A friend recently moved to Australia from France and thought the word “busy” meant “good”.
Because when they asked people how they were going, they would respond with “busy” instead of “good”.
When you zoom out, that sounds crazy. Right? But it just goes to show that being constantly “busy” is not that healthy, or even that productive. Busyness has become a status symbol. It’s a virtue that’s morally admirable.
Because the “always on” busy culture has crept into the workplace. Back in the day, employees would return after Christmas break and roll up their sleeves to show how tanned they were. The thought process being: the more tanned you were, the better the holidays.
Today, the post-holiday ritual is to compare how many emails are sweating in the inbox. Research by Ann Burnet shows we actively compete to be the busiest. Because being busy is a brand!
Being busy is an addiction. There is a chemical component to it, like a rat waiting for their dopamine squirt, employees sit at their desks and get a reward when they look at an email or Slack message.
So while it’s not entirely their fault for being in a state of busy, it’s important to acknowledge employers are to blame too. Because they’re not organising employees well enough. Which is ironic, given that by definition, an organisation is an organised group of people with a shared purpose.
But how can they? They’re never going to be able to organise themselves with all of the information being loaded into their Outlook.
The irony is that staying busy is often seen as a badge of honour and a marker of self-worth in the workplace. But pumping up employees’ calendars and over-scheduling them to the point where they are always busy negatively affects their physical and emotional wellness, impacting their ability to maintain healthy relationships inside and outside of the office. Which is why HR needs to do more to snap employees out of the constant state of busyness so they can actually get some good work done.
In this blog, we’ll explore how to prioritise productive work over busyiness and how to implement those steps into your organisation.
As harsh as it is, force people to follow the clock.
Some executives anxiously worry that employees will take advantage of them if they offer gratitious holiday leave or let them work remotely.
But there are many benefits to giving employees space and time. Surveys repeatedly show that Australian employees don’t use up all of their leave. Recent studies also show that employees check work email during off-hours, which is why the Albanese government brought in the Right to Disconnect last year to allow employees to disconnect from work communications after hours.
Reward and celebrate employees who get things done, not just those who are active and busy.
Rewarding employees for effort rather than productivity is proven to work. For example, law firms tend to promote associates who have high billable hours, rather than those who win cases. This means other lawyers jump on the rat-race train, which causes them to work more hours and clock up billable hours to show face.
Of course, employees should not be rewarded solely for output as that can encourage overwork and burnout if people get too wrapped up in chasing rewards. But having an incentive or KPI program that encourages input, things like risk-taking, innovation and solving big problems, whilst also output, overall productivity is a great mix.
Notifications from emails, texts, workflow programs and instant messaging are a major culprit in employees feeling the stress of always having to be “on” and appear busy.
Digital tools create dopamine dependence, with the average employee checking their emails every six minutes. Other tools like Slack or Microsoft Office make it even harder to focus and get any deep work done.
Most people can’t even watch a movie without checking their phone. If they can’t focus outside of work, how can we expect them to focus at work? A big part of this is that employees feel guilty if they don’t check their emails and messages. The constant switching between the two makes it harder to get started on a project, because they're always picking up the phone and putting something down.
To address this, HR needs to think about workflow and create some new guidelines about communication. For example, only use instant messaging for quick, non-urgent communication. Emails might be reserved for formal updates or external communications.
But in certain situations, being busy is also okay. In fact, it’s normal and necessary for employees to be busy for stretches. At the start of a project or when a new employee comes on board. Those first few months are critical, and employees feel incumbent to do well, so they do everything themselves.
Model the right behavior.
The message to slow down will resonate with employees if managers take a break too. If managers can demonstrate that their busyness is not a prerequisite for success, employees are more likely to believe it.
For example, Mark Zuckerberg took two months of paternity leave. Todd McKinnon, the CEO of the software company Okta, asked his employees to share their vacation plans by telling them his own plans.
Martian Logic has been empowering HR teams with simple, scalable solutions that let organisations thrive in a fast-paced world. Our intuitive HRIS streamlines every aspect of HR—from recruitment and onboarding to performance tracking and employee engagement—so you can prioritise meaningful work over nonstop busyness. With real-time analytics and adaptive workflows, our platform helps HR leaders spot burnout risks early and build healthier, more productive workplaces. Ready to transform your HR approach in 2025? Contact us today and discover how Martian Logic can boost engagement, retention, and long-term success.
