs and Revenues.
But they are Unable to Identify what Productivity "Looks" like at the Micro Level.
When you cannot Track Productivity at the Micro Level, Leaders become Afraid that Employees are Not Working.
This is Compounded by Remote Work where Leaders "Physically" don't See Employees Working (Even if the Problem exists More Frequently In-Office).
This Fear, as the Research Overwhelmingly Shows, is "Extremely" Irrational.
However, when you Do Not have Reliable Metrics, the Fear Persists.
If Leaders "Had" Proper Metrics, it would be "Exceedingly" Simple to see when an Employee was "Actually" Guilty of Fauxductivity, without ever needing to resort to Insane and Costly Invasive Technology.
But because Leaders Fail to have Proper Metrics, they Fear "Everyone" is just Faking It.
This becomes an Even Larger Problem because when a Leader "Believes" that "Anyone" and "Everyone" may be Faking it, they Create a Hostile Workplace where "Everyone" becomes their "Enemy".
It is Not based on Reality, but it "Becomes" Reality as Accusations Abound, and "Turn" Employees Against their Leaders.
This is "Exactly" what we've seen with the "Mandates" that have Utterly Failed - Leaders had Unjustified Fears.
When Leaders Accused Employees based on their Irrational Fears, those Employees took offense at the Unjustified Claims and the Workplace became Exceedingly Toxic.
Then, it was Compounded from a Psychophysiological Aspect by "Forcing" Employees into the same Environment.
Ironically, all of it could have been completely avoided if Employees remained Remote.
But there is still something we have to answer.
If there "Is" a Productivity Problem that Leaders "Can" See in the Macro Results, but it "Is Not" because of Fauxductivity...
Then What is the Problem?
Burnout.
The Second Problem is Burnout, which is the "True" Culprit to the Productivity Challenges Leaders are Experiencing.
Fauxductivity in the Vast Majority of Businesses either is (at "Most") a Minor Irritation or (More Frequently) an Irrational Imagined Problem.
But Burnout?
It is Impacting 80% of Employees, with more close behind.
How Damaging is Burnout to Productivity?
According to the Research, it Decreases Human Productivity Potential to 5% or Less.
"That" is the Problem that Leaders are Seeing in the Macro Results.
It is also "Why" Leaders are Not "Seeing" It.
Employees in Burnout "Are" being Productive, and they are actually working "Extremely" Hard.
But because they are in Burnout, their Productivity "Potential" has been Hijacked by their Psychophysiology.
Productivity is Down Overall, and as long as Burnout Persists, Leaders will be Unable to Increase Productivity.
Productivity is Capped "Dramatically" Low by Burnout.
This is Why Leaders have to Change their Models and Design a Regenerative Legacy.
At the Heart of the Productivity Problem is Burnout, and a Regenerative Legacy Approach is how Leaders Solve Burnout.
Not just Today for a Small Period of Time, but continuing Long into the Future.
So, Do Not Fall Prey to the Latest "Fad" Business Term that is just a Rehashing of an Old Issue that Is Not a Real Problem.
Dig Deeper to get to the True Problem, and then Solve It.
Fauxductivity is Not the Problem for Leaders.
Bad Productivity Metrics and Burnout are the Problems that Leaders Need to be Focused On.