How Multitasking Can Affect Productivity Negatively

Multitasking can not only affect productivity negatively but it can even make an individual totally ineffective in their job. 

This often happens when leadership misunderstands the concept of multitasking and its proper application of it in practice.

• What is multitasking
• Can humans multi-task?
• The misconception about multitasking
• The pros and cons of multitasking
• Realign multitasking for better productivity
• Multitasking example
• How multitasking can affect productivity - Conclusion

What is multitasking?

Multitasking is the process that will enable you to develop skills that will allow you to perform multiple tasks. 

By being able to multitask you will be able to develop skill sets that will qualify you for multiple jobs and in multiple environments.

Can humans multi-task?

The real answer is no. A human was not designed to do two things at the same time although the brain is wired to enable you to do so.

The question should not be if you can do two things at the same time? For the sake of productivity, you should rather ask why would you do two things at the same time.

The perception is that if you perform two tasks at the same time and finish quicker you are more productive. This is untrue as quicker and productive also consist of two very different concepts and are very different.

The misconception about multitasking

There are many misconceptions regarding the term multitasking.

Multitasking was invented many years ago but as with everything else, human mankind destroyed the good intentions behind it.

Multitasking as we know it today does not resemble what the original founders intended it to be. 

Today multitasking organizations use the term as an excuse to make people do more than one function without compensation.

The original thinking behind multitasking was to allow people to gain the knowledge and skills that will enable them to do more than one task. This was so a person could become flexible in the job market by learning new skills and the focus was on self-development.

This does not mean it must be done at the same time as is the perception today. 

The term multitasking was very quickly exploited by certain organizations who either misunderstood the concept totally or saw the loophole to exploit. 

It can be said that people were cheated into thinking they are doing the right thing while being exploited. 

During the late 70s up to the 80s multitasking was also used to support negotiations with unions in order to offer education and training to employees. It was a way to encourage employee engagement and the development of unskilled labour.

At this stage, it was still a concept that could be very useful. All employees were enabled to function equally in other areas of the organization when required.

The pros and cons of multitasking

The negative side of multitasking

The use of multitasking in today's environment has brought about the following negative connotations to the concept:

• Loss of focus on specific tasks 
• Exploiting of staff
• Incomplete or failing task analysis 
• Employee growth
• The loss of productivity
• Low morale

Loss of focus

There are certain tasks that require special focus from the employee but believing that multitasking is a way of doing things quicker the real focus on the desired outcome is lost.

Exploiting of staff

There are many organizations that will exploit staff by combining two previously separated functions into one to save costs. This is what they perceive as a quick way to solve financial strain but at the end of the day, productivity will suffer which is the key to saving costs.

Incomplete or failing task analysis

When it comes to planning for the long term it is important to align tasks with functions and multitasking makes it more difficult as projections are skewed because an employee will always favour one task over another.

Employee growth

Trying to balance multiple tasks at the same time prohibits an employee to focus on one area of expertise and grow into it as an authority in their field. Instead, the focus is split between different work disciplines and often not even related.

Loss of productivity

Because the employee is focusing on more than one task at a time you will often find that none are productive in its execution. A big difference was found where employees focus on one task and execute it well before moving on to the next task at hand. Imagine trying to complete a to-do list all at the same time in order to meet one common deadline.

Low morale

Because of the pressure to balance multiple tasks on a daily basis, you will find a drop in morale from that employee over a period of time. This is common when a person is qualified for one thing and foreign tasks are included in their job description.

The positive side of multitasking

If the concept could be applied correctly multitasking can be an asset to your organization. The positive side it brings to your organization has numerous advantages such as: 

• Increased productivity
• Employee growth 
• Organized reporting structures
• Better organizational growth
• Employee engagement

Increased productivity

You will immediately see an increase in productivity when an employee is given one work discipline and one task to complete at a time. It does not mean that employees must only do one thing for the rest of their working careers.

When multitasking is applied correctly the employee will learn multiple disciplines one at a time. In this way, productivity will always be high and the interest level of the employee will be focused.

Employee growth

By allowing employees to participate in multiple work disciplines they will increase their work knowledge and experience. This will also allow the organization to better identify and use the best skills in order to have a sustainable long-term future.

Employees are granted the opportunity to experience other aspects of the organization which they never would've come into contact with if restricted to one task. This makes it easier for all employees to operate and communicate effectively at the same level.

Organized reporting structures

Often multi tasking can create misunderstanding when it comes to responsibility and reporting structures. This can be a result of task cross-over into other functions. When applied correctly multitasking is straight forward and the origin of actions can easily be found.

Reporting structures also remain clear cut with responsibilities allocated to only specific employees. These employees will be more likely to handle ownership of responsibility better than multitaskers trying to do everything assigned to them.

Better organizational growth

An organization will always show positive growth where productivity is high and the employees are engaged positively. Planned multitasking can develop these two pillars of success if it is part of your organizational culture.

Employee engagement

It is very important for any company to work hard at employee engagement because positive engagement is what grows employees to the benefit of the organization. 

Most employees that are worth keeping will want to experience building their skill sets and knowledge. If you cannot fulfil this requirement they will simply move on to where they can do that.

Multitasking example

Misinterpreted multitasking example

The organization has lost two of its best employees over the last two months and was not successful in finding two suitable applicants to fill the positions. The positions in question are for a Floor Supervisor and a Merchandiser in a retail clothing store.

Then a very successful Floor Supervisor from the opposition apply and they immediately see that she has 15 years of experience in the retail of which 5 were in merchandising. Identifying this as a saving instead of a benefit they included merchandising in the job description disguised as multitasking.

After 6 months the supervisor leaves the organization and everybody's perception is that she wasn't competent enough to handle the "high profile supervisor position".

The real version of the story is that the Floor Supervisor realized she was conned into doing two jobs for one salary. She also feels that she has worked too hard for the 5 years to get herself promoted from Merchandiser to Supervisor just to start all over.

She also found that the merchandise function is taking up too much time with the supervision function relegated to a secondary function. This was the main reason she could not focus on the job and could see no growth in the organization.

Positive multitasking example

The same scenario but this time real leadership comes into play and appoints the Floor Supervisor as a Department Supervisor. This is because they recognized the experience and also see it as part of a long-term strategy to grow the business.

They also appointed a new merchandiser reporting to the supervisor as a long-term plan to grow the merchandising team. In the time leading up to that, they also intend to develop and train the supervisor in Office Management.

The new supervisor becomes engaged immediately and can see future prospects to grow with the organization and possibly an important management role. This way she will be multitasking in a positive way as it encourages personal growth and acquiring new skill sets.

Realign multitasking for better productivity

As we can see the intent of the original concept was to develop skills and knowledge in other aspects of an employee's work life. 

This would have created the ability to remain employed even in today's times when unemployment levels are so high. Misunderstanding multitasking would keep employees doing petty tasks included in their job function instead of developing skills in another job function.

We can rectify this misconception by going back to the roots of multitasking and reviewing our job functions. 

Employ staff for the function you intend to and through time place him in other job functions for short periods of time for development.

But don't expect the employee to do both functions at once or we are back at square one.

How multitasking can affect productivity - Conclusion

By reading this article we can now realize that the concept of multitasking was taken totally out of proportion through poor leadership and incorrect perceptions.

We can also see that the main purpose of multitasking was to develop skills and encourage the personal growth of employees. We have also learned that there are huge benefits for your organization if applied correctly and with a positive purpose.