"Quite honestly, I don't have a minute of my time today, so no time for you." I'm overwhelmed." We all have an office neighbor who always has a thousand files to deal with at the same time and who, of course, never has a minute to breathe. He is constantly "underwater", working hard from Monday morning 8:30 am to Friday evening 7 pm. Not the slightest coffee break in this stakhanovist timetable, not the slightest stroll on Google or Instagram during working hours. A real corporate soldier. A workaholic. This is, at least, what he wants his colleagues to believe ... And if he has some similarities with his hyperstressed neighbor (read column # 6), the overworked is not necessarily tortured by stress. On the contrary.
Read also: "The people who matter in the office" # 17: The manipulator!
Most often, the real overworked, stressed by their work overload (this is the lot of many workers), do not show up. We don't necessarily hear them even if they are suffering. On the other hand, the overworked who appear ostensibly as such are not consumed by anxiety ... They are even proud of this work overload which they consider as the unit of measure of their importance in the company.
"If I am overwhelmed, it is because I am someone who counts," they say to themselves, going from meeting to meeting, folder under their arms, taking on superior airs. However, we know that spending your time in meetings is sometimes an excellent refuge to hide an interstellar void…
The overwhelmed strategist forgot to be stupid. He knows that if he appears constantly busy, his eyes worried and riveted on his screen, declining invitations to a coffee break, this guarantees him great luxury: we leave him alone. Someone who has a reputation for always being underwater, we don't bother him. We do not fall on him for a yes or for a no. A luxury, therefore, but reserved for profiles who are already quite capped ...
It would be interesting to know the real office of these busy colleagues. When he is leaning on his smartphone, which grabs his attention and mobilizes all his capacity for concentration, it may be an epic part of Candy Crush…
For the benefit of this column, do not hesitate to share your own experience of important people by writing to qperinel@lefigaro.fr.
