Why do some middle managers care more about "appearing busy" than actual productivity, especially when the company isn't even interested in their efforts either?
I work for a large retail chain (no need to hide its name, it's been mentioned in other related forums), and I am primarily responsible for their express pickup service,ء Z bg which is, in simple terms, curbside or car pickup.
Recently, our senior operations manager, Mark, informed the pickup team that we needed to reduce our delivery time. We have about 150 seconds to get orders out to customers. To achieve this goal, it was clear we needed more people, and Mark was happy to give them.
At my location, these pickup orders come in waves. So, we often have a period where we stand waiting for orders, followed by a crazy rush when several cars arrive at the same time.
The problem arises when other team leads pass by us during these quiet times and get annoyed when they see us not actively working. They pull many employees from the pickup point and send them to the front cashiers, which leaves us severely understaffed when the inevitable wave of orders arrives shortly after.
Mark and I have no issue with the team taking a breather between orders, as long as delivery times remain accurate. However, a particular shift manager, Diane, cannot understand why she shouldn't take from my team when they appear not to be very busy.
This led to a very frustrating conversation (I've changed internal terminology to make it clearer):
Me: I need at least three people at the pickup point at all times.
Diane: Understood, but if your group isn't actively working, I'm moving someone to the cashiers.
Me: Even if it's quiet now, we could get swamped at any moment. I can't waste time retrieving my team from the cashiers when that happens. They need to be ready.
Diane [giving me an uncomprehending look]: I hear you. But if you're standing around doing nothing, I'm moving someone.
Me: No, I really need at least three individuals present here.
Diane: Then you need to keep working constantly. Find something to clean.
Me: All cleaning tasks are already done for today.
Diane: Then find something else. You must appear busy at all times.
Me: But why?
Diane: Because at work, you simply must be busy all the time! [She repeated this exact sentence several times.]
Me: Really, why?
Diane: That's just how it is.
Me: But I genuinely don't understand the reason. I'm not convinced that staying busy all the time is either useful or necessary.
Diane: Then I will remove employees from the pickup point.
Believe it or not, that's the gist of the situation. We continued to converse for about ten more minutes. I was pressing her to give me a real reason why we must appear busy all the time, and she kept repeating the same meaningless answer until I eventually changed the subject. Thankfully, I managed to keep my team.3WW2Q1j vhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhn