They Work Hard at Not Doing Work

If you have a job at any company anywhere in the world, you’ve run across these people. See how many clues you need to guess who they are:

1. They talk on the phone a lot (long-distance personal calls are a specialty).

2. They interpret the words “lunch hour” as more a guideline than a rule.

3. And, finally, they lead the office in the number of bathroom trips made, crossword puzzles completed and workplace rumors circulated.

That’s right, they’re the malingerers. They’re the people who work hardest at not doing work.

“Generally, in every organization 10% to 20% [of employees] do all the work,” said Scott Adams, creator of the “Dilbert” cartoon strip. And the rest? “They’re gaming it, if you will.”

Human resource and career guidance experts place the actual percentage of malingerers at closer to 5%. Even at that rate, people gaming the system can be a big problem for co-workers and bosses, and give office politics a nasty spin.

After years of downsizing and restructurings, many companies today run lean operations. That means that work not done by the gamers has to be done by somebody else. And, worse yet, malingerers can have a corrosive effect on the workplace dynamic.

“It can be very negative,” said Mark Schor, vice president of Reedie & Co., a career-consulting firm based in Dallas. “It can really bring morale down.”

At their worst, malingerers directly coerce others to shirk their responsibilities.

Marilyn Moats Kennedy, managing partner at Career Strategies in Wilmette, Ill., tells the story of a friend who worked as a bike messenger. Being a diligent worker, the young man made his first round of deliveries every day in about an hour. That put pressure on his co-workers--who took three times as long--to complete their work faster.

“Other people said, ‘Don’t do that,’ ” Kennedy said. “ ‘You’re creating more work for us. It should take you three hours.’ ”

Even in less blatant cases, managers shouldn’t underestimate the negative impact of the intentionally idle. Malingerers can be the “keepers of the culture, the informal teachers of new employees,” Kennedy said, and can easily sway newcomers who want to fit in with their colleagues.

“Those are the people you’re eating lunch with or having coffee breaks with,” she said. “Do you want to be ostracized and eat lunch alone every day? Those are powerful forces.”

The other danger for companies is that people who don’t malinger--in other words, just the sort of workers companies want to keep--may leave if the environment is too negative.

To Adams, whose cartoon finds humor in the workplace, gaming the system is a time-honored tradition.

At its most basic level, it means coming in a bit late, taking a lengthy bathroom break and a leisurely lunch.

“If you plan it right, there’s not much else you can wedge in between these three things,” Adams said. “And by the afternoon everyone knows there’s not much chance to start something new.”

The Internet has added a new dimension to the gaming process. Workers can now exchange e-mail with friends, trade stocks and play games. And they all can be done silently so as not to tip off bosses.

Surprisingly, some experts insist that malingerers aren’t lazy. Instead, they say, people may not have the skills to do the job, they may not have clearly defined duties or they may feel their past efforts were underappreciated.

“I don’t think it’s about laziness,” said Robert Riskin, vice president of LeaderSource, a leadership consulting firm in Minneapolis. “I’ve not met anyone who can’t be motivated. I think it’s more of a case of not hitting the right buttons for people.”

The first step is to talk to the employee.

“The first thing I’d want to do is understand the factors that may be causing the malingering,” said Rayna Brown, senior vice president of human resources at technology publisher and trade show organizer Ziff-Davis Inc. “Very often, people may be unproductive because of a whole array of reasons that may surprise management.”

Many experts advise managers against taking a confrontational stance. Instead of backing an already disgruntled worker further into a corner, take a nonthreatening tone that encourages the worker to open up. The worker may have temporary personal issues or difficulties with a specific supervisor that can be overcome.

Sometimes bosses are at fault for failing to structure jobs properly. A boss may have failed to set measurable goals and deadlines.

To get an employee back on the right track, it’s important to reward positive behavior, experts say. Let a worker know what’s expected and praise the person when the work is done.

In some cases, letting people know they can’t get away with goofing off is enough to change unwanted behavior. Some people game the system simply because they think no one else realizes what they’re doing.

“It’s very much like dealing with children,” Schor said. “Adults are just big kids. If the behavior is not confronted, people will continue to get away with it.”

Managers also should make a greater effort to find the right employees, Schor said. Instead of immediately filling vacated positions, managers should interview thoroughly to make sure they get workers with the right attitudes.

“People have to pay a little bit more attention to who they’re hiring,” Schor said. “These days, people have a sense of urgency in who they’re hiring. It’s rush, rush, rush.”

For co-workers, the situation can be tricky. They risk making enemies of unproductive colleagues if they complain openly about them. But they might damage their own standing with their bosses if they go along and also game the system.

If enough people are turned off by a malingerer, they can quietly let it be known that they won’t tolerate the behavior. That peer pressure could be more forceful than anything a boss might say.

Barring that, a confidential talk with the boss or a human resources executive is often the right answer.

The key, Brown said, is to resist the possible temptation to malinger, and make sure you do your work.

“You never really know who’s watching and what their informal relations are,” she said. “So you should always perform at your maximum because it’s your career and you should look at your career as though you’re under a looking glass.”