80% of the work is done by 20% of the engineers.
I’ve seen guys make a full day’s work out of one 8-1/2 x 11 sheet.
intercst
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Its called the Pareto Principle.
_ Pete
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The Captain frequently reminds us of that.
But the 20% doing all the work, are rarely paid 5 times more. Maybe they get an extra 5% at Christmas.
intercst
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I had a 5-95 rule. 5% of my people caused 95% of the problems.
I guess I was fortunate. 20% of them causing problems would have been a bit much.
I think they are appreciated and known w/in the company. Often they get protected during cut backs. And when they retire they can be difficult to replace.
They’re not necessarily causing problems, but some people are more productive than others. In the salaried corporate environment, the pay scale for a given position is far narrower than the range of contributions.
The last place I worked, we were building a large expansion to a chemical plant in South Carolina. The project was behind schedule due to the lack of available trade labor like pipe fitters and electricians. It was the middle of August and the Project Manager was working the available staff 10 hour days, 6 days a week hiking costs with overtime pay, and reducing productivity with the long hours exposed to the heat and humidity. I advised that you’d get the same amount of work done for the cost if they were just working a 40 hour week. You were paying extra to dig yourself a deeper hole. I showed the people at the meeting the data, and the VP nodded in agreement, and ordered a reduction in the overtime hours.
Then one of the other manager’s at table pointed out that one of the young, ambitious engineers was working 80 hours a week on site. Perhaps we should pull him back a bit?
The VP of Engineering says, “He’s fine. He’s on salary and not costing us any extra.” {{ LOL }}
intercst
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Our plant was close to the aircraft plants in Wichita. Those companies would work their employees like rented mules when business was good. 8-10 hour days; 7 days a week. And then lay them off for months/years at a time when business was poor.
I could never compete with them on wages and benefits, but I did have a better work schedule.
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I figured that one out real quick working in consulting. If you are efficient and smart you can get more done in less time, but then you aren’t billing as many hours, so you are less valuable to the company.
Or they give you more work to do, so you are working harder for the same pay.
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There have been voluminous studies on worker productivity that show output per hour begins to decline sharply after about 40 hours a week. After about 55 hours a week the output is the same or lower than 40 hour a week worker. Working more than 55 hours provides zero value per hour.
In consulting there was a lot of pressure to show a lot of “face time” at the office. But I always found if I needed something fast and accurate I’d give it to someone who always left at 5:00 on the dot every day.
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