Time Priorities For Top Managers
Time Priorities For Top Managers
Time Priorities For Top Managers
A Time Use Paper by Mark Ellwood, President, Pace Productivity Inc. International Association of Time Use Researchers (ATUR) Conference, Halifax, November 2005
This paper focuses on the fourth theme of the IATUR conference, The Changing Structure of Work Time. It examines the role of the manager and how much time he or she spends on key management priorities. Emphasis is on such major activities as planning, customer relations and managing people. It also identifies the impediments to managerial effectiveness, such as administrative tasks. A key finding is that during a work week that is longer than average, managers face a major challenge in focussing on their highest priority activities. Additionally, managers expectations are examined. By plotting actual time versus ideal, this paper demonstrates where gaps occur, usually on higher priority planning and people management activities. The paper examines trends from the past 15 years and shows the impact that technology and organizational change has had on the manager. Despite the addition of technology, the job of a manager hasnt actually changed much. In some cases technology inhibits as much as it empowers. Other work studies have relied on observations or diary study. The data for this paper is based on over 200,000 hours of real time data gathered by Pace Productivity Inc. since 1990 with the innovative TimeCorder time tracking system.
TIME PRIORITIES FOR TOP MANAGERS By Mark Ellwood, President, Pace Productivity Inc. Presented to the International Association of Time Use Researchers Annual Conference, Halifax, Canada, November 2005
INTRODUCTION
Managers spend much of their time doing everything but managing. With all of the daily crises, pressures, and trivial tasks that are thrown at them, it is tough for the typical manager to stay focused on the things that are important. The classical definition of the organizational manager is one who plans, organizes, coordinates and controls. However, the reality is that there are numerous, mundane activities that take up a managers time some of which actually impede his or her productivity. Many of these nonpriority tasks are unavoidable; they come with the job, but are never written in the job description. Managers try to focus on their priorities, but often get bogged down in the requirements of the job. So how do managers spend their time? What are their priorities and where are the gaps versus what they do and where they should spend their time? Henry Mintzberg explored the subject in 1968 with his seminal study of five senior managers (CEOs) each for a week at a time. He captured data through a technique called structured observation. In his analysis, he divided their activities into those that are concerned primarily with interpersonal relationships, those that deal primarily with the transfer of information, and those that essentially involved decision-making. Within these three main activities, he defines ten roles; the manager as figurehead, leader, liaison (informational), monitor, disseminator, spokesman (informational) and entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator (decisional). John Kotter conducted an observational study from 1976-1981, visiting 15 general managers across the U.S. He visited each one three times over 6-12 months, interviewing them for at least 5 hours and observing their daily activities for 35 hours. He summarized their activities into agenda setting (pursuing goals, priorities and strategies for financial, product and organizational issues) and network building (developing cooperative relationships with bosses, peers, subordinates, their subordinates subordinates, and outsiders). Michael C. Mankins surveyed top management team members in 2003 to understand how teams invest their collective time. He found that they spend too much time discussing issues that have little or no direct impact on company value. He focused solely on the time that top management teams spent together in a year, rather than looking broadly at their day to day activities.
Much of management literature discusses how managers interact, what skills they must possess, and how they provide leadership. However, there is a paucity of research dealing with the day to day activities of what managers must do to fulfill the functions of their job description. Other research does not take into account what managers actually do to complete the tasks that are consistent with their job descriptions. Are production managers actually overseeing production? Do research managers direct research? And are sales managers directing sales people? This paper, which is a summary of corporate time studies, captures what other approaches have not - that much of the time the manager is not doing what he or she is supposed to be doing. Instead she becomes bogged down in doing lesser tasks that might be assigned to other departments. Or she spends time on administrative tasks that do not advance the job. Or, that he spends time on some activities that simply cannot be categorized into any meaningful managerial activity. Travel time is an example of this. For managers, travel time to other offices, customers, plants, association events, or vendors needs to be recognized as an occasional element of the typical work week that has to occur. But it is not managing. Managers have limited resources; budget, staff, technology, and scope of authority. Time is also a limited resource for them. By understanding how they spend their time, organizations and individual managers can design programs to ensure that productivity is maximized. Productivity in a knowledge worker environment can be defined as the efficient allocation of limited resources. Decades ago in The Effective Executive, Peter Drucker encourages managers to Know Thy Time. He proposed that: Effective executives, in my observation, do not start with their tasks. They start with their time. And they do not start out with planning. They start by finding out where their time actually goes. Then they attempt to manage their time and to cut back unproductive demands on their time. Finally they consolidate their discretionary time into the largest possible continuing units. This processis the foundation of executive effectiveness. His advice is just as relevant today. The challenge is to easily measure the time they spend. Hence this report, a collection of studies conducted for corporate clients. Participants tracked their own time using Pace Productivitys proprietary TimeCorder* device for two weeks. The device works like a series of stopwatches and is very simple for participants to use. They just press one single alphabet key on the device each time they begin a new activity. The keys are coded to activities and each one works as a timer. Participants enjoy the process because it gives them instant feedback, resulting in a participation rate of about 95%. Each study tracked different activities. Thus this paper reviews diverse studies and summarizes general trends. See Appendix 1 for methodology details. Overall, we find that managers work long hours, but are not able to devote as much time as they would like to their major priorities. They get bogged down with administrative functions that eat up at least one-quarter of their time.
1. MANAGERS WORK LONG HOURS, AND MORE THAN THEY WOULD LIKE
Overall, managers work 49.4 hours each week. This includes all of the work they do during regular work days at their office. It also includes work done during evenings or on weekends, whether at home or at the office. It also includes lunch, breaks and personal time during normal working hours while at their work location, since this is time not spent with family or in leisure pursuits. Commuting time is not included, unless work is being done while travelling. This might include a cell phone call made while driving to work, or paperwork being done while on a train, bus or subway. The typical managers week is about 2 hours more per week than non-managers, who average 47.2 hours per week of work time, measured in the same manner. As shown below, the more senior the position, the longer the work hours. Presidents find themselves working 20 hours more per week than the average non-management employee. There is no relief from the burden of work the more senior one rises in the organization. Perhaps as Johanthan Gurshuny points out, Work, not leisure, is now the signifier of dominant social status. Evidence from three UK time diary studies (1961, 1983/4 and 2001) shows that over this period the Veblen-type negative relationship between social status (as indicated by human capital) and work time is reversedhigh human capital is now associated with longer hours of work. Graph 1.
For perspective Linda Duxbury and Chris Higgins reported that average employees (i.e. managers and non-managers) in 2001 devoted 45 hours per week to paid employment, up from 42 hours in 1991. Their results are consistent with work hours reported by Jonathon Swan and Gary L. Cooper in 2005, showing 44 work hours per week in the UK in a study of working
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families. Clearly, managers work longer hours than average employees. When Swan and Cooper asked why, over half of all the parents we surveyed felt that long hours were necessary simply to get their job done. The graph above compares actual hours to ideal hours. At the beginning of a typical time study, participants are asked for their ideal hours on each of the items that they are about to track. (See Appendix 3 for methodology and Appendix 5 for results.) This provides an additional benchmark for comparison, reflecting employees attitudes about how they would ideally spend their time. On average, managers cite 46.6 hours per week as an ideal. Thus their 49 hours of work are almost 3 hours more than they would ideally like. The same is true for all levels of managers, though the gap widens for presidents who face a wider gap of 8 hours between actual and ideal time. This difference between actual and ideal hours is slightly less than results from the Tabulator questionnaire, featured on Pace Productivitys web site, GetMoreDone.com. The questionnaire asks respondents to allocate time across 11 activities for a full 168 hour week (i.e. 24 hours X 7 days.) Data is available from 18,000 respondents. Among those who are employed (across a wide variety of jobs), total work hours are 46 per week on the Tabulator questionnaire. Ideal, or desired hours are just 39 per week. In addition to understanding how time is spent, TimeCorder studies measure how busy the job is based on how many interruptions there are. The more frequently participants change activities, the busier the job. Frequency of activities is expressed in a duration figure. This is derived from hours tracked divided by the number of events tracked on a TimeCorder device. It is expressed in minutes per event. It shows how often managers typically change from one activity to another. Lower figures indicate shorter events, hence more interruptions. Based on the length of durations, presidents are able to work for longer, more concentrated chunks of time, typically 42 minutes. Other managers, faced with more frequent telephone calls and employee interruptions, have lower average durations per activity, ranging from 15 to 18 minutes, as shown below in Graph 2. Graph 2.
DURATION OF TYPICAL ACTIVITY BY MANAGERS
50 40 30 20 10 0 President Minutes per Activity 42 Sales Manager 15 Senior Manager 16 4 Middle Manager 18 All NonManagers managers 18 14
Graph 3.
Administration 25%
Internal Operations 7%
Focusing on the first 7 categories clockwise (people management, strategy / analysis, planning, selling, customer administration, customer service, and operations) only 59% of a managers time is spent on activities that add value. Organizations need to recognize that operating at 100% efficiency or 100% capacity is simply not feasible. Time for major priorities is limited. Numerous requirements will inevitably eat up time that managers would like to allocate to their priorities. We define these job priorities distinctly from job requirements. Priorities are activities that affect results at least a month in the future. In the pie chart above, they are the first three or four pie sections clockwise from the top; people management, strategy / analysis, planning, and for some managers, selling. Job requirements are those unwritten or administrative tasks that are a necessary part of being an employee in the organization or that must get done eventually. These include administration, training, travel, personal time and miscellaneous activities. For managers, they can account for up to 41% of the time! In between the high priorities and the necessary requirements are responsibilities. These involve job functions that are written in a job description that must get done today. Generally speaking, they include elements in the next three pie sections after priorities; customer service, customer administration, and internal operations, though elements from other sections might come into play.
Following are brief descriptions of the main categories: Planning Activities oriented towards developing new products / services / clients, etc. Strategy / analysis Reviewing business results to aid in planning Selling Direct contact with prospects or customers to obtain additional business Customer Administration Internal activities that support sales and service Service Responding to customer requests or provision of products and services Administration Required internal activities not connected with main priorities Internal Operations Internal work that keeps the organization running Training Personal and professional development done on work time Travel Travel to customers, other offices, but not commuting Personal time Lunch, breaks, calls to spouse, short medical appointments, etc. Miscellaneous Activities not covered elsewhere
3. MANAGING STAFF DOES NOT GET THE ATTENTION THAT MANAGERS SAY IT SHOULD
Managers expect their job to be managing people, but only a small percentage of their time is spent doing this. Prior to beginning their time studies, managers were asked for their ideal expectations. They were also asked to respond to four open-ended questions related to their jobs and productivity. The first of these open-ended questions is What are the most important things you need to do in your job? The objective of this question is to gauge whether actual time tracked on various activities matches up with stated intentions. Managers might believe their focus ought to be in one area. But because of their lack of appropriate skills, or the day to day pressures of ongoing crises, or their own bad habits, they are unable to allocate the right efforts towards their priorities. Their responses to the open-ended questions are coded to match a list of 97 pre-set responses. (See Appendix 1 for complete responses.) By far, the most frequent response to the question about priorities is manage staff, provide direction, coach, cited by half of all managers. (Note: percentages add up to more than 100% because many respondents give more than one answer.) Responses cited by at least 5% of respondents are shown below. Details are in Appendix 4:
Table 1. QUESTION 1
In your job, what are the most important things you need to do? Manage staff / provide direction / coach Prospecting / generate sales / orders / marketing Provide customer service / support / satisfy needs Manage operations Time planning / planning / focus Build relationships, meet, contact customers Paperwork / administrative tasks Train staff Communicate well, E-Mail, internal communication 50% 20% 17% 9% 7% 7% 6% 5% 5%
Clearly, respondents see themselves not as managers of processes or projects, but of people. While this sounds intuitive and obvious, the reality of how time is spent is different than managers expectations. As shown in the main pie chart (Graph 3) and the table below, less than one-fifth of managers time is spent in the area of people management. This category represents 8.8 hours per week of the typical managers time or 18% of the work week. He or she conducts 24 different activities of about 23 minutes each.
Table 2.
PEOPLE MANAGEMENT CATEGORY Hours per Occasions Duration in Ideal week minutes Hours 3.3 9 22 4.1 6.1 20 18 8.2 10.8 23 28 9.4 4.3 7 35 3.5 8.8 24 23 9.2
Sales managers spend more time than other managers on people management. This is because their results are directly attributable to the sales reps who work for them. They know that developing their people is important to their own success. Hence they spend more time here, while they spend less time on general planning activities, covered in another section of this report. In general, managers dont expect to spend any more of their time on this crucial area of people management. Based on their input provided prior to their time studies, they would ideally like to spend 9.2 hours per week on people management. Their actual time is just 0.4 hours short of this ideal target. Within the sub-groups, presidents would like to spend slightly more time managing people, while senior managers would like to spend 2 hours less. But the category encompasses a variety of activities. Within the category, a key activity that relates to managers primary goal of managing staff is an activity called coach, mentor and train staff. Overall this takes 2.8 hours per week among those who tracked it, as shown in Table 3 below. This is very much short of the 4.1 hours they would ideally like to spend on this activity. Coaching just isnt getting the attention that managers want. Assuming the typical manager has between four and eight employees reporting to him or her, each employee may only get one session per week of less than half an hour to cover everything.
Table 3.
ACTIVITY: COACH, MENTOR AND TRAIN STAFF Hours per Occasions Duration in Ideal week minutes Hours Middle Manager 2.1 8 17 5.3 Senior Manager 2.2 10 13 3.7 Sales Manager 3.5 8 27 4.4 President 1.4 2 43 0.5 All Managers 2.7 7 24 4.1
Table 4.
QUESTION 2 What things outside of your control get in the way of your productivity? Paperwork / administrative tasks Customer requests -service / problems / complaints Computer / system / equipment problems Changing priorities / ad hoc / unplanned projects Interruptions Staffing / HR issues / changes / people absent Phone calls / phone interruptions / inquiries Meetings - too many / too long / unnecessary Other depts. inefficient / make mistakes Volume of e-mail Fire fighting / emergencies Volume of work / not enough time Customers without appointments / walk-ins Central office visits, interruptions, requests
The irony is that since 1990, computers and new software programs continue to proliferate; yet there is no reduction in administrative tasks. This is because for the manager, the computer is not an automation tool; it is an information-processing tool. With the increasing number of tools, or
programs available, from word processing to spreadsheet analysis and presentation software, the options have also increased. Now, more scenarios can be checked out, more reports can be printed for review, more data needs to be inputted. It is no surprise then that the issue of paperwork and administrative tasks is seen as a huge impediment to productivity. As shown in Table 5 below, the administrative burden is massive and takes up 11.6 hours of the managers work week. This is 25% of his or her time. The activities in this category are also very interruptive; 43 of them occur each week lasting 16 minutes each. Administration is also an area where managers would like to spend considerably less time than they do. Actual hours spent versus ideal expectations are the most dramatically different for this category compared to others. Managers spend 11.6 hours in administration time, but would ideally only like to spend 7.3 hours doing these activities. No one likes doing paperwork. Administration time increases as one moves higher in the organization (see table below). Some of the time in this category is simply staying in touch through networking, writing and responding to e-mails or communicating with head office. Nonetheless, even when communication activities are excluded (some of which are routine and some of which are people management), administration for presidents is still 11.7 hours per week or 18% of the time.
Table 5.
ADMINISTRATION CATEGORY Hours per Occasions Duration in week minutes 9.8 39 15 13.6 46 18 10.9 37 18 14.1 26 32 11.6 43 16
Some of the shortest activities, in terms of typical duration, occur within the administration category, as shown below in Table 6. Many could be delegated.
Table 6.
ACTIVITY Paperwork and general administration Handling mail and filing Payroll procedures Internal communications Filing Interact with support units Read and respond to emails, memos Internal queries Supplier / vendor calls Technology issues Plant liaison
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Duration in minutes 4 6 7 9 10 10 10 12 12 12 13
Table 8.
QUESTION 3 What things within your control get in the way of your productivity? No response / nothing Time management / poor planning Paperwork / administrative tasks No focus / too many things at once / prioritizing Interruptions by phone or in person Doing others' work / being too helpful Not saying no Procrastination Meetings - long or too many Not enough delegation Volume of e-mail
Daily planning includes determining what needs to be done today, scheduling appointments, reviewing materials for meetings and outlining project priorities. For those involved with selling, preparing for customer meetings is also included. Long range or strategic planning looks at a horizon that ranges from a few months to a few years ahead. It examines business trends, determines general direction for the organization, staffing needs, new product development, marketing initiatives and expansion projects. The activity related to daily time planning typically takes 2.2 hours per week. This means each day, managers who track this activity spend 26 minutes on planning each day. This is no greater
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than non-managers who also spend 2.2 hours per week on time planning. The difference is that managers would ideally like to spend just slightly more time than non-managers on this activity; 2.3 hours versus 2.1 hours for non-managers. On the fourth of the open-ended questions, 21% of managers indicated improving time management would enhance their productivity. Improved time management allows managers to deal with the daily onslaught of interruptions, delegate more effectively to their team, and plan more thoroughly for meetings and coordinate projects more effectively. However, an investment in time management cannot reduce the time spent in other areas. We tested a number of hypotheses, correlating time spent by individuals on time planning versus time spent in a number of other areas. Essentially, all of the hypotheses show no correlation. (See Graph 4, below) That is, increased investments in time planning did not result in decreased investments in other areas. The range of time planning was from zero (among those who had included it as an activity for tracking) up to 5 hours per week. Time spent on daily planning does not tend to be correlated to: total hours worked time spent in meetings length of meetings coaching time paperwork frequency of interruptions GRAPH 4
Time Planning Time Versus Hours Worked
25
20
15
10
0 1 7 13 19 25 31 37 43 49 55 61 67 73 79 85 91 97 103 109 115 121 127 133 139 145 151 157 163 169
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For the category as a whole, senior managers and presidents, being higher in the organization, spend more time on planning compared with middle managers and sales managers. But they also do more planning than they would ideally like, as shown below.
Table 7.
PLANNING CATEGORY Hours per Occasions Duration in week minutes 4.7 10 28 9.8 18 32 4.1 14 17 14.8 20 44 4.0 13 19
Not only do some managers spend more time on the category than they would like; some of them spend more time specifically on an activity called long term planning than they would like. Managers who tracked this activity spend 3.7 hours per week on it, but ideally would only like to spend 2.4 hours. At the higher level, more time is spent on long range planning; 5 hours for presidents. But remarkably they would only like to be at 2.5 hours! While time planning may not affect hours spent in other areas, there is some evidence from other Pace Productivity Inc studies that increased planning time results in increased sales results.
6. ORIENTATION TOWARDS CUSTOMERS IS ALMOST EQUALLY DIVIDED BETWEEN SELLING, SERVICE AND CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATION
Overall, 24% of the typical managers time is related to customer activities. These comprise 12 hours per week, split across three categories (Tables 9, 10, 11 below) Even among non-sales managers, the figure is a healthy 14%. At the high end, those who are in a sales management role spend 28% of their time in customer-related activities. Selling consists of those activities that are in direct contact with prospects and customers to increase business. It includes sales meetings with prospects, phone calls, prospecting calls and follow up activity. These activities might be directed towards increasing business among current customers, in addition to finding new prospects and selling products to them. Finally, customer administration consists of the internal activities required to support customer activity. Some of these relate to sales; order processing, credit approvals, collections, preparing quotes. Others relate to internal work required to provide service; following up on requests, changing customer status, preparing for annual reviews, or completing paperwork related to new accounts.
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Customer service is conducting activities that are of direct benefit to a customer, once they have become a customer. This includes installing products, training customers, answering inquiries about their orders, managing their accounts, resolving problems, handling complaints or arranging deliveries. Many sales managers are not just directing their sales staff, but often have their own accounts as well. Among those who track customer or prospect sales meetings, typical hours are 2.5 per week. This consists of 4.1 meetings per week of about 37 minutes each. This is just 2 minutes longer per meeting than the amount spent by typical sales reps. The following table is repeated from Key Finding # 3. It shows the orientation of managers towards selling, the second most popular response to this question. To some degree, this reflects the inclusion of sales managers in the sample. Excluding them, responses related to providing customer service moves up to the second highest position. Selling doesnt disappear entirely though. Even among middle managers who are not responsible for a sales team, the selling category still adds up to 2.3 hours per week.
Table 1. (repeated)
QUESTION 1 In your job, what are the most important things you need to do? Manage staff / provide direction / coach Prospecting / generate sales / orders / marketing Provide customer service / support / satisfy needs Manage operations Time planning / planning / focus Build relationships, meet, contact customers Paperwork / administrative tasks Train staff Communicate well, e-mail, internal comm.
The third response to the pre-study question, providing customer service, recognizes that even as a manager, customer issues need to be dealt with. This might include responsibility for key accounts, etc. The tables below show results for the three customer-related categories. Customer administration is actually the largest in terms of actual time, though selling is a key category where managers at all levels want to spend more time.
Table 9.
SELLING CATEGORY Hours per Occasions Duration in week minutes 2.3 10 13 0.9 2 35 5.9 20 18 5.4 10 33 3.8 12 18
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Within the selling category, the activity called sales meetings with customers averages 37 minutes per meeting. Telephone calls, by their nature are much shorter, lasting just 11 minutes each. This is true whether the call is one initiated by the manager or whether it is an incoming call. Occasional calls are made to existing customers to renew orders or to ensure the customer doesnt switch to another supplier. These retention calls are just slightly longer than prospecting calls 13 minutes each. In the financial services industry, customers often walk in to buy products without an appointment. Usually these are handled by non-managers and last 23 minutes. When managers handle this type of prospect, the meetings are slightly shorter, 18 minutes each.
Table 10.
SERVICE CATEGORY Hours per Occasions Duration in week minutes 3.7 18 12 4.6 17 16 3.6 13 17 8.2 10 52 3.6 16 13
Customer queries make up a large portion of service time. Among those who measured this activity, typical time spent per week is 2.6 hours. 12 queries each are fairly short, taking 13 minutes each. Customer issues rank as the second highest impediment to productivity (See Table 4). This stands out as an ironic comment on work priorities. Many of the respondents in our sample are responsible for service. This is reflected in providing service, ranked as the third highest item on their list of key priorities. Yet, customer requests are seen as an impediment. (If it werent for all those intrusive customer problems, I could get more of my work done)
Table 11.
CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATION CATEGORY Hours per Occasions Duration in Ideal week minutes Hours 8.2 22 23 6.7 1.7 1 134 0.9 5.1 15 20 6.0 0.5 1 24 0.7 4.6 14 20 4.9
As shown in the table above, presidents do very little customer administration work, delegating these activities to those more junior in the organization. Lower level managers in turn have an opportunity to delegate these activities to their employees, but often dont.
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Table 12.
OPERATIONS Hours per Occasions Duration in week minutes 5.4 25 13 4.0 21 12 1.6 6 16 1.0 2 34 3.5 17 12
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Table 13.
QUESTION 4 What could be done to enhance your productivity? Improve time management / planning / organization Increase staff to delegate /increase admin support Reduce paperwork / administration Increase training Structure / clarify schedule, tasks, staff better No response / nothing Increase / improve computers / systems Increase delegation Select priority activities / focus Better / bigger / private work environment
10. MANAGERS ARE SATISFIED WITH THE PERSONAL TIME THEY SPEND WHILE ON THE JOB
On average, managers eat lunch, take breaks, call spouses and conduct other personal business for 4.1 hours per week, the equivalent of about 49 minutes per day. Per week, actual results almost exactly match the ideal expectation for this activity of 4.2 hours. In the fourth open-ended question, mention of extra breaks, fitness facilities, nap breaks are almost never mentioned as a means to increase productivity. Managers find their break times sufficient. If there is wasted time at work, it does not appear to be among managers. As shown in the previous sections, the manager may not be entirely focussed on her highest priority activities, but she is certainly busy and engaged with active work.
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12. SMALL BUT SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF TIME ARE SPENT ON TRAVEL AND MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES
Averaged across all managers, travel takes up just 1.0 hours per week. However, unlike other categories, this category contains just a single activity, business travel. Among those who tracked travel (24% of managers), the figure is higher, 3.5 hours per week. This consists of 5 trips of 43 minutes each. Ideally, the sub-group of managers who tracked travel would do much less, just 2.1 hours per week. Managers prefer to do their work at a central location rather than spending their time travelling. Miscellaneous is also a category with a single activity. It averages 2.5 hours per week. It can include dealing with computer problems, filling in for another persons job, office announcements, etc. 53% of managers spend less than an hour per week on miscellaneous activities. Small as these other activities are, they nonetheless add up, along with personal time and administrative time, to 41% of managers time that is non-value added.
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13. IMPLICATIONS
Work hours continue to increase across all jobs for a number of complex reasons. In particular, those rising in the organization will find themselves working longer rather than less. There are no leisure time perks associated with seniority. But longer hours do not necessarily mean more high priority work gets done. Managers cannot be expected to work 100% on their top priority activities all the time. 60% is an average target for value added work. The figure plummets for high priority tasks. Increased time management training should focus on better quality focus of activity, not on saving time. Bring back the secretaries. The elimination of clerical assistance in favor of technology solutions may have had detrimental effects. The way to reduce administration time is to give it to someone else to do. Directing and coaching people is difficult to make time for when crises abound. Yet managers need to make this area more of a priority. Many customer activities are not high level priorities, nor low level requirements, but fit in the middle; day to day responsibilities. They comprise the activities that need to be done each day, but must be done without compromising planning and people activities.
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The TimeCorder device allows users to easily track their time by pushing buttons associated with pre-coded activities. It has a series of buttons labeled A to Z. Each button is associated with an activity. Each time a study participant presses a new button, time stops recording on the previous activity and begins recording on a new one, like a chess clock in reverse. In addition to cumulative time, the TimeCorder also tracks the number of occasions for each activity. When a button is pressed, the count for that activity increases by one. In the report, the accumulation of
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these is referred to as occasions. By dividing cumulative time by the number of occasions, a typical duration is derived. It is the average length of time for which an activity occurs, expressed in minutes. Data recorded with the TimeCorder is tracked accurately to the second. Employees consistently embrace TimeCorder studies with enthusiasm. This is because a unique methodology that a) gets them involved from the beginning, b) asks for their input c) makes the process fun and d) gives them instant feedback. Cooperation level, based on an initial review of raw data is approximately 96%. Typically the managers in this database are middle managers and above. For instance, production line supervisors or team leads for clerical staff are not included. Following is a list of industries from which data has been collected:
Financial Services Manufacturing Wholesale Distribution Retail Consulting Banking Advertising Sales Travel Computer Software Professional Hospitality Public Service
Typically, the purpose for conducting a time study was to gather data to: Increase organizational effectiveness Recruit qualified managers and staff Train managers to acquire and apply new skills Eliminate activities that dont contribute to primary job functions Provide appropriate technology that automates mechanical, clerical, repetitive tasks Introduce systems that facilitate communications without adding to administrative work.
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The distribution of response that respondents gave in the table below shows that the first question elicits the largest number of responses, 2 per person on average. The third question, generating only 1.1 responses per person, is the most challenging for respondents. This is because it requires them to attribute productivity shortfalls to their own behavior. Essentially, people do not like to admit that their own experience, work habits or skills are part of the problem Question # 1 2 3 4 # of responses 1151 1104 650 651 Average # of responses per person 2.0 1.9 1.1 1.3
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# of responses
292 119 99 51 43 42 35 32 31 29 23 19 19 18 16 16 16 16 13 13 12 11 11 11 11 10 10 9 9 9 8 8 7 7 5 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 3 50% 20% 17% 9% 7% 7% 6% 5% 5% 5% 4% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%
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1. In your job, what are the most important things you need to do?
Prepare pricing / quotes / estimates Scheduling Teambuilding Thinking Collateral documentation Design materials / new products / ideas Follow up Maintain property / equipment Manage/ purchase product mix /inventory / stock Networking Programming
# of responses
3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
2. What things outside of your control get in the way of your productivity?
Paperwork / administrative tasks Customer requests -service / problems / complaints Computer / system / equipment problems Changing priorities / ad hoc / unplanned projects Interruptions Staffing / HR issues / changes / people absent Phone calls / phone interruptions / inquiries Meetings - too many / too long / unnecessary Other depts. inefficient / make mistakes Volume of e-mail Fire fighting / emergencies Volume of work / not enough time Customers without appointments / walk-ins Central office visits, interruptions, requests Questions from staff Environment - noise, cold, location, privacy Traffic / Travel Requests from peers / other departments Doing other people's jobs Building maintenance problems / construction Change Tight deadlines Equipment problems / parts issues No response / nothing Requests / interference from senior management Classroom coverage / teacher absenteeism Internal communications / people hard to reach Information overload / keeping up with material Lack of role clarity / structure Procedures / policies Socializing / conversations / questions Untrained / inexperienced staff Various responses Delivery problems 25
# of responses
117 105 80 78 72 71 63 51 42 37 29 26 25 23 19 14 14 12 11 9 9 9 8 8 8 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 20% 18% 14% 13% 12% 12% 11% 9% 7% 6% 5% 4% 4% 4% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%
2. What things outside of your control get in the way of your productivity?
Discipline issues Lack of information / missing information Reading junk mail Union contracts Bureaucracy / procedures Credit notes / problems Customer indecision / changes / reluctance Market pricing Outside fundraising demands Time planning / planning Training - lack of Appointment cancelled / customer not cooperating Collections Customer line ups Lack of administration support Lack of budget Lack of teamwork / poor attitude Politics Time taken up by training Weather Community agencies that require attention Competition Correspondence Difficulty reaching customer, getting information Family / children / domestic responsibilities Others opinions / agendas Pricing / order processing Surveys Takeovers Trade shows
# of responses
5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
# of responses
97 68 67 50 44 27 26 24 21 21 21 20 19 17 15 16% 12% 11% 9% 7% 5% 4% 4% 4% 4% 4% 3% 3% 3% 3%
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# of responses
13 13 12 11 10 9 9 9 8 8 7 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
# of responses
124 94 71 63 53 48 43 34 28 26 18 15 21% 16% 12% 11% 9% 8% 7% 6% 5% 4% 3% 3%
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# of responses
12 12 11 9 8 8 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
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Category
Activity Prepare quote / proposal / estimate Close rental agreements Existing customer touchbase call Demos and Shows - prepare, attend Retention calls - outbound / inbound Small business sales calls, meetings Sales letters or emails to prospects Annual reviews - customer interaction Commercial marketing - one to many Business deposit account application Deposit accounts (current accounts) Fill out order form with customer Investments - small business
Hours per Occasions Duration Ideal Difference Week Estimate 1.0 3 17 1.8 -0.9 0.8 3 14 2.4 -1.7 0.7 4 10 1.9 -1.2 0.5 1 50 0.7 -0.2 0.5 2 13 1.7 -1.2 0.5 1 24 1.4 -0.9 0.5 3 9 1.1 -0.6 0.4 1 27 1.3 -0.8 0.4 1 26 1.7 -1.2 0.4 1 19 1.4 -1.1 0.3 1 28 0.0 0.3 0.2 1 10 1.3 -1.0 0.1 1 14 1.4 -1.2 5.5 3.9 3.4 3.3 3.1 3.0 2.7 2.6 2.1 2.1 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.2 8.1 14 16 10 5 6 11 7 3 10 10 4 2 10 4 4 4 2 2 9 2 4 3 4 4 2 4 2 1 1 1 1 7 24 14 21 38 31 17 24 54 13 12 29 47 11 25 23 23 45 39 7 27 16 22 15 14 22 10 21 21 11 11 14 66 2.0 1.8 3.8 1.9 3.1 1.6 4.1 0.9 5.4 2.6 2.7 1.4 1.8 0.5 2.2 1.9 1.5 1.2 1.7 1.1 0.4 0.8 1.9 0.8 1.6 1.1 1.2 1.8 0.8 1.4 1.0 1.7 3.5 2.1 -0.4 1.4 0.0 1.4 -1.3 1.6 -3.3 -0.5 -0.7 0.4 0.0 1.2 -0.7 -0.5 -0.1 0.0 -0.6 -0.1 0.6 0.2 -0.9 0.1 -0.7 -0.4 -0.6 -1.3 -0.5 -1.2 -0.8 6.4
Management Branch administration, HR Inventory management Service management Group meetings, kick-offs, updates Sales management HR resource planning Coach, mentor and train staff Peer groups - meetings, rallies Staff questions, answer routine items Supervision Relationship management Department / staff / team meetings Assist staff, answer coworker queries Personnel Issues Credit adjud. & underwriting coaching Performance management Running sales meetings Run staff meetings General policy & procedures coaching Recruit, select, coach new staff Staffing, OT planning, interview Personnel reviews and hiring Management meetings HR issues and administration Skill building - team Daily huddle Lead implementation of changes Reward and recognition activities HR - new hires Scheduling & distribution of work Complaint resolution coaching Client Admin. Credit review / adjudication / approval
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Category
Activity Commercial sales and administration Commercial credit app development Collections / aging accounts Process payments, pay-offs, cash (a) Risk rating evaluation / monitoring Daily prep. + takeover of credit / invst. Commercial credit administration Retail compliance Small business sales Small Business administration Cash & custody Marketing admin (not with customer) Small business sales and service Build new customer info on computer Credit administration Comm. loan compliance, follow up Annual review admin. (internal) Collateral documentation Business loan app (>$250K) - Admin Arrangement letter - prepare, review Order Entry Approve trades / orders Borrowing / credit fulfilment Business loan app (<$250K) - Admin Complete sales request - postcall Business loan app (< $250K) Refunds, customer transfers, LDW Business deposit acct. app - Admin Monitor customer activity New credit applications Cash loss Order Taking Business loan app (> $250K) Small business loan compliance Open new acct. / documentation * Exception reporting Evaluate and verify orders Estate account - internal Admin Deposit / current accounts admin Renew term deposits Merchant services application - Admin Rate exceptions / deal structuring OPC Liaison Jobbed Orders Open term deposit account Investment fulfillment Investments - Admin
Hours per Occasions Duration Ideal Difference Week Estimate 7.6 12 37 2.9 4.7 5.5 10 32 1.8 3.8 4.0 12 20 2.2 1.9 3.7 20 11 3.8 -0.1 3.7 4 49 2.9 0.8 3.6 9 23 1.4 2.2 2.9 4 45 1.3 1.6 2.5 8 20 2.7 -0.3 2.1 4 31 3.1 -1.0 2.0 5 24 1.3 0.8 2.0 8 14 1.2 0.7 1.9 5 21 3.6 -1.7 1.5 2 38 1.3 0.1 1.4 6 13 2.3 -0.9 1.3 5 15 1.4 -0.1 1.2 4 20 0.7 0.5 1.1 2 37 1.2 -0.1 1.1 2 28 1.7 -0.7 0.9 3 16 0.3 0.6 0.9 4 13 3.2 -2.2 0.9 9 6 1.6 -0.7 0.8 3 15 1.4 -0.6 0.8 3 18 1.9 -1.2 0.8 3 17 1.5 -0.8 0.7 2 19 1.4 -0.7 0.7 2 25 3.5 -2.8 0.7 4 9 0.2 0.5 0.7 2 24 0.4 0.2 0.7 4 11 1.1 -0.5 0.6 6 6 1.1 -0.5 0.6 3 12 0.9 -0.4 0.5 5 6 1.6 -1.1 0.4 1 38 0.3 0.2 0.4 2 10 0.8 -0.4 0.4 1 19 2.3 -1.9 0.4 2 13 1.3 -0.9 0.3 2 12 1.6 -1.2 0.3 1 14 1.1 -0.8 0.3 1 31 0.0 0.3 0.2 1 10 1.5 -1.2 0.2 1 15 0.2 0.0 0.2 1 8 1.9 -1.7 0.2 1 8 0.6 -0.4 0.1 0 18 0.6 -0.5 0.1 1 7 1.5 -1.4 0.1 0 17 1.4 -1.3 0.1 1 10 0.4 -0.3
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Category
Activity Cash management administration Respond to questions - loan reviewer In-Store Service Work Exception fund - administration
Hours per Occasions Duration Ideal Difference Week Estimate 0.1 1 10 0.4 -0.3 0.1 0 60 1.6 -1.5 0.1 0 19 0.5 -0.4 0.0 0 0 0.0 0.0 7.5 3.1 2.7 2.6 2.6 2.1 2.0 1.7 1.7 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.0 0.9 0.7 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 2.5 1.3 0.9 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.1 1.3 15 11 4 7 12 4 5 6 7 28 9 15 3 4 5 3 3 2 2 5 1 1 5 2 1 3 5 1 0 2 30 17 38 24 13 31 26 18 14 3 10 5 20 16 10 15 13 8 12 3 10 3 33 35 38 14 8 21 31 34 3.1 2.4 0.5 2.6 2.1 2.1 1.6 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.7 1.3 2.0 0.6 0.6 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 1.3 0.7 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.7 1.5 1.5 4.4 0.8 2.2 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.3 -0.8 -0.5 -0.5 -0.1 0.0 -0.2 -0.7 -0.4 -1.3 -0.1 -0.3 -0.9 -0.9 -0.8 -0.8 1.2 0.7 -0.1 -0.4 -0.4 -0.4 -1.4 -0.2
Client Service Non small business duties (ie. retail) Write customer letter or e-mail Meet with customers - face to face Merchandising Customer inquiries - complete request Client visits Problem loan management Problem solving / investigating Problem resolution with customer Incoming client account inquiries * Commercial service inquiries - phone Follow up with customer Analyze / resolve service issues Pricing strategies Receive, handle complaints Commercial service inquiry Transfer orders Credit inquiries Account maint. / admin. (service) Acknowledge complaint Estate account - customer interaction Review or print customer balances Strategy / Analysis Financial / budget review, forecasting Business plan analysis Marketing analysis and strategy Create new product ideas Review sales results Survey analyses - customer/employee Competitive data gathering Training Personal development Internal Operations After sales portfolio management Morning review Investigating problems with partners Sales adjudication Updating case - input after opening Transactional adjudication Operational activities End of day review 8.8 6.2 5.5 4.7 4.6 3.8 3.7 3.0 19 27 39 16 37 79 6 14 27 14 9 18 8 3 38 13 2.6 3.6 3.0 3.4 2.9 2.0 1.4 2.7 6.2 2.6 2.5 1.3 1.7 1.8 2.3 0.3
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Category
Hours per Occasions Duration Ideal Difference Week Estimate Instock issues - Review, transfer etc. 2.7 9 19 2.3 0.5 Close case - documentation 2.7 19 9 2.8 -0.1 Open case re customer complaint 2.7 20 8 2.1 0.7 Implementation 2.3 11 12 2.2 0.1 OPCC discussion - review options 2.0 13 10 1.9 0.2 Handle cash, payables, receivables 2.0 10 13 1.4 0.6 Branch control checklists 1.6 12 8 2.3 -0.7 Pricing Support 1.5 15 6 0.0 1.5 Negotiate with partner re complaints 1.4 7 13 1.7 -0.3 Review reports or evidence 1.3 6 13 1.5 -0.2 Service partner issues 1.2 3 21 1.8 -0.6 Discuss maintenance issues 1.2 6 12 1.2 0.0 Investigation - self - manuals, references 1.2 8 8 1.8 -0.6 Closed cases - follow up / investigate 1.2 9 8 1.2 -0.1 Premises / housekeeping 1.1 6 11 1.1 0.0 Property Maintenance 1.1 4 15 2.0 -0.9 Machine / equipment maint. & repair 1.0 5 13 1.1 -0.1 Receiving, transferring parts 0.9 5 11 1.4 -0.5 IT Systems - maint. / changes 0.8 3 15 0.9 -0.1 Downtime - PC, host, telephone 0.5 2 20 0.6 -0.1 Security admin. / review / check 0.5 3 12 1.9 -1.4 Regulatory / legislated compliance 0.4 3 9 1.0 -0.6 Purchasing Requisitions0.3 2 9 1.4 -1.0 Research and input systemic issues 0.1 1 8 1.2 -1.0 ABM deposits / monitor service 0.1 1 4 1.3 -1.2 Morning / end of day process Internal non-customer / queries Other internal administrative duties Paperwork and general administration Gather info for management guide Responding to Voice, E-Mail Attend non-customer meetings Read and respond to e-mail, memos Handling mail and filing Attend internal meetings Internal meetings Daily support package (ex loans) Internal communications Handling mail, sorting Internal audit Networking activities Admin Support - various activities Correspondence External vendor meetings Head office communications Strip cash drawer, deposits, etc. (a) 7.6 7.0 6.9 4.9 4.1 3.9 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.4 3.2 3.0 2.9 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.2 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 22 35 19 15 18 20 4 21 38 7 7 12 20 12 6 2 8 7 2 9 8 20 12 22 20 14 12 51 10 6 30 28 15 9 15 26 67 17 17 49 13 14 5.3 2.2 2.3 2.0 1.1 2.1 2.3 1.9 0.8 1.9 1.6 2.5 2.1 1.3 2.0 1.7 2.0 1.9 1.6 0.7 1.5 2.3 4.8 4.6 2.9 2.9 1.7 1.4 1.7 2.8 1.5 1.6 0.5 0.8 1.6 0.8 0.9 0.2 0.0 0.3 1.2 0.4
Activity
Administration
33
Category
Activity External communications Review / approve routine items, letters Prescribed reading Exception reporting - Admin Relief activities Report preparation Document call - sale in progress Supplier / vendor calls Senior mgmt. Queries / authorizations Coordination of sundry items / events Plant Liaison Other meetings / external Legal Issues, litigation Fire fighting, emergencies Interact with support units / depts. Document prep, editing, distribution Enter post dated cheque payments Budget review, admin, monitoring Review / action on transaction reports Technology issues Contact management - no sale yet Review / prepare sales reports Filing Website design / admin Internal control Payroll procedures Billing Issues / invoices
Hours per Occasions Duration Ideal Difference Week Estimate 1.9 8 14 1.7 0.2 1.8 7 16 2.3 -0.5 1.6 7 15 1.6 0.0 1.6 6 16 1.3 0.3 1.5 4 23 1.1 0.4 1.4 4 20 1.4 0.0 1.4 4 21 1.6 -0.2 1.3 7 12 1.9 -0.5 1.3 4 18 1.5 -0.3 1.3 2 32 0.4 0.9 1.2 6 13 0.9 0.3 1.2 2 46 1.6 -0.5 1.1 2 33 0.7 0.3 1.1 3 20 0.5 0.5 1.0 5 12 1.2 -0.2 1.0 4 17 1.3 -0.2 1.0 3 18 1.8 -0.8 0.8 3 16 1.8 -1.0 0.8 3 17 1.3 -0.4 0.6 3 12 0.7 -0.1 0.6 3 12 0.7 -0.1 0.5 2 17 1.2 -0.7 0.5 3 10 0.5 0.0 0.4 1 20 1.5 -1.1 0.3 1 21 0.3 0.0 0.2 1 7 0.8 -0.7 0.1 0 16 0.7 -0.6 3.5 2.5 4.1 5 8 10 43 19 25 2.1 1.3 4.2 1.4 1.2 -0.1
Travel Business travel, ex commuting Miscellaneous Misc. Personal Time Personal time (including lunch)
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REFERENCES
Drucker, Peter. The Effective Executive, 1966, 1967 Duxbury, Linda and Higgins. Chris Work-Life Balance in the New Millenium: Where are we? Where do we need to go? Canadian Policy Research Networks Paper No. W/12, October 2001 GetMoreDone.com web site. Tabulator Module. Pace Productivity Inc. Gershunny, Jonathan, Busyness as the Badge of Honour for the New Superordinate Working Class. Institute for Social and Economic Research, 2005. Kotter, John. What Effective General Managers Really Do. Harvard Business Review, March-April 1999 Mankins, Michael C. Stop Wasting Valuable Time. Harvard Business Review, September 2004. Mintzberg, Henry. The Nature of Managerial Work. 1973, Harper & Row Publishers Mintzberg, Henry. The Managers Job, Folklore and Fact. Harvard Business Review, March-April 1990 Malachowski, Dan. Wasted Time at Work Costing Companies Billions. Salary.com, 2005 Swan, Jonathon and Cooper, Gary L, Time, Health and the Family: What Working Families Want, Working Families, 2005
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